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OFFICER DOWN OKLAHOMA www.privateofficer.com
Seminole County Sheriff’s Office
Oklahoma
End of Watch: Sunday, July 26, 2009
Biographical Info
Age: 23
Tour of Duty: 1 year, 3 months
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Sunday, July 26, 2009
Weapon Used: Handgun; 9 mm
Suspect Info: Apprehended
Deputy Robbie Whitebird and Deputy Marvin Williams were shot and killed while attempting to serve an arrest warrant.
The deputies, along with an officer from the Seminole Nation Lighthorse Police, were fired upon as they approached the home’s door. Deputy Whitebird and Deputy Williams were both struck by the gunfire.
After being struck, Deputy Whitebird fell into the home. Other deputies entered the home and pulled him to safety, however he succumbed to his wounds at the scene. Deputy Williams succumbed to his wounds while being flown to a hospital in Oklahoma City.
The suspect surrendered a short time later after barricading himself in his home.
Deputy Whitebird had served with the agency for 15 months.
Related Line of Duty Deaths
Deputy Sheriff Marvin Williams
Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, OK
EOW: Sunday, July 26, 2009
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Agency Contact Information
Seminole County Sheriff’s Office
110 S. Wewoka Street
Wewoka, OK 74884
Phone: (405) 257-5445
Please contact the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
OFFICER DOWN OKLAHOMA www.privateofficer.com
Seminole County Sheriff’s Office
Oklahoma
End of Watch: Sunday, July 26, 2009
Biographical Info
Age: 43
Tour of Duty: 7 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Sunday, July 26, 2009
Weapon Used: Handgun; 9 mm
Suspect Info: Apprehended
Deputy Marvin Williams and Deputy Robbie Whitebird were shot and killed while attempting to serve an arrest warrant.
The deputies, along with an officer from the Seminole Nation Lighthorse Police, were fired upon as they approached the home’s door. Deputy Whitebird and Deputy Williams were both struck by the gunfire.
After being struck, Deputy Whitebird fell into the home. Other deputies entered the home and pulled him to safety, however he succumbed to his wounds at the scene. Deputy Williams succumbed to his wounds while being flown to a hospital in Oklahoma City.
The suspect surrendered a short time later after barricading himself in his home.
Deputy Williams had served with the agency for seven years.
Related Line of Duty Deaths
Deputy Sheriff Robbie Chase Whitebird
Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, OK
EOW: Sunday, July 26, 2009
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Agency Contact Information
Seminole County Sheriff’s Office
110 S. Wewoka Street
Wewoka, OK 74884
Phone: (405) 257-5445
Please contact the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
Two Oklahoma deputies killed www.privateofficer.com
Ezekiel Holbert, 26, was jailed on murder complaints, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jessica Brown said.
Holbert was in his mother’s home, 503 N Second St., about 3 p.m. when she called authorities, Brown said.
“She found out he was inside. He was not welcome, so she called Seminole County deputies,” Brown said. “When they knocked on the door, the suspect came out, Mr. Holbert, firing a weapon.”
Brown said they don’t know what kind of a weapon was used.
Two deputies died, Brown said.
One died at the scene and the other at OU Medical Center.
A woman walking along the street was hit by stray gunfire, Brown said.
The woman was identified by her brother-in-law as Jennifer Bowen. He said the bullet went through her arm and into her chest. He said she was flown to OU Medical Center, but her condition was not known Sunday night.
The names of the deputies were not released Sunday night.
Deputies were serving a warrant issued in May for a charge of domestic assault and battery by strangulation.
Bryan Hause said he was next door when the shooting occurred.
“They said, ‘You got two seconds to open the door,’ and they kicked the door in,” Hause said.
Terry Bowen said he was standing on his back porch a couple of houses away when the shooting began.
“We all thought it was firecrackers,” he said.
He said Jennifer Bowen was walking down the street with her two daughters when a law enforcement official ran past.
A short while later, she was hit.
“Next thing you know, she spins around yelling ‘Ow ow ow ow ow ow,’” Terry Bowen said. “My little 2-year-old niece comes running to me … and she said ‘something’s wrong with Mommy.’”
Police then began evacuating nearby houses.
Terry Bowen said he’s angry about how the situation was handled.
“They jerked my little sister down the stairs and cut her arm,” he said. “She couldn’t walk down the steps. They don’t need to get in that big of a hurry. They come to serve a warrant doing their job, and he goes and fires on them. Yeah, I understand. But, you know, they could have had the courage enough to tell everybody to stay in the house, or at least holler over here at her (Jennifer) and tell her to back up.”
Several law agencies were called in to assist in the search. Neighborhood streets were lined with police vehicles.
About 7 p.m. the Oklahoma Highway Patrol used a robot with an audio speaker to enter the house where the shootings had occurred.
“Through a PA system on that robot, tactical units announced their presence and required the suspect to come out and surrender,” patrol Lt. George Brown said.
The suspect surrendered without incident.
Holbert was jailed in Seminole County on murder complaints.
Jean Fowler, who lives in a nearby apartment complex, said police searched all the apartments in her building.
“They checked it and they were very professional,” she said.
“They tried their best not to scare anybody, but they were thorough.”
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Seven indicted on terrorism charges in NC www.privateofficer.com
Daniel Boyd, 39, and six others are charged with providing material support to terrorism.
The Justice Department in Washington says Boyd, who it describes as the ringleader, is a US citizen, trained in Afghanistan who fought there against the Soviets between 1989 and 1992. It says when he returned to the United States he recruited others.
The six others are:
Hysen Sherif, 24, a native of Kosovo and a legal permanent resident of the U.S.
Anes Subasic, 33, a naturalized citizen of the U.S.
Zakiriya Boyd, 20, a citizen of the U.S and Daniel Boyd’s son.
Dylan Boyd, 22, a citizen of the U.S and Daniel Boyd’s son.
Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22, a citizen of the U.S.
Ziyad Yaghi, 21, a naturalized citizen of the U.S.
The federal indictment alleges that the seven plotted to support terroristic activities in countries outside the United States – including acts of murder, kidnapping and maiming persons.
They also face multiple weapons charges including buying many semi-automatic assault style rifles. The men allegedly trained with the guns on property on Caswell County North Carolina near the Virginia border.
“The indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd is a veteran of terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan who, over the past three years, has conspired with others in this country to recruit and help other young men to travel overseas to kill,” said Assistant Attorney General David Kris.
The indictment claims Boyd traveled to Israel in 2007 with several of the defendants, hoping to engage in “violent jihad.” The attempt was unsuccessful, though, and the men returned home, officials said.
All seven were arrested in North Carolina on Monday and made an appearance in Raleigh federal court.
Officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation said they were concerned about the number of weapons the men possibly had in their possession, and so federal SWAT teams were called in from Virginia and other locations to help with the arrests. Some of the men were captured in Willow Spring – east of Raleigh.
Federal officials said the operation went much more smoothly than they feared, and the men were taken into custody without incident.
Prosecutors said the arrests show that the threat of terrorism is still very real.
“These charges hammer home the point that terrorists and their supporters are not confined to remote regions in some faraway land but can grow and fester right here at home,” said United States Attorney George E. B. Holding.
The seven all face a possible maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
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Colorado officer killed, 2 others shot www.privateofficer.com
A domestic disturbance exploded into gunfire in an affluent Montrose neighborhood, and when it was over, three police officers and the suspect lay wounded or dying.
Killed late Saturday was Sgt. David Kinterknecht, 41. Wounded were Officers Rodney Ragsdale, 55, and Larry Witte, 23.
Police did not identify the suspect, who was killed, or indicate whether police had shot him or he shot himself.
Beverly Howell, a neighbor who witnessed some of the events at 16915 64.50 Road, said police had gone to the house on domestic-violence calls several times over the past year.
Property records show that the $632,320 home across the road from the Cobble Creek Golf Course is owned by Dennis and Pamela Gurney.
Through a friend, Cindy Gay Dick, Pamela Gurney, 50, declined an interview with The Denver Post on Sunday.
Sheriff’s deputies and police went to the home about 8:30 p.m. Saturday and began talking to the person who reported the incident, according to a police statement.
A man who had locked himself in the garage began shooting, hitting the three police officers, the statement said.
All three officers were taken to Montrose Memorial Hospital. Police Chief Tom Chinn said Sunday that both survivors were doing well.
Jim Howell, Beverly Howell’s husband, said police arrived at the home several hours before the shooting started. He said he was in his bathroom when he heard two or three gunshots.
Beverly Howell said she saw Dennis Gurney, 52, back away from police, his hands above his head, as she looked through her kitchen window.
“Then it looked like he crouched down and went around the back of the garage,” she said.
“There was a lot of chaotic activity, and we heard some shots, and then some more shots,” she said.
Pamela Gurney had told the Howells that she was a victim of domestic abuse, Beverly Howell said.
Tisha Langston Slater, a Vermont resident who was once engaged to the Gurneys’ son, Eric, was shocked to hear of violence at the house.
“His parents took me in,” she said. “His parents were great people. They were always so nice to me.”
Dennis Gurney had been badly burned when he worked on an oil rig that exploded several years ago, Slater said.
“I know that Mr. Gurney had been disfigured in a fire and that he had been depressed,” Beverly Howell said.
Kinterknecht joined the department, which has 43 officers, in 1999 after serving in sheriff’s departments in San Miguel and Montrose counties.
“He is a Montrose boy. He grew up in Montrose; all his roots are here,” said Chinn, the Montrose police chief.
According to the Officer Down Memorial website, Kinterknecht was the second Montrose officer to die in the line of duty.
In April 1983, Officer Larry F. McMaster was shot to death and another officer was twice wounded after they entered a bar where a disturbance had been reported.
In the incident Saturday, Ragsdale was shot three times in his left leg and once in his right, said his daughter-in-law, Victoria Ragsdale.
Doctors operated on him and placed a rod in one leg, she said, adding that he was doing well.
“He has been joking and laughing, and that is a good sign,” Victoria Ragsdale said.
Rodney Ragsdale is a 20-year veteran of law enforcement. He previously served with the Northglenn Police Department and, before that, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, Victoria Ragsdale said.
Rodney Ragsdale moved to Montrose in November.
“He always wanted to live in a mountain town,” his daughter-in-law said.
Witte joined the department about three years ago after graduating from Western State College in Gunnison, where he was a track star, Chinn said.
“He is a very athletic kid,” he said.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the 7th Judicial Critical Incident Team are investigating the incident.
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Police officer kidnaps, assaults fellow officer www.privateofficer.com
Fulton County police said the incident was a domestic dispute between two off-duty officers that began at a home in the 7200 block of Connell Road in south Fulton County.
“The female officer alleged that the male officer choked her, handcuffed her and held her against he will at gunpoint for approximately two hours,” said Detective Melissa Parker of the Fulton County Police Department.
Neighbors called 911 after the woman escaped, ran across the street and asked for help.
“When Fulton County police arrived, there was no one at the house,” said Parker. “Apparently, the male subject fled.”
Several hours later the male officer, identified as Jessie Lee Burden Jr., was picked up in Spalding County. He was taken back to Fulton County for questioning.
Officials said Burden has been charged with aggravated assault, false imprisonment and battery. He was taken to the Fulton County Jail.
The alleged victim’s name has not been released.
Parker said both Burden and the victim work for the East Point police department. The two are not married.
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Triple shooting leave elderly couple, grandchild dead www.privateofficer.com
Police said that it appears to be a murder-suicide crime and that it was a sad situation.
Investigators have identified the victims as George Doby, 87, his wife, Edna Doby, 82, and their grandson, Jacob Doby, 12.
Detectives beleive George Doby shot his grandson first, then his wife, finally turning the gun on himself.
Police said that Edna Doby suffered from Parkinson’s Disease and said the 12-year-old grandson was autistic.
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Church deacon charged with $230,000 church theft www.privateofficer.com
Police have arrested a cgurch deacon for theft from his church.
Harden, 57, was arrested June 18 on charges of grand theft and fraud.
Det. Rob Waller, Leon County Sheriff’s Office financial crimes unit, said Harden misused around $230,000 of funds designated for the construction of a parking lot for the church, 615 Tuskegee St.
Waller said Harden, who was a deacon at the church, pitched himself as a contractor and put in a bid to take over the building of the parking lot.
Although Harden properly spent a “minimal amount” of money at the beginning of the parking lot’s construction, Waller said he began depositing the money into several different bank accounts, using it to pay bills and write checks to friends of his.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the loan for the construction of the parking lot was obtained through Hancock Bank, which was forced to pay off 13 subcontractors a total of $157,055.61. The net loss to the church was around $177,000
Harden is being held at the Leon County Jail and bail remains set at $100,000.
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17 Shot, 2 killed in Baltimore violence www.privateofficer.com
At least 17 people were shot and two killed in separate incidents Sunday night, including a shooting at a backyard cookout in East Baltimore that left 12 people injured. Among the victims in that shooting were a pregnant woman and a 2-year-old girl, police said.
The spate of violence, which occurred over a stretch of about three hours on the city’s east side, was unprecedented this year. Police said they didn’t immediately know of a motive in the shootings, and no arrests were reported. Many of the victims were rushed to Johns Hopkins Hospital, which became a crime scene later in the evening when a car riddled with bullet holes pulled up to the emergency room.
The incidents began shortly before 9 p.m., when at least one gunman entered the small back yard of a rowhouse in the 2600 block of Ashland Ave., in the Madison-East End community, during the cookout and opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon of unknown caliber, hitting at least a dozen victims before fleeing on foot, according to Agent Donny Moses, a police spokesman.
Two hours later, before 11 p.m., two males, ages 18 and 19, were fatally shot in the 200 block of N. Conkling St., in the Baltimore Highlands community. At least two young men were seen being led away from the crime scene in handcuffs, as officers went door to door trying to gather information.
Additional shootings were later reported, one in the 2800 block of Harford Road, near Clifton Park, and a double shooting at East Baltimore and South Bond streets.
At Johns Hopkins Hospital, authorities shut down East Monument Street as detectives investigated a vehicle that pulled up to the emergency room. A white Lexus, with its lights still on, was observed parked in front of the entrance. Its driver’s side had at least eight bullet holes to the door and window. On the passenger side, the door was open and appeared to be mangled.
On the sidewalk outside the passenger side door was what appeared to be a sports trophy, several shirts and a sandal. Police could not immediately determine where the shooting had taken place, but said it did not occur at the hospital.
Among the 12 victims at the Ashland Avenue cookout, Moses said there were no life-threatening injuries. Moses said ambulances took some of the victims to area hospitals, while others were taken to hospitals by private vehicles.
Specific conditions were not available, and the victims’ names were withheld pending notification of family members. Moses said the victims were struck in their shoulders, legs and backs and that multiple 911 calls came in from area residents.
Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III was among the officers who reported to the scene. He had no comment last night when approached by a reporter. Moses said the commissioner responded moments after the shootings were reported to make sure the investigation was coordinated and that extra officers from at least one other police district assisted in the investigation.
Deputy Commissioner Anthony Barksdale and Col. John Skinner, the chief of patrol, were also observed visiting the crime scenes.
Heading into Sunday night, homicides were up about 5 percent over the same time last year. Nonfatal shootings were down significantly.
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Security officers hired to enforce water regulations www.privateofficer.com
Griff Welsh, the mayor of the village just east of Trail, says residents use too much water.
In a year when forests are tinder dry and fires have forced thousands to flee their homes, Welsh is worried there may not be enough water to fight a dangerous forest fire because people are more worried about their lawns.
“We are very concerned,’ said Welsh. “(Residents) just use way too much water.’
Welsh noted that on a rainy day, the village uses 125,000 gallons of water, but when it’s dry, the figure rises to 300,000.
The village council elected last week to hire a private security firm to police the village’s watering restrictions.
Selkirk Security officers will be on guard for water offenders during the night.
“That’s when our biggest problem is,’ Welsh said.
Residents are allowed to water their lawns for a maximum of four hours per day, though Welsh said it’d be better if it were less.
“We think a lot of people are watering for the full four hours,’ he said. “I have a real problem with it. It’s not that you can’t shower, but what if there was a fire?’
Montrose’s fire hydrants and other water needs are supplied by two wells at Beaver Creek, from which water is pumped up to two large tanks.
Those tanks are dipping at times below the 50 per cent mark.
“The wells have never gone dry,’ said Welsh. “We just can’t pump it up fast enough. I don’t want a disaster to happen.’
Last weekend, 12,000 people in West Kelowna were forced from their homes due to two forest fires.
They were all allowed back on Thursday, hours before another evacuation order affecting 2,200 due to a third fire in the area was declared.
Only half of those people were home by this weekend.
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Bank teller thwarts armored car robbery www.privateofficer.com
The employee of the BankAtlantic at 4201 N. Andrews Ave. was walking into work shortly before 9 a.m. when she saw an armed man crouching behind a Brinks truck parked outside the bank, said Broward Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Keyla Concepción.
“He looked at her. She looked at the suspect. He pulled [down] his ski mask and at that point, I guess, decided it wasn’t a good idea to rob the Brinks truck and bolted to his car,” Concepción said.
The gunman drove off in a red or burgundy Cadillac Eldorado with a luggage rack, she said.
The Sheriff’s Office did not release a description of the gunman this morning.
Two Brinks guards who had been inside the bank dropping off money had no idea what happened outside, authorities said.
When the guards left the bank, they got into their truck and drove off. That’s when the bank employee realized the guards hadn’t seen or heard anything suspicious and she called 911.
A BankAtlantic spokesman said the employee was a little shaken, but fine.
“Fortunately her quick actions made this a nonevent,” said spokesman Leo Hinkley.
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