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Serial killer still on the loose in South Carolina www.privateofficer.com
GAFFNEY, S.C. July 4 2009 – A teenage girl shot while helping her father in their family’s small furniture and appliance store died Saturday, becoming the fifth victim of a suspected serial killer terrorizing a small South Carolina community, authorities said.
Abby Tyler, 15, died about 11:15 a.m. at a Spartanburg hospital after fighting for her life for two days, Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler said.
Tyler was wounded and her father was killed Thursday as they worked to close the Tyler Home Center near downtown Gaffney.
County Sheriff Bill Blanton said investigators believe the killings are linked and the search is on for a suspected male serial killer. An 83-year-old mother and her daughter were shot to death Wednesday, and a 63-year-old peach farmer was found dead at his home a week ago.
Blanton said all the victims were shot, but he would not say how the deaths were linked. The shootings all occurred within about 10 miles of each other in Cherokee County, a rural community of 54,000 people set amid peach orchards and farms some 50 miles west of Charlotte, N.C.
The spree had alarmed residents canceling Independence Day holiday plans and arming themselves. The sheriff has warned door-to-door salesmen to stop knocking and anyone who breaks down on the county’s rural roads to wait instead of walking to a house for help because he worries “people are going to start shooting at shadows.”
The killings began a week ago Saturday when the wife of 63-year-old peach farmer Kline Cash found him dead in their home. Then last Wednesday, relatives found 83-year-old Hazel Linder and her 50-year-old daughter, Gena Linder Parker, bound and shot to death in a separate shooting at Linder’s home.
Dozens of local, state and federal investigators were assigned to the case when the killings were linked. But a day later, the killer struck again, less than a half-mile from the sheriff’s office serving as the headquarters for the investigation, killing 48-year-old Stephen Tyler and his daughter.
”We’re knee-deep in the investigation,” Blanton said Saturday. “There’s fear and concern here and there should be concern.”
Investigators have released a sketch of the shooter, saying he is in his 40s, with salt and pepper hair, about 6-foot-2, and roughly 200 pounds. They think he is driving a silver 1991-1994 Ford Explorer Blanton said all the victims were shot, but he would not say how the deaths were linked. The shootings all occurred within about 10 miles of each other in Cherokee County, a rural community of 54,000 people set amid peach orchards and farms some 50 miles west of Charlotte, N.C.
The spree had alarmed residents canceling Independence Day holiday plans and arming themselves. The sheriff has warned door-to-door salesmen to stop knocking and anyone who breaks down on the county’s rural roads to wait instead of walking to a house for help because he worries “people are going to start shooting at shadows.”
The killings began a week ago Saturday when the wife of 63-year-old peach farmer Kline Cash found him dead in their home. Then last Wednesday, relatives found 83-year-old Hazel Linder and her 50-year-old daughter, Gena Linder Parker, bound and shot to death in a separate shooting at Linder’s home.
Dozens of local, state and federal investigators were assigned to the case when the killings were linked. But a day later, the killer struck again, less than a half-mile from the sheriff’s office serving as the headquarters for the investigation, killing 48-year-old Stephen Tyler and his daughter.
“We’re knee-deep in the investigation,” Blanton said Saturday. “There’s fear and concern here and there should be concern.”
Investigators have released a sketch of the shooter, saying he is in his 40s, with salt and pepper hair, about 6-foot-2, and roughly 200 pounds. They think he is driving a silver 1991-1994 Ford Explorer.
Steve McNair is Dead!
Nashville TN July 4 2009
Nashville fire officials and Titans’ sources have confirmed that former Titans QB Steve McNair, 36, has been shot to death at an apartment in downtown Nashville.
The circumstances of the shooting were unclear. Police spokesman Don Aaron said a woman was also found dead with McNair.
McNair played in the National Football League for 13 seasons before retiring last year. He was a three-time Pro-Bowler and the 2003 co-MVP of the league.
A police source said that the shooting may be a murder-suicide but would not speculate on who shot who.
Detroit Lions’ Security Director Looses Battle with Cancer www.privateofficer.com
Ricky Sandoval, the Lions team’s director of security, died Thursday morning at Harper University Hospital in Detroit after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer that lasted more than three years. He turned 49 on June 30th and is survived by his loving wife, Gael.
Shortly after Sandoval was diagnosed in May of 2006, he and Gael formed “Team Sandoval,” a support group consisting of family, the Lions organization and his many friends and associates throughout the National Football League who also knew Sandoval from his days working with the San Francisco 49ers and with Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC), a company that once provided security services at Super Bowls for the NFL.
Gael chronicled Ricky’s fight and provided regular updates on their journey through http://www.rickysvictory.com, the official blog of Ricky & Gael Sandoval and Team Sandoval.
As a dedicated member of the organization, Sandoval touched virtually every person and every aspect of the team’s operations. He was hired as director of security in June of 2001, and for the past eight seasons he managed the team’s security operations. Sandoval handled all team security at the Lions Headquarters and Training Facility in Allen Park, along with team security detail during road trips. During his time with the team, he served as the team’s liaison with local, state and federal law enforcement and public authorities.
A graduate of Arizona State University and a southern California native, he and Gael lived in Royal Oak, Mich.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
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Camp Pendleton guard found murdered while on duty www.privateofficer.com
Authorities are questioning a suspect in the death of a sailor from Houston.
The body of August Provost, 29, was found at Marine Corps Camp Pendleton base in Southern California about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Provost had been standing watch as a sentry at a compound on the base, said Capt. Matt Brown, a spokesperson for Navy Region Southwest in San Diego, Calif.
“Preliminarily it appears Seaman Provost suffered gunshot wounds, and it appears that someone attempted to destroy evidence by lighting a fire at Seaman Provost’s assigned place of duty,” Brown said.
Provost’s exact cause of death was pending the completion of the autopsy report, he said.
Investigators have linked a sailor to the crime through both physical evidence and his own statement, Brown said. The sailor has been taken into custody and is cooperating with the investigation, he said.
Activists have expressed concern Provost’s death may have been a hate crime related to his sexual orientation. Provost was gay.
“There is no information that suggests this is a hate crime, but we will address any possible motivation as part of the investigation as we continue to thoroughly examine the many leads and facts in this case,” Brown said.
Another sailor initially questioned as a “person of interest” on Wednesday has been released, he said.
Provost, who lived in the Acres Homes neighborhood, joined the Navy in March 2008. He was assigned to a Camp Pendleton-based team of air-cushioned landing craft that carry troops and equipment from the sea on to the shore.
“Seaman Provost was an outstanding sailor looking forward to a bright future,” Brown said. “He was also a son, a friend and a shipmate, and all of us share in the grief and this sense of loss. He will most surely be missed by all who loved and cared for him, and by those who served with him.”
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Security officer’s quick actions saves cop www.privateofficer.com
Security officer’s quick actions saves police officer http://www.privateofficer.com
Dozens of people along Ocean Boulevard on Wednesday night were horrified to see a man slamming his car into other cars, all while police say an officer was hanging on to the side of the man’s car.
That man is now facing 10 counts of assault with the intent to kill, resisting arrest with a deadly weapon along with several drunk driving charges.
Witnesses say the man driving seemed to have no regard for property or people nearby and it took police and one quick acting security guard to stop him.
“I was terrified,” recalled Dee Die, who is visiting the Grand Strand from Kentucky. “We were stopped at the red light in front of “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” and next thing we know somebody just plows you into the back of us. Then we hear this cop saying ‘I told you not to move, I told you to stop,’” added Die.
Police say driving that reckless car was Clark Tuttle. Witnesses say, with dozens of pedestrians nearby, Tuttle continued his destruction, all the while, a Myrtle Beach Police Officer was hanging on the side of the car. Police say Tuttle slammed into several other cars, to try and shake the officer.
“He was either trying to kill the cop or get him off of the mirror,” said Die.
Close by, on duty at the Ripley’s Museum on Ocean Blvd, was Excalibur Security Guard Jawara Legette.
“I heard an officer yell,” recalled Legette, “So, I immediately ran to the street and saw white truck with a driver trying to get away. I ran over to the passenger side door — the door was locked — so, I just jumped in the window, threw the car in park, took the keys out of the car, pushed the guy out of the car.”
“It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, because I don’t what made him react that way but I’m glad he did because the driver would have hit us again for sure,” said Dee’s husband, Mike Die.
Legette said the most satisfying part was “being able to help the officer, he’s the real hero in the matter, he’s the one that initiated the stop. Anybody would have done it, I was just the closest one to the action,” said Legette.
But not everyone did do it.
“He saved not only our lives, but there was cops all over the street, he saved everybody’s lives, and he just walked over to the side and didn’t want to be noticed at all,” said Dee Die.
Legette stresses he was just reacting and just doing his job. Though there are dozens of people also there that night who think much more of him.
Myrtle Beach police say the officer who was dragged by the car suffered minor injuries.
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Former security officer awarded $743,000 in lawsuit www.privateofficer.com
Glenda Ann Nixx, 58, broke both feet when she tripped on an improperly installed grate outside the toilet near the BP chemical docks in May 2005.
Jurors in Judge David Garner’s 10th District Court unanimously found that BP was mostly responsible for the injury that caused a permanent disability that forced Nixx to go from working security to driving a school bus, her attorney Chad Pinkerton said.
Pinkerton claimed the jury’s verdict was a clear message to BP officials that “they have to do something about safety.”
Since the time of Nixx’s injury, which happened about a month after a series of explosions killed 15 contract workers at BP’s Texas City refinery, the company has completed a $1 billion overhaul to its Texas City facilities and revised all of its safety procedures.
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Retired NYPD officer chases down robbery suspects www.privateofficer.com
A pair of muggers were thwarted Friday by a heroic retired cop who burst from his security job at a Bronx McDonald’s and opened fire on the crooks, hitting one in the leg, police and witnesses said.
The gunplay began around 8 p.m. after the Bonnie and Clyde suspects attacked the driver of a red BMW while he was refueling at a Soundview gas station, witnesses said.
“He shot first and he pistol-whipped [the driver],” said startled McDonald’s employee Eddie Ricaurte, 18. “His head was bleeding a lot. [Then] the security guard went out shooting. It’s crazy. You don’t expect this. I mean, I only work at McDonald’s.”
The unidentified guard fired three shots in the air near Bruckner Blvd., but was able to shoot one of the fleeing suspects in the leg as he rushed to his getaway car.
“He shot him in the leg and [the suspect] limped back to his car,” said employee Michael Garcia, who watched the action from a drive-thru window at the fast-food joint. “He jumped in his car and his girlfriend drove off.”
The duo fled north on Leland Ave., with the uninjured female behind the steering wheel and her accomplice in the passenger seat of their jeep, witnesses said.
Police were still searching for the pair last night and speaking with the guard and the victim.
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PA. police officer arrested for hit and run death www.privateofficer.com
Police said Hall was struck by a sport utility vehicle while he was walking on West Carson Street near the Duquesne Incline.
Hall reportedly had entered the street to talk to a bus driver and was struck as he was returning to the sidewalk, according to police.
It was reported at the time that the possible driver of the unidentified SUV, briefly returned to the scene and then left. He was described as a short, white male in this 30s. The subsequent investigation revealed that the individual described by witnesses was not the suspect, but was an acquaintance of the suspect inquiring about the condition of the victim.
Police said a break in the case came when homicide detectives received a tip that led them to the individual who was described at the scene of the accident.
Subsequent interviews revealed that Breeden was on his way to meet friends at a night club on the South Side area when he struck Hall, according to police.
Police said Breeden chose to leave the scene without attempting to render aid or notify authorities. Upon an initial inspection of the suspect’s vehicle, a 2003 dark grey Chevy Trailblazer, detectives observed evidence that the vehicle had been repaired.
Breeden, a Crafton police officer since 1994, was transported to the Allegheny County Jail and a search warrant was obtained for his vehicle.
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Tip leads to arrest of blue jean bandits www.privateofficer.com
A tip led Atlanta Police on Friday to an arrest of 11 alleged blue jean bandits and about $10,000 in stolen jeans, a police spokeswoman said.
The tipster alerted police of suspicious activity in the backyard of a house in the 900 block of Farrington Road, Sgt. Lisa Keyes said.
Officers arrived to find 11 suspects removing tags from shirts and hundreds of high-end jeans, Keyes said.
Six of the suspects tried to hide in a crawl space in the home’s ceiling, but all of the alleged bandits were arrested, police said.
Much of the merchandise still had labels and security tags on it, Keyes said. Police also found two stolen cars apparently taken in an armed robbery, she said.
Earlier Friday, police linked two Atlanta men arrested after leading police on a high-speed chase Thursday afternoon to a gang of burglars targeting high-end clothing boutiques, a Keyes said.
Dominique Copeland, 21, and Quantavious Guffie, 18, waived their initial court appearance at the Fulton County Jail Friday morning.
The men are being held without bond, awaiting a preliminary hearing before a Fulton Coun
ty Superior Court judge at a later date.Keyes said Friday that investigators have linked the pair to Thursday morning’s attempted break-in at eModa, a Midtown clothing boutique that was hit twice last month by smash-and-grab burglars.
In each of the May burglaries, suspects made off with thousands of dollars in high-end blue jeans and other clothing.
After the second burglary, the owners of eModa reinforced a metal gate inside the back door of the store. Early Thursday, would-be thieves smashed the glass door, but were unable to get past the metal grating.
Investigators are still trying to determine if Copeland and Guffie are involved in other smash-and-grab burglaries, Keyes said.
She said both are “known affiliates” of 30 Deep, a street gang that has been connected to at least one of the previous burglaries at eModa.
Copeland has been charged with felony obstruction, reckless conduct, auto theft by receiving, entering an auto and six counts of criminal damage to property in the second degree.
Guffie is facing charges of theft by receiving, felony obstruction, entering an auto and giving false information.
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Woman charged in shoplifting spree www.privateofficer.com
A Moses Lake woman on an alleged shoplifting spree at the Columbia Center mall is accused of twice hitting a security officer who was trying to stop her.
Marisol Elizabeth Ramirez, 23, pleaded innocent to second-degree robbery. Her trial is set for Sept. 14.
According to court documents, Ramirez was seen taking merchandise from JCPenney without paying for it. Macy’s loss prevention personnel, who saw the alleged theft, notified JCPenney security, who then watched as Ramirez selected perfume bottles and hid them in her purse, documents said.
A store security officer stopped Ramirez outside the store, identified himself and asked her to come back in.
However, Ramirez hit the man in the chest and ran away, court documents said.
The security officer caught up to her and grabbed Ramirez’s arm. That’s when she hit the man in the mouth, causing a small cut, documents said.
Ramirez was taken into the store until Kennewick police arrived.
A later search of her car turned up items from Victoria’s Secret, JCPenney, Macy’s, Spencer Gifts and Wal-Mart. She is accused of taking a total of 11 bottles of perfume and cologne.
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