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Police kill armed shoplifter www.privateofficer.com
“This was a very violent struggle,” said Sgt. Jim Gilbert, president of the local police union. “The officer was in a fight for his life.”
Police had not released the names of the dead man or the officers tonight.
The chain of events started at about 3 p.m. when Columbus police received a theft tip about the Kohl’s department store at 4050 W. Broad St. in Franklin Township said Sgt. Rich Weiner, Columbus Police Division spokesman.
Township police responded, and a man ran out of the Kohl’s as two officers arrived, Weiner said. The man took off in a car driven by a 26-year-old woman.
Police chased the vehicle a few miles until it came to a stop on the South Side in front of 1366 Birch Dr., a dead-end.
When the first township officer to arrive approached the vehicle, the man climbed out and began fighting with him. Gilbert said the man struck the officer, pulled out a handgun and the officer fired his own gun in self-defense.
“I was in my house and heard shots, boom, boom, boom,” said Aline Davis, who lives next door. “I ran to the window and the police had the guy handcuffed on the ground.
The second officer arrived after the fight was under way.The woman was taken into custody andhad not been charged tonight.
The man died next to the car, and the officer had minor injuries, Gilbert said.
Appeals court allows life sentence for shoplifting www.privateofficer.com
Last month, a divided Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals refused to reduce her time.
Cecilia Cathleen Rodriguez, 57, of Oklahoma City, was sentenced a year ago after pleading guilty to grand larceny. Her judge chose the unusually long prison term for that crime after learning she had an almost 30-year, four-state criminal record for thefts.
“It’s past time to say, ‘Enough is enough,’” Oklahoma County District Judge Ray Elliott said at the sentencing. “She’s a one-person crime wave.”
She was sentenced for stealing a $275 purse and a $380 purse from a Dillard’s department store.
The judge also revoked her probation on a 2000 larceny case because of the purse thefts. He ordered her to serve 17 more years in prison if she completes her life term.
Rodriguez has been to prison before for thefts and for a 1983 assault, records show. Her attorneys and family say she stole to finance a heroin addiction.
In a summary opinion last month, the appeals court found “the trial court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Rodriguez to the maximum term of years based on the facts and circumstances of this particular case.”
“The sentence assessed by the trial court was within the sentencing range for the crime and it does not shock this court’s conscience,” the majority found.
Two judges disagreed. Judge Arlene Johnson called the penalty shockingly excessive.
Judge Charles Chapel, who has since retired, called the punishment ridiculous.
Chapel wrote: “Rodriguez is a habitual petty criminal. She is a drug addict who steals to feed her addiction. Most of her convictions, like this one, were for property offenses. While she is a nuisance and a lawbreaker, she is neither a violent criminal nor an imminent danger to society. This life sentence is a miscarriage of justice.”
Chapel also wrote: “This excessive punishment, in addition to being unfair to Rodriguez, has direct fiscal consequences for the state of Oklahoma. Taxpayers will pay thousands of dollars a year to house, feed and clothe Rodriguez for life.”
Pair shoplifts $10,000 worth of merchandise www.privateofficer.com
— A husband and wife from Wilmette, Ill., are accused of going on a multicounty shoplifting spree that ended at Fleet Farm in Howard after they allegedly stole more than $10,000 worth of stuff.Police say they recovered 13 iPod Nanos, three game cameras, two electric razors and $85 worth of groceries from their car following the arrest of Robert and Joanne Sullivan, ages 48 and 44.
Those are the items listed in the felony charges on the criminal complaint filed in Brown County Court recently against the couple.
But police say they recovered hundreds of packages of craft items, boxes of golf balls, PlayStation portable units and other items — most of it wrapped in aluminum foil to thwart scanning equipment, according to the complaint.
Store security at Fleet Farm spotted the couple on surveillance equipment Feb. 2 and saw them stealing items, the complaint says. Following the couple’s arrest, police served a search warrant on their 2007 Chevy Suburban in the parking lot.
The items were allegedly stolen from Fleet Farms in Germantown, Oshkosh and Appleton and Scheel’s, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Copp’s in the Appleton area.
Police checked with security staff at those stores and found camera evidence that the couple stole from them, too, according to the complaint.
The couple face one felony theft charge and one misdemeanor shoplifting charge each. In addition, the Brown County District Attorney’s office has initiated a civil suit in an effort to confiscate the vehicle. That suit was filed this week.
Injured Pentagon officers details of shooting www.privateofficer.com
“When I looked at the shooter, he looked at me and I recognized a certain look on his face,” said Carraway. “Once I saw that, what went through my mind — ‘This is it, something’s about to happen.’”
Authorities say John Patrick Bedell arrived at the Pentagon late Thursday with two 9 mm semi-automatic weapons, at least as many magazines, and a vendetta. The 36-year-old had driven from California to Washington wearing a suit and a calm look. He could have passed for any tourist or worker who went through the security checkpoint every day on the way into the Pentagon.
Officer Colin Richards, who mans the booth with Carraway, looked up to see Bedell point his gun at his colleague and fire.
“The shooter was so close,” Richards recalled. “I was surprised he missed. I thought he hit Officer Carraway or hit me.”
“There was a lot of chaos,” said Carraway, a former Marine, who was grazed by Bedell’s bullets and suffered minor injuries.
Officer Jeffrey Amos was manning an exit area a few strides away. Also a former serviceman, he recognized the popping sound of gunfire and ran toward it. Amos took a bullet in his shoulder, but he and Carraway kept their focus.
They fired. Bedell went down, hit with a fatal shot to his head.
While Richard and Carraway stood over Bedell, ensuring he was no longer a threat, Amos knew he had to make sure the shooter was working alone.
“I went back to the exit to make sure nobody was going to ambush us from the rear,” Amos said.
On Monday morning, the three spoke with CNN’s “American Morning.” They answered questions directly, letting little emotion show in their voices.
Asked whether the experience will always be in his mind when he goes back to work, Amos said that it would linger, but he and his colleagues train for attacks. They expect them.
“It is going to be on my mind,” said Amos. “But I’m always visioning [possible attacks] on my post.”
“I guess that’s what we’re there for,” he added. “They train us for the job and we’re there to do the job.”
Bedell had repeatedly tangled with police and had been institutionalized at least three times for mental problems, according to California authorities. Court records for a man whose name and birth date match Bedell’s show that he suffered from bipolar disorder.
Bedell appears to have railed against the government repeatedly on the Internet.
Through podcasts and a Wikipedia page, a man identified online as JPatrickBedell cast the government as a criminal force destroying personal liberties.
“This seizure of the United States government by an international criminal conspiracy is a long-established reality,” the man said in a podcast in November 2006, which also was published as text online.
Such an organization, the man said, “would use its powers to convert military, intelligence, and law enforcement bureacracies [sic] into instruments for political control and the domination and subjection of society, while discrediting, destroying, and murdering honest individuals within those services that work to root out corruption and faithfully serve their fellow citizens.”
TN. 3 yr old child accidentally shot and killed www.privateofficer.com
The incident happened at about 6:15 p.m. at a home of located off of Cainsville Road.
Cheyenne’s stepfather, Douglas Robert Cronberger, said he believed someone was trespassing on their property, so he stepped outside with his semi-automatic gun. When he returned inside, he placed the gun on the counter.
Cronberger said Cheyenne mistook the weapon for a Wii video game controller and fatally shot herself in the abdomen.
Cheyenne was rushed to University Medical Center in Lebanon where she was pronounced dead.
As of Monday morning, no charges had been filed in the case.
OFFICER DOWN US FOREST SERVICE
United States Department of Agriculture – Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations
U.S. Government
End of Watch: Friday, March 5, 2010
Biographical Info
Age: 37
Tour of Duty: 4 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Friday, March 5, 2010
Incident Location: Georgia
Weapon Used: Rifle
Suspect Info: Not available
Officer Chris Upton was shot and killed by a hunter who mistook him for game at the Ocmulgee Bluff Equestrian Recreation Area in Jasper County, Georgia.
Officer Upton was on patrol at 11:00 pm when he was struck by a shot fired by the hunter. The shooter was in a two-person hunting party hunting coyotes with a high-powered rifle equipped with night vision. After realizing they had shot an officer, the hunters called 911 and reported the incident.
Officer Upton had served with the Forest Service for four years. He had previously served with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and as a game warden for the Department of Defense at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. He is survived by his wife and 4-year-old daughter.
Agency Contact Information
United States Department of Agriculture – Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations
LEI- Mail Stop 1140
1400 Independence Ave, SW
Washington, DC 20250
Phone: (202) 205-8333
Please contact the United States Department of Agriculture – Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
OFFICER DOWN
Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office
Louisiana
End of Watch: Saturday, March 6, 2010
Biographical Info
Age: 33
Tour of Duty: 8 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Thursday, March 4, 2010
Weapon Used: Handgun
Suspect Info: Shot and killed
Corporal J.R. Searcy died from a gunshot wound he received two days earlier after responding to an assault call.
He and another deputy responded to a call of an aggravated assault on Browning Road, near Louisiana 34, in West Monroe. It was reported that a suspect had tried to run people over with his vehicle. When the deputies arrived, they confronted the suspect standing outside of his vehicle. Corporal Searcy had his Taser in his hand, and ordered the suspect to put his hands up.
As the suspect raised his hands, he suddenly pulled a handgun that he had concealed in the small of his back, and opened fire, striking Corporal Searcy twice. The second deputy returned fire, killing the suspect.
Corporal Searcy was taken to St. Francis Medical Center where he died from his injuries two days later.
Corporal Searcy had served with the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office for eight years. He is survived by his wife and two children.
Agency Contact Information
Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office
PO Box 1803
Monroe, LA 71210
Phone: (318) 329-1200 begin_
Please contact the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
US Forest Service officer killed by hunter www.privateofficer.com
A hunter shot and killed a U.S. Forest Service officer in Jasper County, according to Forest Service officials.
Investigators said two men were hunting for coyotes using high-powered rifles and night scopes at the Ocmulgee Bluff Equestrian Recreation Area on the Oconee Ranger District of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in Jasper County late Friday night.
Hunter Norman Clinton Hale, 40, of McDonough mistook Christopher Arby Upton, 37, for game and shot him. Rangers identified Hale’s hunting companion as Clifford Allen McGouirk, 41, of Jackson.
“After the shooting, the hunters dialed 911 and reported a hunting incident,” said Stephanie Neal Johnson of the Forest Service.
The Forest Service and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division are investigating the incident.
“This is a tragic incident where the loss of a federal officer’s life could have been avoided,” said Steven Ruppert, special agent-in-charge for the Southern Region of the Forest Service. “This is a devastating loss for Chris’ family, our agency, other law enforcement officers and his friends and neighbors in Monroe.”
Upton is survived by his wife and a 4-year-old daughter.
Paramedic dies chasing mentally ill man www.privateofficer.com
They said it is not clear if he fell or suffered a medical problem.
Investigators are awaiting an autopsy to establish the cause of death, police said.
The medic has been identified as Daniel McIntosh, 39, a married father of two daughters, aged 1 and 5.
McIntosh was a 13-year veteran of the Bensalem Rescue Squad and a tactical medic for the Bucks County South SWAT Team who was recently hired as a part time police officer for Hulmeville Borough, Bensalem police said.
Police said McIntosh and another medic responded to a call for a mentally ill man on the 2600 block of Kiansas Avenue about 7 last night.
When the man fled, McIntosh chased after him.
Police said it is not clear what happened next, but it appeared that the medic fell and hit his head.
McIntosh died an hour later Aria Health-Torresdale Campus, police said.
The mentally ill man was taken into custody and was being evaluated, police said.
Off-duty security officer murdered in Chicago www.privateofficer.com
A young father was found murdered in a Washington Park street on the South Side early Sunday morning.
Police discovered Jovan Kelly, 22, shot in the face on the first block of East Garfield Boulevard at 2 a.m., Chicago Police spokesman John Mirabelli said.
“Somebody called him over to a car and when he got to the window, they shot him,” Kelly’s mother, Rolotta Hannah, said.
“It must have been someone he knew.”
Kelly, who worked as a security guard at McCormick Place and lived on the 8600 block of South Paxton, was declared dead at the scene. An autopsy showed he died of a gunshot wound to the chest, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
The graduate of Chicago Vocational Career Academy had only recently become a father, his girlfriend, Luticia Streeter said.
He was on his way to a friend’s home nearby when he was killed, she said.
“He was a real good dad, kind-hearted and loving,” to his newborn daughter, Justice, she said, “He stayed up with us and changed her diaper whenever it needed changing,” Streeter said.
Nobody was in custody Sunday afternoon.
Wentworth Area detectives are “trying to backtrack and determine who is responsible and what led up to this,” Mirabelli said.
Memphis security officer charged with murder www.privateofficer.com
Shelby County Sheriff’s deputies have charged a security guard in the shooting death of a man outside a nightclub on Covington Pike early Saturday.
Justin Smith, 25, was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Douglas Smith, 30, of Bartlett.
The two men are not related.
Justin Smith was also charged with possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony. He was shot in the leg and was treated and released. Detectives had not determined late Saturday how he was shot.
Deputies, answering a call to the VIP Club at 4731 Covington Pike about 3:30 a.m. Saturday, encountered a large group of customers fighting on the parking lot of the Ponderosa at 4721 Covington Pike. Witnesses reported that the people fighting were customers of the VIP Club, and that numerous shots had been fired in the lot.
Deputies found a 1998 Buick about a quarter mile away on Austin Peay. Inside, they found the victim’s body. There were numerous bullet holes in the car. There was no gun inside the car.
Detectives spoke to an employee of the Ponderosa, who told them he saw one of the armed security guards at the VIP Club shooting at the Buick.
When questioned, the guard, Justin Smith, said that he fired at least a dozen shots at the Buick, which he said was speeding toward him, according to the charges.
Video surveillance footage from the Ponderosa camera showed that the Buick never swerved toward Justin Smith, and that his life was never in danger, according to the charges.
The handgun used in the shooting had not been recovered as of Saturday night.
Justin Smith had no handgun carry permit, deputies said. He was wearing a black T-shirt that said “Security,” but authorities had not confirmed that he was a licensed security guard.
Anyone present during the fight at Club VIP is asked to call the Sheriff’s detectives at 545-5600, or CrimeStoppers at 528-CASH.
