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Second Spring High School teacher arrested for student sexual relationship www.privateofficer.com
Matthew Martin Tillman, 33, was arrested and charged on Saturday, said Harris County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Donna Hawkins.
Two charges allege improper physical contact and one accuses Tillman of improper text messaging, Hawkins said, adding that all the alleged incidents involved a female student and reportedly occurred between May 1 and Sept. 24.
Tillman, currently in the Harris County Jail on $150,000 bail, has been placed on administrative leave from Spring High, where he has been a history teacher and volleyball coach since 1999.
“It is distressing to say the least that another teacher has broken the trust that parents and the greater community should be able to expect from every educator,” according to a letter sent to parents Saturday from principal Donna Ullrich.
Ullrich noted that Spring ISD checks criminal histories and references of all job applicants.
Science teacher charged
On Oct. 12, Spring High School science teacher Deanna Higgins, 27, was charged with having an improper relationship with a student and sexual assault of a child, also felony charges.
Court documents indicated that Higgins’ ex-husband said he discovered questionable text messages on a phone the defendant gave their 8-year-old son and tipped school district officials.
Higgins’ next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 18.
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Security officer shot breaking up fight www.privateofficer.com
The shooting took place in the parking lot of Duvan Karamba at 1049 East and 2100 South at around 1:45 a.m..
Guards heard about a fight and went to see what was happening. A group of men in a pick-up truck confronted the officers when they arrived and one man fired a gun.
The security guard was hit by the bullet fragment but luckily was not seriously injured.
The police found the suspects truck but are still searching for the men.
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Atlanta bank employee shot during robbery www.privateofficer.com
Channel 2 Action News reporter Richard Elliot spoke to investigators at the bank.
They told Elliot the violent robbery was a “take-over type robbery.”
The robbers went into the bank on Chamblee-Tucker Road wearing disguises.
They ordered everyone onto the floor, according to investigators.
At one point, a gunman held a gun to the head of a bank customer.
One of the gunmen went behind the counter to grab cash.
A bank employee was not moving fast enough for the robber, who shot the employee in the leg.
Paramedics rushed the wounded employee to Gwinnett Medical Center.
The FBI has been called in to take over the investigation.
“We’ve seen the photographs from the robbery,” said Steve Emmett of the FBI. “Very dynamic robbery. I’m confident it was a very traumatic experience for everyone involved.”
The gunmen were in and out of the bank in less than two minutes, according to the FBI.
The robbers were seen leaving the bank in a dark blue or black minivan.
FBI officials said they are searching for two African-American males.
This first is described as 60- 62, slender build, facial hair, possibly wearing a wig, ballcap, and a long-sleeved orange shirt.
The second robber is described as an African-American male, 58, with a stocky build.
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Seattle police officer killed, trainee injured
Few clues have emerged from a drive-by shooting that left a nine-year veteran Seattle police officer dead and a trainee injured on Halloween night.
Investigators on Sunday fielded tips, interviewed potential witnesses and scoured through video tapes for evidence that would lead them to the assailant or assailants. They have not yet identified a suspect or the suspect’s vehicle, nor have they determined what kind of weapon was used.
Killed in the Saturday night shooting was field training officer Timothy Brenton, 39. Rookie officer Britt Sweeney, 33, suffered a minor injury.
The two were discussing a routine traffic stop while parked in downtown Seattle when their police cruiser was suddenly struck several times by gunfire shortly after 10 p.m., officials said.
Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said Brenton died instantly. Sweeney ducked, and a bullet grazed her back. She then called for help and returned fire, Pugel said.
“This is an assassination, and every resource is being used to bring it to a conclusion,” Pugel said.
Brenton became the city’s first officer killed in the line of duty since 2006, and Saturday’s shooting was the first intentional homicide of an officer since 1994, police officials said.
Pugel said there had been no threats against Brenton and no indication the assailants were looking for him.
Sweeney was taken to the hospital but was later released and is at home. She joined the force about six months ago, and had graduated from the academy just weeks ago.
Brenton is survived by his wife and two children, ages 11 and 8, officials said. His father and uncle are retired Seattle police officers.
“Everybody loved him,” the officer’s uncle, Jon Brenton of Kingston, Wash., told The Seattle Times. “I don’t think there was any reason anybody would come after him.”
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels described the shooting as “cold-blooded.”
“Our community is in shock at this brutal and senseless crime,” Nickels said. “The killing of someone who protects our public safety is universally condemned, and our city is united in rejecting this violence and supporting the men and women in uniform. “
In August 2006, rookie officer Joselito Barber was killed when a woman drove her sport utility vehicle through a red light and broadsided his patrol car.
In 1994, officer Antonio Terry was shot and killed after stopping behind a disabled vehicle, according to the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild.
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Four killed at NC Television store www.privateofficer.com
Four men were killed in a shooting at a northwestern North Carolina television store on Sunday, and authorities said they were looking for a suspect who might be armed with an assault rifle.
Mount Airy Police Chief Dale Watson said at a news conference that the victims were shot in the parking lot of Woods TV store in the town on the Virginia border and less than a mile from the police station. Police said a warrant has been issued for the arrest of Marcos Chavez Gonzalez. He is charged with four counts of murder.
Watson said the victims and the suspect were at the television store for a reason.
“We don’t feel this was a random event,” Watson said. “We do have an idea why (they were shot), but we won’t be releasing that.”
Watson said alerts have been issued in North Carolina and Virginia to be on the lookout for Gonzalez. Authorities had detained two men but released them after it was determined that they were not involved in the shooting.
Nursing supervisor Sue Coe at Northern Hospital of Surry County confirmed that two people died at the store around 2:30 p.m. She said two who were wounded died at the hospital, just across the street from the store. Woods TV sells televisions and satellite systems.
Police say the victims’ names were being withheld because their families have not been notified. Watson said all four were from Surry County that includes Mount Airy. The town served as the inspiration for the television town of Mayberry in “The Andy Griffith Show.”
WXII-TV in Winston-Salem reported that people who knew the victims gathered near the store and began crying and collapsing to the ground.
Mount Airy, with a population of approximately 8,700, is about 100 miles north of Charlotte. Griffith is a native of the town, which has built a tourist trade on nostalgia for the show that continues to thrive in syndication
