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NY corrections officer charged with double murder www.privateofficer.com
Two of the victims died.
The 43-year-old North Babylon woman, identified as Kim Wolfe, is believed to be responsible for separate shootings at Nassau University Medical Center and at a home on Vermont Avenue in Hempstead.
Police say the incident began just before 2 a.m., when it is believed Wolfe shot a maternity ward nurse’s aide in front of the hospital. A security guard reportedly found 45-year-old Stacie Williams, a 23-year employee of the medical center, lying in a corner near the building. It was initially thought she suffered a heart attack, but the guard rolled her over to find multiple gunshot wounds. She later died at the hospital.
Authorities say Wolfe was romantically involved with Williams.
Wolfe then allegedly shot two people, both relatives, at the Hempstead home. One of them, believed to be her 56-year-old uncle, was killed. The other is thought to be her grandfather, who was wounded in the leg. She then abducted her 23-year-old niece from the house and fled in a beige 2001 Mitsubishi Montero.
Wolfe was taken into custody on Harriet Avenue in Hempstead just before 6 a.m. without incident. Police say a gun was recovered in her lap at the time of the arrest, and tests will determine if it was the murder weapon.
The niece is said to be okay. Wolfe, a 19-year veteran who worked the midnight shift supervising inmates at the county jail next to the hospital, was undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.
Additionally, the youngest son of Stacie Williams was struck while running across Hempstead Turnpike to find out about his mother’s condition. He was not seriously hurt and was treated and released from the hospital.
Williams’ brother-in-law, Clarence King, said that the family “did not see this coming,” and had never heard of Wolfe.
Detective Richard Laursen told reporters that Wolfe and the victim had been romantically involved but had split up and were trying to reconcile.
Hospital security accidentally shoots self www.privateofficer.com
Injured in the incident was Shawn Russell, 34, of Lancing, TN. The incident occurred Monday around 7:15 a.m. in the parking lot of CMC Medical Equipment, according to Ptl. Jon Tollett’s report.
Emergency units and city police responded to the parking lot after receiving a report of the gun discharge and found Russell suffering from a gunshot wound to the calf area of his left leg.
He told police he had removed the clip from his automatic weapon and was cleaning the gun as he sat in his pickup truck, waiting to go to work. He failed, however, to remove the bullet in the chamber and while in the process of cleaning the gun, the weapon discharged and struck him.
His injury was serious but was not life-threatening.
NJ Trooper Commits Suicide While On Patrol www.privateofficer.com
A New Jersey state trooper that was found dead inside his patrol vehicle on the died of a gunshot.
Authorities had been investigating the shooting as a homicide and began looking for suspects but that has now changed.
The state trooper apparently killed himself authorities now say.
Sources said investigators at the scene believed evidence gathered points to all indications of a suicide. The officer was found by another officer shortly after 7:30 a.m. near the southbound ramp to Route 34 (exit 98) in Wall Township.
Numerous witnesses reported seeing a car along the road with bullet holes in the window.
Police have not yet released the troopers name.
Former Alabama postal carriers get probation for credit card thefts www.privateofficer.com
Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Butler Jr. followed the recommendation of prosecutors on Tuesday in sentencing 34-year-old Lori Waller and 34-year-old Tonya Calderon. Both women pleaded guilty in March to theft of mail by a postal employee.
Court records show they took two prepaid debit cards and used them to make purchases.
In the other case, 26-year-old Christopher R. Smith of Gulf Shores pleaded guilty to theft of mail by a postal carrier. He took a marked $20 bill that had been sent by investigators.
Man steals airplane, holds it hostage www.privateofficer.com
The plane, a 1975 Beechcraft P-58 Baron, was reported missing Tuesday from the John C. Tune Airport.
After reviewing surveillance tape, the owner of the aircraft recognized the man seen untying the plane and taxing off in it.
The plane’s owner contacted the suspect, Russell Brothers. Brothers said he would not return the plane unless the victim paid him $12,000 that he believed the owner owed him.
Officers arrested Brothers and he admitted he took the plane to the airport in Dickson. Brothers is charged with theft of property worth more than $60,000.
Police don’t call ambulance for beating victim for five hours
Previous reports were unclear as to whether an ambulance had been called earlier in the day.
Marshall Griggs, battalion chief for the fire department, which provides emergency medical service, said Monday that the department was not notified of the situation until 11:08 p.m. Wednesday — three minutes after the Fayette County coroner determined Umi Southworth, 44, was still alive, but several hours after police found the woman, whom they presumed to be dead. Griggs said he didn’t know whether it was standard procedure for officers to call EMTs as well as the coroner when they find what they believe to be a dead body. Sometimes officers call EMTs, and other times they don’t, he said.
Police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts said Monday that an internal investigation is ongoing. Last week, police chief Ronnie Bastin issued a release saying that the Lexington Division of Police was investigating the department’s response “to determine if there was a personnel or policy failure.”
“If we find there has been such a failure, we will take appropriate action,” the release said.
Roberts said she could not say exactly what the internal investigation consisted of.
“We’ll be able to talk about policies and protocols and where we’re going to go from here after our investigation is complete,” she said.
According to police records, Southworth was in the bushes behind her four-plex at 1486 Meadowthorpe Avenue with severe head and facial injuries.
Griggs said the fire department arrived at the scene at 11:11 p.m. with “advanced life support” units. Southworth arrived at University of Kentucky Hospital at 11:33 p.m., where she died the next day.
Southworth was originally reported missing by her co-workers at Fazoli’s corporate headquarters, where she worked as an accountant. Officers arrived at her residence at 6:21 p.m.
Meanwhile, neighbors were still on edge Monday as no arrests have been made in the case.
About 5 p.m., a passing motorist called police to report that a woman was on the front porch of Southworth’s four-plex with a gun.
Responding officers barricaded the street and cautiously approached the property, only to discover the woman was a resident who had come outside to smoke a cigarette, Lt. Chris Van Brackel said.
“Being cautious, she brought a gun out with her,” he said. “Everyone is a little bit nervous.”
Van Brackel said that detectives were working on the case and that officers were taking steps to make sure the neighborhood is safe.
“This was a safe neighborhood last week, and it’s a safe neighborhood right now,” he said.
Fake minister arrested for molesting child www.privateofficer.com
Source: AJC.com A 60-year-old Atlanta man pretending to be a reverend has been accused of child molestation, according to police.
Harold Simpson said he was taking the child to a church in Sparta, about 100 miles southeast of Atlanta, late last month, said Sgt. Curtis Davenport with Atlanta police.
But instead, Simpson molested the boy, the child’s mother told police.
Simpson was arrested Tuesday by Atlanta police and will be taken to Sparta to face charges, Davenport said. Simpson is also charged with two counts of aggravated sodomy, cruelty to children, false imprisonment and enticing a child, police said.
Simpson is being held in the Fulton County jail, Davenport said.
JCJC’s director of campus security has died www.privateofficer.com
A college official says Jefferson “Carl” Monk, Junior, died earlier today. Monk joined JCJC in 2008 — and worked with the college’s police department and office of student affairs.
Monk had nearly four decades of law enforcement experience. Before joining JCJC, Monk was the chief investigator for the Jones County Sheriff’s Department, shift commander for the Laurel Police Department and director of the Leaf River Task Force.
Visitation will be Wednesday night, June 16, from 5:00 until 9:00 at Memory Chapel funeral home. The funeral will be held Thursday morning, June 17, at 10:00 in the JCJC Fine Arts Auditorium. Burial will follow at Hickory Grove Cemetery.
Monk is survived by his wife, Barbara, and their three children. Carl Monk was 61.
Suspect in Md. Trooper murder held without bond www.privateofficer.com
After a brief hearing in the Upper Marlboro courthouse, District Court Judge Jean S. Baron cited the “egregious” nature of the allegations against Anthony A. Milton II, 28, who is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of Trooper Wesley Brown. Brown was off-duty, working as a security guard at an Applebee’s when he was killed.
Milton is accused of providing the gun used to kill Brown. Investigators believe he gave the semiautomatic handgun to his friend, Cyril C. Williams, 28, who is accused of being the gunman. Williams, who also has been charged with first-degree murder, has not appeared in court in Prince George’s.
Brown had ejected Williams from the restaurant for urinating inside and possibly for disputing his bill, according to law enforcement sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing. Williams was so enraged that he returned about 30 minutes later and opened fire on Brown, who was outside talking on his cellphone, they said.
Williams fired six times, investigators said. One bullet struck the trooper in his ankle, and another made its way past Brown’s bulletproof vest and pierced his heart, authorities said.
Brown never had a chance to draw his weapon, investigators said. He stumbled back into the restaurant, mortally wounded.
During the brief hearing, a representative from the county’s pre-trial services division asked the judge to order Milton moved from the county jail to another detention facility outside Prince George’s. The representative did not say why she believed Milton should be moved. But in June 2008, a man accused of killing a county police officer was found unconscious in his cell in the Upper Marlboro facility, and efforts to revive him failed.
An assistant state medical examiner ruled the death of Ronnie L. White a homicide; a state police investigation concluded White could have killed himself. No one has been charged in White’s death.
Assistant State’s Attorney Carol Coderre said she saw no reason for Milton to be moved, and Baron agreed.
Although Williams has a long history of convictions for selling crack and marijuana, Milton’s most serious conviction came in August 2004, when a circuit court judge in Prince George’s sentenced him to four days in jail and supervised probation after he pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and a handgun violation.
A police charging document alleged that Milton was with his girlfriend in the bedroom of their Seat Pleasant apartment when he shot her in the leg with a handgun that Milton said he had found on the street. The girlfriend said the March 24, 2004, incident was an accident, according to the document.
Williams, meanwhile, was on parole at the time of the Brown shooting, and police said he was held over the weekend on a parole violation. According to a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, Williams was paroled July 23, 2008.
Until December, Williams had been supervised under Maryland’s Violence Prevention Initiative, which required three face-to-face meetings a week with a probation officer. That month, Williams was assigned to “intensive supervision,” which required him to check in twice a month by phone.
In July 2006, Williams had pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to five years in prison and three years’ supervised probation.
Man commits suicide at Walt Disney World www.privateofficer.com
The identity of the deceased has not been released to the public because officials are trying to notify his family, the Orlando Sentinel said Tuesday.
The man hanged himself in a wooded area along Hotel Plaza Boulevard near Disney’s Doubletree Guest Suites, the newspaper said.
The body was discovered Sunday.
AWOL soldier arrested trying to enter MacDill Air Force Base
Spc. Christopher Paul Kilburn had been stationed with Alpha Company, 1-16th 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan., a media release from the base said. It did not specify when he left. Kilburn will be turned over to Army officials, and additional charges will be pending as the investigation continues.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office will decide how to charge Kilburn’s companion, Palm Beach resident Micah Noel Goodier.
The couple was arrested Monday evening, when they tried to gain access to the base. The base’s public affairs office did not know if either person had an attorney.
Air Force Col. Dave Cohen said during a news conference earlier Tuesday that it doesn’t appear to have been a terrorism attempt.
Investigators were still trying to get to the bottom of the couple’s motivation and intent, Cohen said.
“We’ve been talking to them since last night trying to get information, and we’re still trying to put that puzzle together,” he said.
The couple’s Honda CRV contained three handguns, three rifles and some ammunition, Cohen said. He described them as “military style” but commercially available.
He said they tried to drive onto the base at about 5 p.m. at a remote gate and flashed phony military identification. A security officer became suspicious, and the couple cooperated when they were asked by officers to get out of the car.
When the weapons were found, a bomb disposal unit was called to examine the car, Cohen said. No explosives were found.
“At no point was the security of MacDill Air Force Base breached,” he said. “The system worked exactly as it was supposed to.”
MacDill, situated on a peninsula south of downtown Tampa, is the home of U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also houses the U.S. Special Operations Command that coordinates the activities of elite units from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.
Last month, an FBI agent who was at the base on unrelated business fatally shot a Vietnam veteran after an altercation. The veteran had been staying at the family campground on the base. Officials said he came at the agent with a knife before he was killed.
