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Baltimore cop wanted for murder in off-duty shooting www.privateofficer.com
Baltimore police intensified efforts Saturday to locate Gahiji A. Tshamba, who was wanted in connection with the death of Tyrone Brown, 32.
Brown, whose service included four years in Iraq, was an East Baltimore resident who was killed early June 6 in a confrontation with Tshamba in an alley in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood, according to police and witnesses.
Tshamba was not on duty at the time, authorities said.
Police had hoped to negotiate Tshamba’s surrender with his attorney, but apparently no one had been able to contact the 15-year veteran as the search entered a second day.
Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Saturday afternoon that it was “only a matter of time” before Tshamba “pops up on the grid,” perhaps through use of a credit card or telephone.
A regional task force of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies is always involved in serving murder warrants. But with the high-profile case lingering, top commanders authorized dozens of detectives from the Violent Crimes Impact Section and district detective units to get involved.
“It’s gone from zero to 60,” said a police official who requested anonymity. “This is different — this is a cop.”
Police planned to distribute fliers and to go door-to-door in neighborhoods including Federal Hill, where Tshamba had indicated earlier in the week that he was staying, and Fells Point.
“His attorney claims not to be able to get hold of him,” Guglielmi said, but he “has assured us that [Tshamba] is not a danger to himself or anybody else.”
The attorney, Adam Sean Cohen, did not reply to messages left Saturday at his Baltimore office.
The police effort came as Brown’s friends and associates gathered Saturday evening outside City Hall for a vigil in memory of the East Baltimore resident, whose Marine service included four years of combat duty in Iraq.
About 100 people attended, clutching candles and praying before releasing about a dozen heart-shaped balloons into the air. Some wore T-shirts bearing Brown’s photo.
Several talked before the vigil about his death, and the search for Tshamba. Several Marines from Brown’s unit, the 4th Combat Engine Air Battalion, attended, some from as far away as St. Mary’s County.
Marine James Maguire called Brown “outgoing, honest and friendly” and called what happened “an injustice.”
“It’s so sad,” said Brown’s father, Reginald Dargan, “that he went through all of that [serving in Iraq] and now he had to come here to get killed.”
NY police officer dies after chasing shoplifter www.privateofficer.com
A police officer who arrested a mall shoplifting suspect after a foot chase in suburban New York has collapsed and died.
Authorities said Michael Perry was pronounced dead at a hospital about an hour after arresting the suspect in downtown White Plains on Saturday afternoon. Perry was 43. The cause of death was unknown.
White Plains Public Safety Commissioner David Chong said Perry’s death has shocked the police department to “the very core.” He says it was the first line-of-duty death for the department in 60 years.
Perry was an over seven-year veteran with the White Plains police. He is survived by his wife and 6-year-old twin sons.
Authorities said Perry ran after the 53-year-old suspect after he allegedly stole merchandise from a Macy’s at a downtown mall.
Conway SC shoplifter given 5 years prison term www.privateofficer.com
By: Brett Davis/Staff
PRIVATE OFFICER NEWS
http://www.privateofficer.com/
In an unusual sentencing of a shoplifter, a judge handed a woman who pleaded guilty to habitually shoplifting a hefty prison term. She was sentenced to five years in prison, according to court records.
Elizabeth Dewitt, 43, pleaded guilty to third-offense shoplifting and was sentenced to five years in prison, according to the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
According to court documents, Dewitt has been charged in numerous shoplifting’s throughout the region over a number of years.
She was scheduled to have a trial this week on the charge which stemmed from an Oct. 27 in Conway but took the prison time handed down.
Circuit Court Judge Larry Hyman also ordered her to attend a drug treatment program during her incarceration.
Shoplifter with 21 aliases arrested www.privateofficer.com
Source-Herald-Citizen — A man chased down and arrested for shoplifting yesterday has 21 aliases, police said.
Cookeville Police Officer Michael Herrick took a warrant charging Charles Robert Hall, 54, with theft of property following an incident at the Tractor Supply store on S. Jefferson Ave. The warrant lists him as “homeless,” but a Putnam jail intake record shows his address as W. Market St., Johnson City.
Officer Herrick said he was sent to the Tractor Supply store to investigate a report of a shoplifter and said the store manager told him that two hydraulic fittings valued at $99 had been stolen off the store shelves.
Shortly after the theft was discovered, a man came into the store and attempted to return the stolen items for a cash refund, the warrant says.
When the store clerks told him the items had been stolen, he ran out the door. But Officer Herrick arrived in time to see the man running on S. Jefferson Ave., and he chased him and arrested him.
The suspect’s name, Charles Robert Hall, was checked through police computer networks, and the officer alleges that Hall was found to have 21 aliases, eight different dates of birth, four driver’s license numbers and seven Social Security numbers.
He was booked into the Putnam County jail, where his bond was set at $5,000. He has a July 12 court date.
Read more: Herald Citizen – Shoplift suspect had 21 aliases
Man convicted in stabbing death of security officer www.privateofficer.com
Source: CBS NEWS —A man accused of fatally stabbing a Napa County security guard who was trying to help him find his destination has been convicted of first-degree murder.
The jury also found 31-year-old Juan Jose Hernandez Mendoza guilty of a special weapons allegation Thursday.
Prosecutors say the victim, Manuel Reyes, was a security guard at Veterans Home of California in Yountville who was asked by a cab driver to help her Spanish-speaking passenger. Reyes, who spoke Spanish, offered to drive Hernandez Mendoza where he needed to go.
Prosecutors say Hernandez Mendoza attacked Reyes in the car. Authorities later found the 58-year-old face down on a road with his car crashed into a tree.
A motive for the attack was never determined.
Hernandez Mendoza faces 26 years to life in prison when he’s sentenced Aug. 4.
Injured Nashville security officer tries to settle damages with city www.privateofficer.com
The incident occurred four years ago. A Wackenhut Corp. supervisor directed employee Sam Glover Jr., a security guard stationed at the Ben West building, to help Higgins carry some boxes.
Glover fell on an outdoor staircase that had some missing bricks on the last step. He fractured his ankle and underwent three separate surgeries. Medical bills totaled $78,900, and Glover lost $8,380 in wages.
The fall occurred during the construction of the A.A. Birch Criminal Justice Building, undertaken by Ray Bell Construction. The company had been required to keep the exit passages of the Ben West Building clear at all times.
Glover filed a suit against both Ray Bell Construction and Metro. Ray Bell Construction paid Glover $60,000, while the Metro Department of Law has agreed on a settlement of $69,500.
“It is likely a court would determine Metro had constructive notice of the defective steps and failed to take corrective action,” an analysis from Metro Council Attorney Jon Cooper reads. “Given the substantial amount of medical bills and lost wages, the department of law recommends approving the settlement amount reached at mediation.”
NC security officer cut by suspicious man www.privateofficer.com
Greensboro police said Matthew Vroom of Lankford Protective Services was treated at Wesley Long Hospital for an injury not considered life-threatening.
Police said Vroom told them that he saw a man trying to hide in a wooded area near the bus exit. When Vroom approached the man, the man cut him and ran south toward Davie Street.
Police described the suspect as a black man between 25 and 30 who stnads 5-foot-10. He has a thin build and short hair and wore an oversized dark shirt, long baggy denim shorts and white tennis shoes.
Anyone with information about this incident can call Crime Stoppers at 373-1000
Security officer found dead at CMA festival www.priuvateofficer.com
Kristin Mumford, a spokeswoman for the Nashville police, said 34-year-old Fred Stapleton had been working since about 6 p.m. on Friday and was last seen around 10:30 p.m. patrolling an area of downtown.
Mumford said he was found later inside a medical tent that was being used to provide aid to festival attendees during the day, but was not staffed at night.
Mumford said there were no signs of trauma and an autopsy was being performed. He worked for Rock Solid Security.
Fake construction workers rob Md. armored car www.privateofficer.com
An armored car courier was reportedly robbed just the other night at a Safeway supermarket in Hyattsville.
