Around 3:30 p.m. on August 29, a police officer with the Huntsville Police Department was fatally shot when he responded to a domestic disturbance in progress at a local restaurant. Upon arriving at the scene, the 27-year-old officer, who had over 3 years of law enforcement experience, parked his patrol vehicle in a tactical position approximately 50 feet from the front door; a backup unit also responded. Within seconds of the officer exiting his vehicle, a man stepped out of the restaurant and began firing at him with a .38-caliber revolver. Though the officer was wearing body armor, the shooter hit and wounded him in the chest and below the waist. The victim officer returned six shots; however, the offender approached the victim officer and shot him fatally at close range in the front of the head. The shooter then went to a nearby vehicle and awaited other responding officers. The assisting officer, a state trooper, and an off-duty officer from another agency took the 31-year-old male into custody without incident. The shooter, who had a prior criminal record including violent crimes, was arrested and charged with Capital Murder.
A 48-year-old officer with the Phoenix Police Department was mortally shot while executing a traffic stop just after 11 a.m. on May 10. The patrol vehicle’s computer showed that the 22-year law enforcement veteran had run a license plate a few minutes earlier and found the car in question to be stolen. Shortly thereafter, the radio dispatcher began receiving 911 calls reporting an officer down. Responding officers found citizens giving medical aid to the victim. The officer, who was wearing body armor, had gunshot wounds to the front of the head and the neck, which were subsequently found to be from a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun. Moments later, the stolen vehicle that the victim officer had observed was found 2 blocks away from the scene of the shooting, and two males had been observed walking away from the vehicle. Officers initiated a search for the individuals. The victim officer was transported to a medical center where he died of his wounds at 3:50 p.m. the same day. Two suspects with prior criminal convictions, an 18-year-old and 27-year-old, were arrested on May 12 and charged with First-Degree Murder.
During an ambush shooting incident on January 9, a 39-year-old sergeant with the Ceres Police Department was shot and killed, and a field training officer was critically injured. The suspect, a self-admitted gang member, called the Ceres Police Department Dispatch Center representing himself as an employee of a local market. He reported that he was being harassed by juveniles and requested that one officer be sent to his location. Fifteen minutes later, around 8:00 p.m. the suspect asked the owner of the market to call the police. He told the store owner that someone had shot at him, and the owner reported this to dispatch. Moments later, the owner of a store across the street called dispatch and reported a suspicious male who appeared to be holding a rifle. The 49-year-old field training officer, with 22 years of law enforcement experience, and his trainee arrived on the northwest side of the building at 8:11 p.m. in a “darked out” patrol unit and, according to a video tape recording, took a position of cover and concealment. The officer put out a “shots fired” call. The suspect was apparently waiting for the officers to arrive, and when he saw them at the corner of the building, he immediately fired at them with a 7.62x39 mm semiautomatic rifle. The field training officer was struck numerous times below his protective vest by the gunfire. Another officer arrived at the scene and helped provide suppression fire as the trainee helped the field training officer to cover, both of them firing as well. On the east side of the store, the 39-year-old sergeant with over 18 years of law enforcement experience arrived and exited his vehicle attempting to take cover behind a retaining wall. The suspect and the veteran sergeant exchanged gunfire. The suspect then ran toward the sergeant while firing his semiautomatic rifle. The rounds penetrated the sergeant’s protective vest, striking him several times in the chest. While the sergeant was down, the suspect fatally shot him two times at close range in the back of the head. The 19-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record and was under the influence of narcotics, fled the area on foot. Officers from several local law enforcement agencies responded to the area and set up a perimeter. Less than an hour later, the suspect was seen jumping a fence into an alley. He fired at officers on the perimeter. Four officers returned fire, killing him.
A 35-year-old police officer with the Pittsburg Police Department died on April 24 as a result of bullet wounds he received on April 23 around 6 p.m. when pursuing robbery suspects. The officer, who had nearly 4 years of law enforcement experience, was wearing body armor when he arrived in a single-officer vehicle at the location of the robbery. Two suspects, who were reportedly armed, had already begun to flee from the scene of the incident. A backup officer arrived to provide assistance, and the two officers began foot pursuit through a residential area. The first officer apparently observed one of the suspects hiding in tall brush. While the backup officer was 20 to 30 yards behind him, the first officer approached the suspect with his service weapon drawn and ordered the suspect to show his hands. From a distance of 11 to 20 feet, the suspect fired several rounds from a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, striking the officer multiple times. Other officers arrived and attempted to rescue the victim officer but were repelled by additional fire from the suspect. When the officers returned fire, the 18-year-old suspect, whose prior rap sheet included weapons violations, violent crime, and juvenile conviction, surrendered. The victim officer was taken to a local hospital, where he was treated for a bullet wound to the lower leg and for wounds that proved to be fatal to the neck and throat area. The alleged shooter was charged with Murder and Enhancements, Attempted Murder of Uninjured Law Enforcement Officers, and Robbery. The second suspect was found hiding several blocks from the crime scene.
A 35-year-old officer with the Los Angeles Airport Police Department was killed on April 29 at 10:45 a.m. while investigating a suspicious-looking pedestrian during a routine vehicle patrol of the airport’s perimeter fence line. The lone officer, who had 3 years of law enforcement experience, got out of his patrol car to talk to the suspect. Having left the driver’s side car door open and the keys in the ignition, the officer engaged the suspect in conversation near the rear of the vehicle. The suspect pushed the officer aside and managed to get in the driver’s seat of the patrol vehicle. As the officer tried to remove him from the car, the suspect began to drive away. Dragging the officer, he used the car as a weapon and swerved it from side to side such that it hit the curb, a fire hydrant, and finally a tree. The officer’s fatal injuries were to the neck and throat area. He died at the scene. The suspect exited the police car, unsuccessfully tried to take one witness’s vehicle, and then fled the scene at high speed in the car of an individual who had stopped to render aid to the officer. The stolen car collided with a curb, jumped the airport’s perimeter fence, and rolled over, trapping the 46-year-old suspect inside. The Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters who removed the suspect from the vehicle noticed that he had tried to slash his wrists with broken glass. The suspect, who had a prior criminal record, was taken into custody and transported to a hospital; he was charged with Murder.
A 35-year-old deputy sheriff with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was killed on June 24 after a subject wanted on assault charges allegedly shot the deputy as the deputy tried to apprehend him. The deputy, a law enforcement veteran with 15 ½ years of experience, was assigned to the Operation Safe Streets Bureau. He was on duty in the city of Hawaiian Gardens shortly after 3 p.m. when he apparently recognized a subject he knew was wanted on assault charges. The subject ran, and the deputy followed and attempted to locate him. After losing sight of the man, the deputy went to an apartment in the neighborhood and spoke to a female resident, one of several people in the apartment. Unknown to the deputy, the subject he was pursuing was hidden behind the open door. While standing on the porch, the deputy asked to see the identification of a man in the apartment. As the deputy examined the man’s identification, the subject allegedly pointed a .38-caliber revolver through the crack between the frame and the door and fired one shot, hitting the deputy in the front of his head. The subject then fled the scene. The deputy was airlifted to a hospital where he died as a result of the injury. The alleged perpetrator, on parole at the time of the incident, was apprehended in a nearby residence, arrested, and charged with Murder. The 27-year-old man had a criminal record that included violent crime, drug crime, police assault, and weapons violations. The handgun recovered at the scene is believed to be the same weapon used to shoot the deputy.
A 42-year-old patrol officer with the San Leandro Police Department was killed on July 25 while investigating a disturbance call. Around 11 p.m. , the officer, who had nearly 4 years of law enforcement experience, was called to a residence where a gathering had sparked complaints of noise and loitering. When the officer arrived at the home, he requested the identifications of several of the people present, including a man who lived there. As the officer was in the process of obtaining this information, he turned his attention away from that individual. Apparently, the man pulled a 10 mm semiautomatic handgun from his waistband and shot the officer in the side of his head. As the officer lay wounded, the suspect shot the officer at least six more times at close range. Bullets entered below the officer’s protective vest, injuring him in the lower torso and fatally wounding him in the chest. The victim officer also suffered wounds to his neck and throat. The 23-year-old suspect, who was on probation at the time of the incident, was arrested and charged with Murder. He had a criminal record that included drug violations and police assault.
A 37-year-old officer with the Rancho Cordova Highway Patrol was killed during a traffic stop a little after 2:30 p.m. on November 17 in Woodland . The veteran officer, who had 12 ½ years of law enforcement experience, was on duty at an intersection when two vehicles passed through the intersection, one right after the other. The officer activated his lights and pulled over the second vehicle, a car. (Investigation later showed the officer may have pulled the car over because it had no license plate.) Seeing the police vehicle’s lights, the driver of the first vehicle, a sport utility vehicle (SUV), pulled over in front of the car. As the officer approached the driver’s window of the car, he waved the driver of the SUV on, indicating that she did not need to stay. When the officer turned his attention to the driver of the car, the driver fatally shot the officer once in the head below his right eye at close range with a .357 magnum revolver. The officer, who was wearing body armor, died instantly. The shooter fled the scene, and a witness used the slain officer’s radio to call for help. Witnesses were able to give police a description of the shooter and the direction in which the car was heading. Following a massive manhunt and investigation that included identifying the suspect and tracking his cell phone activity, the suspected shooter, a 20-year-old male, was apprehended as he left a motel in Rocklin shortly after 3 the next morning. The suspect, who was on conditional release at the time of the murder, was charged with First-Degree Murder. He was a known drug user, had a prior record of drug and weapon violations, and had a prior known mental disorder.
On May 8 at 12:30 in the morning, an off-duty detective with the Denver Police Department was ambushed, shot, and killed while attending a fiesta. The 43-year-old, a veteran of 17 years of law enforcement experience, was at the fiesta with another off-duty Denver detective. Late in the evening of May 7, a male subject attempted to enter the fiesta. The officers refused to allow the man onto the premises. The man left the location, only to return a short time later with a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun, which he began firing at the officers. The first detective was shot three times, in the side of the head and in the lower rear torso and back. The second detective, a 35-year-old veteran of 12 ½ years of police experience, was also shot once in the back, but his protective vest stopped the bullet. After the shooting, the suspect ran from the scene and briefly returned to his home, packed some belongings, and told his girlfriend he was going to California , apparently to his mother’s home in Los Angeles. Responding officers arrived at the shooting location about 1:15 a.m. , and both officers were taken to a local medical center where the first detective was pronounced dead, and the second detective was treated and released. Further inquiry and an interview with the suspect’s mother revealed that the suspect had fled to Mexico . After extensive investigation, the man was located on June 4 in Culiacan , State of Sinaloa , in Mexico . The 19-year-old suspect was taken into custody by the Mexican government and is being held in Mexico City pending extradition.
A 33-year-old deputy with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed while responding to a domestic violence call on February 9. The female who made the initial call warned that her live-in boyfriend had said that he would shoot the first officer that came down the driveway. The deputy, with 8 years of law enforcement experience, and two other deputies arrived on the scene at 9:20 a.m. ; cleared the victim’s home, which was located in a heavily wooded area; but were unable to locate the boyfriend. While the deputies were stringing up crime scene tape, a man emerged from the bushes with a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and shot the veteran deputy in the torso area of his protective vest. Bullets also hit a second deputy, 26 years old, in the shoulder above his protective vest. The two deputies moved back to the patrol cars, taking cover with the third deputy, who had remained behind with the female victim. The suspect then emerged from the woods and fired additional shots at the deputies. During an exchange of gunfire, the 33-year-old deputy was shot in the rear lower torso, in the side of the head, and fatally in the front of the head. The 26-year-old deputy was further wounded in the arms and hands and in the front below his protective vest. The third deputy, aged 49, was also shot in the front below his protective vest. Though deputies wounded the suspect, he managed to flee the area on a motorcycle. The two injured deputies secured the female victim and left the area to meet with backup units. After an all-day manhunt involving nearly 500 law enforcement officers from local, state, and federal agencies, a 29-year-old suspect was arrested and charged with Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer and two counts of Attempted Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer. During the arrest, the suspect, who had a criminal record and was a known drug user, again exchanged gunfire with officers. He was wounded and is paralyzed as a result.
Around 10:30 p.m. on March 27, a 34-year-old sergeant with the Panama City Beach Police Department was shot and killed during a traffic stop. The 6-year veteran of law enforcement pulled over a vehicle for unspecified reasons and obtained the driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance. A check of the information revealed that the man’s license had been revoked. The officer returned to the vehicle to place him under arrest. However, as the officer approached the vehicle, the man produced a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and shot the officer at close range twice in the chest; a third shot missed and hit a passing car. The two bullets that struck the victim officer penetrated his protective vest (body armor failure), and he died at the scene. The alleged shooter fled the scene in his vehicle. When he turned onto a street that dead ended at the beach, he drove onto the beach, where his vehicle got stuck in the sand. He then walked back to the road and hitchhiked to a bar, and from there he hitchhiked another ride to the vicinity of a hotel. During the ride to the hotel, the man made comments about having a violent confrontation with a police officer. The occupants of the second vehicle contacted the police after they dropped the man off and notified them of the man’s comments and his location. The following morning, officers located and arrested the alleged assailant, who was in possession of the gun used to kill the officer the previous night. The 22-year-old, who was on parole and had a prior criminal record that included police assault and weapons violations, was charged with First-Degree Murder, Fugitive from Justice, and Resisting Arrest.
A 30-year-old deputy sheriff with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department died on February 25 from injuries he received while involved with a tactical situation the previous day. At 10:30 p.m. on February 24, the deputy, who had 8 years of law enforcement experience, and other officers with the sheriff’s department were investigating a possible child abduction and molestation in Douglasville. Officers planned to enter a home, serve a search warrant for a suspect in the case, and clear the house. Officers entered the home and took an individual into custody without incident; however, as two officers were clearing a bedroom in the house, they were confronted by the stepfather of the person arrested. The man pointed a .38-caliber revolver at them. Officers told the man to drop the weapon, but he did not comply. One of the officers then fired three rounds from his service weapon, striking the man in the chest. As the mortally wounded 69-year-old suspect fell backward, he fired a single shot, which went over one of the officer’s ballistic shield, grazed the victim officer’s helmet, and struck him fatally in the left eye. The victim officer was flown to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A 43-year-old sergeant with the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office and a 40-year-old Assistant Special Agent in Charge with Immigration and Customs Enforcement were killed on March 11 in the Atlanta area. Just before 9 a.m. inside a local courthouse, a deputy was escorting an inmate, who was being retried on charges of Rape, Aggravated Sodomy, Burglary, False Imprisonment, and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, from a detention area to a holding area. Once inside the holding area, the deputy removed the man’s handcuffs so he could change into civilian clothes for his court appearance. After the deputy removed a handcuff from one hand, the man lunged at her, severely beat her, and took her empty gun belt and keys. He used the keys to open the lockbox holding the unconscious deputy’s service weapon and took the .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun. He went into a judge’s office at the courthouse and ordered several people into the judge’s chambers. The escapee then captured the officer who provided courtroom security for the judge, took his handgun, handcuffed him, and put him in a restroom. Moments later, the escapee reportedly entered the judge’s courtroom and fatally shot the judge and a court stenographer. The officer who had been in the restroom managed to escape and used his radio to broadcast that an officer needed help. The escapee then fled on foot down several flights of stairs. As he emerged from the building, he encountered the Fulton County sergeant, who had 18 years of law enforcement experience. He shot the sergeant once in the stomach with a .40-caliber service weapon, fatally wounding him. He then ran into a nearby parking garage and carjacked four different vehicles at gunpoint. After he parked the fourth car on the basement floor of the parking garage, the escapee ran to the nearby train station and took the train to a different area of town, where he remained until it was dark. Apparently, at 11:30 p.m. , the escapee located and entered a house that was under construction. Once inside the house, which belonged to a federal agent, he encountered the agent who was on the premises working on the home. The agent, who had nearly 19 years of law enforcement experience, identified himself as law enforcement and displayed a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun as he questioned the escapee about his identity and why he was in the agent’s home. During the questioning, the escapee pulled out a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun and shot the agent at close range in the arms and hands and fatally in the lower rib cage. He then took items belonging to the victim agent, including his weapon, money, and keys, before leaving the scene in the agent’s truck. Evidently, the escapee used the victim agent’s truck to drive to another county, where he forced his way into an apartment in Duluth about 2 a.m. on March 12. A woman living in the apartment was returning home at that time when the suspect confronted her and forced her to open the door and let him in. He bound the woman and held her at gunpoint for almost 8 hours. Approximately 9:50 that morning, the woman talked the man into allowing her to leave the apartment to see her child. She left the apartment and called 911. The Gwinnett County Police Department and the FBI responded, and the 33-year-old escapee, who had prior convictions for violent crime, drugs, and weapons violations, was taken into custody without incident about 10:30 a.m. He was arrested and charged with Murder, Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer, and Obstruction of a Law Enforcement Officer. The victim agent’s possessions were recovered following the man’s arrest. At the time this publication was compiled, the injured deputy had not returned to duty and was continuing to receive medical care for the injuries she received in the incident.
Two officers with the Atlanta Police Department were shot, one mortally, at 8:30 p.m. on April 23 while investigating a suspicious person. They were both assigned to a special drug-interdiction squad and were wearing body armor at the time of the incident. The officers were on patrol in a marked police car with a third squad member, who rode in the backseat. As the three officers drove near a park, they noticed a vehicle occupied by two males. Wanting to investigate, the officer who was driving stopped the police car next to and slightly behind the vehicle and turned a spotlight on it. The officer who was in the passenger seat of the police car—a 32-year-old with more than 5 years of law enforcement experience—spoke to the driver of the vehicle. When the officer asked him what he was doing, the man allegedly reached either under the driver’s seat or toward the center console. The officer immediately exited the patrol car from the passenger side. At the same time, the officer who had been sitting in the backseat of the patrol car got out on the driver’s side and positioned himself at the passenger side of the suspects’ vehicle. Simultaneous to this activity, the officer who had been driving exited the car and positioned himself near the trunk of the patrol unit. All three of the officers were outside the patrol unit when the driver of the suspect vehicle began shooting. His first victim was the 32-year-old officer who had been the front passenger of the patrol car. With a .38-caliber revolver and from a distance of less than 5 feet, he fatally shot the officer above his right eye. The officer who had been driving, a 35-year-old with more than 8 years of law enforcement experience, tried to assist the victim. However, the suspect shot this officer in the face from a distance of 6 to 10 feet. The bullet entered his left cheek and exited near his left ear. The third officer discharged his weapon 12 times from the passenger side of the suspects’ vehicle, striking the 19-year-old male 11 times. The man, who had a prior criminal record that included weapons violations, died at the scene. At the time of the incident he was under supervised probation. The passenger in the suspect vehicle sustained 2 bullet wounds. The first victim officer was taken to a local hospital for treatment but died that night. The second victim officer was taken to a local hospital and treated for his injury. After recovering, he returned to duty.
At 4:45 p.m. on August 11, a 25-year-old police officer with the Pine Lake Police Department was shot and killed while assisting another officer attempting to make an arrest. The initial officer stopped an unregistered vehicle and asked the driver to provide his license and proof of insurance. The man told the officer that he did not have his license with him and provided the officer with a name and date of birth. The officer attempted to verify the man’s information, but a communications officer advised him that there was no matching information on file. The officer asked the individual to exit the vehicle, and the man complied. The officer then walked with the man to the back of the vehicle. An assisting officer arrived at the scene and the initial officer attempted to secure the subject. However, the man broke free and jumped into the driver’s side of his vehicle and exited through the front passenger side. The assisting officer, who had nearly 5 years of law enforcement experience, ran to the passenger side of the vehicle with his weapon drawn. The man grabbed the assisting officer, spun behind him, and gained control of the officer’s weapon, a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun. He used the officer as a human shield and ordered the other officer to throw down his weapon. Then the man shot the officer he was holding hostage in the back above his protective vest. The offender exchanged gunfire with the other officer as he dragged the victim officer, still using him as a human shield. Then the man dropped the victim officer and ran into a nearby post office. Officers later found the 31-year-old man, who had a prior criminal record that included violent crimes and weapons violations and who was on parole at the time of the incident, dead of an apparent suicide inside the post office. The victim officer was wounded in his back, neck, and the back of his head, which proved to be fatal. He died at the scene.
The 42-year-old sheriff of the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed on January 19 while attempting to execute an arrest warrant. At 9:44 a.m. , the sheriff, along with two deputies, arrived at a single-family residence and found two individuals present, who indicated that the subject of the warrant was not at the house. The sheriff sought and received permission to search the residence. The two deputies secured the outside of the dwelling while the sheriff, who had 26 years of law enforcement experience, searched the inside. The sheriff called for the subject to come out. While the sheriff was standing near the staircase, the subject, who had hidden himself, reportedly emerged without warning, placed a .44 magnum revolver to the sheriff’s chest and fired twice. The deputies heard the shots, entered the residence, and dragged the victim sheriff from the house. They were unable to return fire as they removed the victim officer. The deputies directed the other two individuals in the residence to flee, leaving the 23-year-old male, who was on parole and under the influence of narcotics, alone in the residence. The victim sheriff was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. Several hours later, after unsuccessful attempts to negotiate with the alleged offender, a Kansas Highway Patrol Special Response Team forced entry into the residence. The offender fired at the troopers, who carried a ballistic shield, until the revolver and a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun were empty. He fought while being arrested, but was eventually subdued and charged with Capital Murder.
During the early hours of April 9, a 38-year-old deputy sheriff with the Harvey County Sheriff’s Office was fatally shot in the face during a tactical situation in which hostage negotiations broke down. He was a veteran officer with nearly 17 years of law enforcement experience. In the same incident, a 33-year-old veteran police detective from the Hesston Police Department sustained multiple bullet wounds but survived; he had 8 years of law enforcement experience at the time of the assault. Both men were wearing body armor and were part of a multi-department emergency response team (ERT) that had been dispatched with a separate team of hostage negotiators as a result of a 911 emergency call. In the late evening of April 8, a young female called the Newton Police Department and indicated that her mother was engaged in a domestic disturbance with the mother’s boyfriend. The caller reported that the suspect was armed. Responding officers declared that it was a hostage situation, since the suspect was allegedly holding an adult female against her will inside the residence. The ERT members and hostage negotiators arrived and established a perimeter barricade. About 3:10 a.m. the negotiators spoke on the phone with the suspect and the victim. At that time, the suspect denied that he had any weapons and agreed to a face-to-face meeting with the negotiators at the door of the residence. The ERT members escorted two negotiators through the perimeter barricade. The suspect opened the front door of the residence but not the storm door. The negotiators asked him how they could help to resolve the situation. The suspect would not let the female go outside, but he did turn on the living room light, making it possible for the negotiators to see her standing in the room. She said something to the suspect that apparently angered him, and he slammed the door shut. Immediately after that, the negotiators and officers reportedly heard him hitting the female and her subsequent screams. Believing that the hostage was in imminent danger, the officers forced their way into the residence using a ballistic shield. As the ERT members entered the residence, the suspect immediately fired multiple rounds from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun. He mortally shot the deputy sheriff, who was the first ERT member to cross the threshold. The suspect then shot the detective, who received wounds to his hands, arm, and leg. Other ERT members returned gunfire and removed the wounded men from inside the house. The detective, who was wearing a SWAT uniform with police lettering, was taken to a local hospital and recovered from his wounds but has not returned to duty. The 46-year-old suspect surrendered around 8 a.m. His prior criminal record included violent crime and police assault. He was a known drug dealer and was under the influence of narcotics and alcohol at the time of the incident. He was charged with Capital Murder, Attempted Capital Murder (2 counts), Criminal Possession of a Firearm, and Aggravated Kidnapping.
A 27-year-old police officer with the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department was shot and killed while investigating a suspicious person shortly before 7 a.m. on March 23. The officer, who had 2 years of law enforcement experience, responded to a call of a vehicle that had left the scene of an accident. Witnesses called dispatchers to report that the vehicle was abandoned nearby and that it was on fire. The callers also indicated that two young males had walked away from the vehicle and were still in the area. Shortly after he arrived in the area of the incident, the officer informed the dispatcher that he was going to get out of his vehicle to speak with two persons that matched the descriptions of the suspects. The officer, who was wearing a protective vest, took a bag from one of the young men and placed it on the trunk of his patrol vehicle. When the officer turned his head to look at the contents of the bag, one of the youths pulled out a .22-caliber revolver and shot the officer in the neck, fatally wounding him. As the victim officer lay on the ground, the suspect shot him three times in the head and unsuccessfully attempted to take the officer’s weapon. Two additional officers arrived at the scene and saw the suspect holding a gun. The officers drew their weapons and ordered him to drop his weapon. The suspect then placed the revolver to his head and pulled the trigger, killing himself. The assisting officers then went to the aid of the victim officer, who was transported to a local hospital where he died during surgery. The 17-year-old suspect was a known drug user who had a prior mental disorder and was on probation. The male who was with the suspect surrendered and was charged with crimes unrelated to the murder of the officer.
A 51-year-old deputy sheriff with the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department was shot and killed while answering a disturbance call in Ledbetter shortly after 11:30 p.m. on June 2. The veteran deputy, who had 5 years of law enforcement experience, arrived at a home where a man was involved in a physical domestic disturbance with his wife and daughter. Shortly after entering the home, the deputy was confronted by the husband, who was armed. The deputy tried peacefully to disarm him, which included using pepper spray, but the offender began firing at the deputy with a 7.62x39 mm semiautomatic rifle, one of two weapons with which the offender was armed. A round wounded the deputy’s right hand, and two rounds entered below the deputy’s protective vest but were deflected by his leather gun belt and accessories. Another round of bullets struck the deputy in the front of the head, fatally wounding him. Prior to succumbing to his wounds, the deputy returned fire, using his service weapon, a 40-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and shot the 48-year-old offender in the chest, justifiably killing him. The offender, who had a criminal record which included drug-related crime, was under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time of the incident.
A 47-year-old sergeant with the Franklin Parish Sheriff’s Office who had nearly 8 years of law enforcement experience was killed while responding to a disturbance call on July 15. Another sergeant with the same agency, 37 years old with nearly six years of law enforcement experience, was wounded, but was able to return to duty. The shooter was a resident who was angry about a crop duster treating a field adjacent to his home. The pilot of the crop duster was making passes over the field when he heard a noise and saw the resident pointing a gun at the plane. The owner of the crop dusting company contacted the sheriff’s office and requested that officers go to the man’s home and monitor him while the pilot of the crop duster finished treating the field. The two sergeants were part of a group of four officers who arrived at the home at 7:30 p.m. The resident, who was under the influence of alcohol, shot at the officers from more than 50 feet away using a 12-gauge semiautomatic shotgun. After the initial shots, deputies told the man to put down his weapon. In spite of the order, the man fired his weapon again, prompting one sergeant to return fire. During the exchange, the victim sergeant, who was wearing a protective vest, suffered a fatal wound to the front of his head and injuries to his arms and hands. The second sergeant was wounded in his lower back when bullets entered below his protective vest. The wounded sergeant returned fire and justifiably killed the 61-year-old resident. The shooter had a criminal record that included police assault. The owner of the crop dusting company said that a year earlier he had a confrontation with that same resident over crop dusting near the individual’s home. At that time, the landowner had opted to treat the field using a tractor.
On August 10, at 3:15 p.m. , three narcotics detectives from the Baton Rouge Police Department were executing a search warrant to investigate the property of an individual who was suspected of growing and distributing marijuana. After knocking on the door of the residence and not receiving a response, the detectives forced their way inside the house. They entered the first room without encountering anyone and then moved toward the doorway of the next room. Later investigation revealed that the suspect was apparently in the second room and was armed with a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun. A man stepped into the doorway and began firing at the officers, all of whom were wearing body armor. One bullet struck one of the three detectives, a 31-year-old, in his ballistic vest. The detective, who had nearly 5 years of law enforcement experience, returned one shot, striking the assailant in the center torso area. The wounded assailant then shot the victim detective in the forehead, killing him. The man attempted a third shot at the detective, but missed him. The assailant turned his gun on the other two detectives, and during the exchange of gunfire, the 41-year-old detective, who had nearly 20 years of law enforcement service, was struck in his neck, and he fell to the floor. The third detective backed toward the front door and continued firing at the assailant, who shot the 35-year-old detective in the right leg just below the knee. That detective, who had 7 years of law enforcement experience, fired several rounds, but his last round failed to eject properly. However, one of the bullets passed through the wall and struck the assailant in the right portion of his torso as he turned to one side; another round struck him in the hand, and he dropped the gun. The 25-year-old male, who had a prior criminal record for violent crimes, surrendered; however, he died from his wounds shortly thereafter. At the time of this publication, the two wounded detectives had not yet returned to duty.
A corporal with the Prince George ’s County Police Department died on June 21 while assisting in a traffic stop in Laurel . The 41-year-old veteran officer, who had more than 14 years of law enforcement experience, was in an unmarked car with his partner at 11:05 a.m. and stopped to assist an officer in a marked car as that officer made a traffic stop. One of two subjects in the stopped vehicle got out on the passenger’s side and began to run. The corporal got out of the unmarked car and began to pursue the subject. The subject turned and fired a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun multiple times, hitting the corporal in his arms and hands and fatally in the chest. All three officers returned fire, wounding the shooter. Both the victim officer and the alleged assailant were transported to the hospital where the corporal was pronounced dead. The 43-year-old suspect, a known drug dealer whose criminal record included drugs and weapons violations, was arrested on June 23 and charged with First-Degree Murder.
At 4:18 in the afternoon on May 9, a 44-year-old detective with the Battle Creek Police Department was shot and killed while investigating a homicide. The 19-year veteran of law enforcement, along with his partner, was following a lead regarding the murder of a taxicab driver. They were attempting to gain entrance to a second-floor apartment of a female whose name was found along with bloody clothes and a knife inside a gym bag that was located in a garbage bin near the scene of the homicide. When the two detectives did not get an answer at the door, the first detective stepped outside the front of the apartment building and attempted to peer through the window. When he failed to see anything, he returned to the front door of the apartment where the detectives heard movement inside the residence. The second detective stepped outside to the back of the building and observed a male on the screened balcony of the apartment. The second detective identified himself as the police and informed the man he wanted to speak with him. The man turned and went back into the apartment. The second detective was reentering the building when he heard shots. He went down the hallway and looked up the stairs to the apartment door’s landing. A man fired a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun at the second detective and wounded his ankle. The second detective returned fire, but the suspect escaped from the rear balcony of the residence. The wounded detective made his way to his partner, who was lying on the landing in front of the apartment door with gunshot wounds to the arms and hands and the front upper torso and chest. The shotgun was nearby and the detective’s service weapon was missing. The wounded detective performed CPR on his partner; the fallen detective was subsequently taken to an area medical facility where he was pronounced dead. The fleeing suspect allegedly carjacked several vehicles and led Dearborn Police on a high-speed chase before wrecking the stolen car and fleeing on foot. The suspect then forcibly took another vehicle and a brief chase with police culminated in his being apprehended by multiple agencies involved. The 21-year-old suspect, who was on parole, was in possession of the victim detective’s service weapon when he was apprehended. He was charged with Willful Killing of Law Enforcement Officer with Firearm, Aggravated Felonious Assault of Law Enforcement Officer, Felon in Possession of Firearm, and Use of Firearm in Commission of Felony.
Around 2:20 on the morning of May 6, a 41-year-old sergeant with the St. Paul Police Department was shot and killed while investigating suspicious persons. The veteran sergeant, who had nearly 18 years of police experience, was working a plainclothes detail with his partner at an area bar. The two sergeants were captured on a video surveillance camera in the street at the rear of the bar shortly after 2 a.m. engaged in a verbal altercation with two male subjects. Following the exchange, the two officers walked from the parking lot and left in separate vehicles for headquarters to end their shift. According to a witness, one of the sergeants pulled in front of the bar and one of the male subjects stepped in front of the officer’s car and resumed the verbal confrontation. As the sergeant observed the second male subject also returning to the confrontation, he called the other sergeant to return and assist him. Both subjects subsequently turned and walked down an alley just as the other sergeant arrived on the scene. The returning sergeant followed them down the alley. As he got close to one of the men, the subject turned and fired a .38-caliber revolver at the victim sergeant, striking him twice in the front upper chest and once in the back upper torso. The second sergeant entered the alley and reached the victim sergeant, who indicated that he was badly hurt. The second sergeant saw one of the subjects silhouetted against a garage and fired at the man but did not hit him. The victim sergeant died as a result of his wounds. Officers established a perimeter at the location of the shooting and arrested both suspects within 4 hours. The two men, a 32-year-old, with a lengthy record that included a prior arrest for murder, and a 27-year-old, also with a prior record, were charged with First-Degree and Second-Degree Murder.
At 5:15 p.m. on September 6, a 32-year-old police officer with the Lino Lakes Police Department was struck and killed by a vehicle involved in a traffic pursuit. The traffic pursuit began in Chisago County when a deputy from the Chisago County Sheriff’s Office noted that a man, who would not stop as directed, was driving a stolen vehicle. The deputy continued the chase into Anoka County and gained assistance from officers from several other agencies. Attempts to stop the suspect with a Precision Immobilization Technique were unsuccessful. When the suspect headed into Lino Lakes , two Lino Lakes police officers traveling in separate vehicles went to a four-lane highway to help stop the suspect vehicle. The first officer, who had 8 ½ years’ law enforcement experience, parked in a crossover on the northbound side of the highway and deployed stop sticks in the southbound lane as the pursuit approached their location. The other officer positioned his vehicle on the shoulder of the southbound lane. As the first officer ran back toward his squad unit, the suspect swerved his vehicle from the southbound lane into the median to avoid the stop sticks, striking the officer on his left side. The force of the impact from the vehicle, estimated to be traveling at 90 miles per hour, threw the victim officer into the air; the officer landed on the far side of the northbound lanes of the highway. The suspect then drove his vehicle onto the northbound lanes and struck a van head-on. Though the suspect attempted to flee on foot, he was apprehended by pursuing officers. The victim officer suffered fatal injuries to the side of his head, as well as extensive injuries to the rear torso below his waist. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. The driver of the van was airlifted to the hospital; he was subsequently released but required further recovery. The 26-year-old male, who had a prior conviction for criminal behavior and was under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident, was arrested and charged with Second-Degree Murder, Fleeing Police in Motor Vehicle—Death, and Fleeing Police in Motor Vehicle—Injury. A grand jury later charged the man with First-Degree Murder of a Police Officer.
The Chief of Police of the French Camp Police Department was shot and killed in an ambush at 10:20 p.m. on February 4. The 32-year-old chief, a 6-year veteran of law enforcement, was assisting an officer in the pursuit of a vehicle that had begun in Ackerman. An officer with the Ackerman Police Department had attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver refused to stop and sped out of the town. The French Camp Chief of Police and a Choctaw County deputy joined in the chase, which ended at a residence in Millsprings. Two occupants remained in the vehicle, but the male driving the car and a female passenger got out and ran into the house. The chief and the deputy ran into the house after the pair. The deputy went into the kitchen chasing the female, while the chief, who was wearing body armor, went to the dining room and questioned the woman who owned the house about the whereabouts of the male. A 16-year-old male, who had a prior criminal record and was under supervision at a halfway house, walked up behind the chief, and from less than 5 feet away, shot him in the side of the head with a 16-gauge pump-action shotgun, killing the chief instantly. The deputy arrested the male, who was charged with Capital Murder.
On March 17 about 2:50 p.m. , a patrol officer with the Jackson Police Department was shot and mortally wounded during a traffic pursuit. The 40-year-old officer, who had 9 years of law enforcement experience, was patrolling on his motorcycle when he was flagged down by a man who told the officer that he was the victim of a carjacking just minutes before. The man provided the officer with a description of his vehicle and shortly thereafter, the officer spotted the vehicle, and began to pursue it. During the chase that ensued, the driver lost control of the carjacked vehicle as he attempted to turn left and wrecked. The vehicle came to rest with the passenger side lodged into a ditch. The officer pulled up to the scene, parked his motorcycle, and walked toward the driver’s side of the vehicle. The 18-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record, climbed out of the car from the driver’s side window and fell onto the ground. The suspect then stood up, pulled out a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and shot the officer once in the stomach. The victim officer returned fire, hitting the suspect three times and fatally wounding him. The victim officer was taken to a local hospital where he died of his wound.
At 10:10 p.m. on August 13, a patrol officer with the Crystal Springs Police Department was shot and killed while pursuing a man who had fled a traffic stop on foot. The 32-year-old officer and his partner had stopped a suspect vehicle and were being assisted by another officer. As soon as the suspect vehicle stopped, the driver exited the vehicle and fled on foot. The patrol officer, who had nearly 1 year of experience, immediately exited the passenger side of the patrol unit and gave chase, while the other two officers secured the two passengers in the suspect vehicle. Minutes later, one of the officers heard a single gunshot from the direction of the foot chase, followed by the victim officer’s call for assistance on his radio. Having heard the victim officer’s location over the radio, his partner left the passengers in the custody of the assisting officer and went to help. Upon arriving at the scene, the responding officer found the victim officer lying in a ditch on the side of the street with a gunshot wound in the front of his chest and his service weapon missing. Though the victim officer was wearing body armor, a bullet entered either through the armhole or the shoulder area of the vest. Apparently, the suspect had gained control of the officer’s .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, shot the officer in the chest, and then left the scene. Responding emergency medical personnel transported the victim officer to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his wound. Two days later, law enforcement apprehended a 19-year-old male, who was on probation at the time of the incident. He was arrested and charged with Capital Murder and Resisting Arrest.
At 11:30 p.m. on September 28, a corporal with the Waynesboro Police Department was killed by a shotgun blast after he initiated a traffic stop. Responding to a call about a van that reportedly had been stolen from the parking lot of a local bar, the 31-year-old corporal, who had over 2 years of law enforcement experience, spotted a vehicle matching the description of the stolen van. He called another responding officer and reported that he was attempting to stop the vehicle. The corporal then advised dispatch of the stop location and the vehicle’s license plate number. When the assisting officer arrived at the scene, he found only the victim corporal lying dead near his police vehicle. Based on footage from the video camera in the victim’s police vehicle, the corporal had approached the suspect vehicle, and a shotgun blast from within the vehicle shattered its window and struck the corporal fatally in the front of the head and in the neck. The van then pulled away. That same evening, officers from the Waynesboro Police Department and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation located a 31-year-old male who had a prior conviction for criminal behavior and was a known drug user. Upon being questioned, the man confessed to killing the officer and led investigators to the location of the murder weapon, a 12-gauge bolt-action shotgun. Police arrested the man and charged him with Capital Murder, Possession of a Firearm by Convicted Felon, and Grand Larceny.
Two officers with the Wiggins Police Department were shot and killed at 8 p.m. on November 27 while responding to a domestic disturbance call. Both officers, one a 23-year-old shift supervisor with 5 years of law enforcement experience, and the other a 48-year-old officer with 23 years of service, arrived at a mobile home and were met at the door by a woman who said her husband’s best friend had beaten her. The officers asked the alleged assailant to step outside. However, the 6-foot-4-inch man jumped both officers and wrestled them to the ground simultaneously. During the struggle, the suspect managed to disarm the 48-year-old officer and fired 5 shots from the .40-caliber semiautomatic service handgun. One of the shots struck the 48-year-old officer in the side of his chest, mortally wounding him. Two shots struck the 23-year-old officer: one bullet went into his thigh and the second struck him fatally in his back. The man fled the scene and drove to his home in another town where he later surrendered to law enforcement authorities. The 46-year-old man, who had a prior criminal record, was arrested and charged with 2 counts of First-Degree Murder.
A 26-year-old officer with the Columbia Police Department died on February 10 from injuries she received during a traffic stop a month earlier. The incident occurred shortly before 10 p.m. on January 10 when the officer, who had nearly 2 ½ years of law enforcement experience, pulled an individual over for an unknown violation. The officer approached the vehicle and obtained the driver’s license. As the officer stood outside the subject’s vehicle, the individual pulled out a concealed .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun and shot at her. The round missed the officer, who retreated between the suspect’s car and her patrol car. The suspect pursued the officer as she attempted to draw her weapon. The individual fired a second shot from close range. The victim officer was wearing body armor, but the round struck her in the top of her left shoulder and continued into her neck area, resulting in severe damage to her throat and spine and leaving her immediately incapacitated. The suspect then moved directly over the victim officer and fired two additional shots, one into her rear upper left arm and another in the front of the victim officer’s neck. The 23-year-old man, who had a prior record involving police assault, returned to his vehicle and fled. The incident, which was captured on the victim officer’s in-car video, took less than a minute to unfold. Later, the suspect, who was known to use, possess, and deal drugs, was involved in a foot pursuit with officers. During that foot chase, he shot a second officer and then committed suicide.
At 4 p.m. on March 20, a sergeant with the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Willow Springs, was killed in an ambush outside his home in Van Buren. The 37-year-old sergeant, who was a 12-year veteran of law enforcement, returned home from work and parked his car in the driveway. He exited his vehicle and opened the back door on the driver’s side when he was shot in the back by a person with a .223-caliber rifle. Although the sergeant was wearing protective armor, the bullet penetrated his vest (body armor failure). The sergeant was then shot in the neck, side of the head, and back of the head, which proved to be the fatal wound, by a man with a shotgun, for which no description was available at the time of this publication. Officers arrested a 28-year-old man who knew the victim officer and had a prior criminal record that included drug arrests. He was charged with First-Degree Murder, Armed Criminal Action, and Felony Leaving the Scene of an Accident, in connection with the sergeant’s death.
A 43-year-old veteran sergeant with the Kirkwood Police Department was killed on July 5 at 7:35 p.m. when an assailant ambushed him. The sergeant, who had nearly 21 years of law enforcement experience, was responding to a fireworks complaint when he stopped his patrol car to speak to some young people. With both front windows rolled down, the sergeant remained seated in the patrol car, talking to the youths, as an assailant approached from the rear passenger side of the vehicle and reached inside to fire several shots with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, wounding the sergeant and one of the young people. The sergeant accelerated the vehicle, moving several hundred feet forward away from the attacker. The vehicle struck a parked car and came to rest against a tree. Neighbors called for assistance and helped the sergeant get out of his patrol car. As the sergeant lay wounded on the ground, the assailant approached and shot the sergeant several more times at close range injuring the front and side of his head, and wounding him fatally in the back of his head. The assailant then took the sergeant’s service weapon and spare ammunition and walked away from the scene. The alleged assailant, a 19-year-old male who was on probation at the time of the incident, remained at large for 3 days before surrendering to police. The suspect, who knew the victim officer through a law enforcement relationship, was charged with First-Degree Murder. A known drug dealer and user, the alleged assailant had a criminal record that included police assault and weapons violations. The youth also wounded in the attack was expected to recover fully.
Two patrol officers with the Albuquerque Police Department were shot and killed about 9:40 p.m. on August 18 when they attempted to transport an allegedly deranged person who was slated to receive a mental evaluation. Upon arriving at the designated area, the two officers talked to the subject for several minutes to secure a level of his cooperation. However, the man produced a .45-caliber revolver and began shooting. One round struck the 50-year-old patrol officer, who was wearing body armor, in the back of the head, killing him instantly; the victim officer was a 21-year law enforcement veteran. The 46-year-old patrol officer, who was also wearing body armor, returned fire, striking a tree where the shooter had taken cover. The officer then took cover behind the patrol vehicle. During the following exchange of gunfire, the man struck the officer, also a 21-year law enforcement veteran, in the upper and lower back. Another shot entered the victim officer’s ballistic vest through the armhole or shoulder area, mortally wounding him. The shooter then fled the scene on his motorcycle but was apprehended a short time later. Police discovered that the man, who had a history of mental disorders, had allegedly been involved in three homicides earlier in the day. The 48-year-old man was arrested and charged with five counts of Murder on August 19.
A 35-year-old police officer with the New York Police Department was shot at 2:50 a.m. on November 28 while attempting to make a traffic stop in Brooklyn . The 5-year veteran officer and his partner were on patrol in an unmarked police car when they saw the driver of a car run a red light. In an attempt to pull him over for the violation, the officer pulled along the passenger side of the suspect’s vehicle. At the same time, the suspect fired at least 5 shots through the passenger-side open window with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun. The officers returned fire; however, they did not hit the suspect. Three of the bullets fired by the suspect were embedded in the door on the driver’s side of the police car; one bullet went through the car’s rear left door, and one bullet grazed the bottom metal window rim of the driver’s door and then struck the victim officer in the left torso between his protective vest panels. The victim officer initially did not realize he was shot, and he continued driving in pursuit of the suspect’s vehicle. The suspect drove down the garage ramp of an apartment building, and the door of the garage closed behind him. The victim officer exited his vehicle and then realized he had been shot. He was rushed to a local hospital where he spent several hours in surgery. Later that day, the officer succumbed to the single gunshot wound that had grazed his heart.
In the meantime, investigating officers located the alleged shooter’s vehicle in the parking garage into which he had driven. A check of the vehicle’s registration led them to an individual who told the officers that he recently had sold the car to a man. They traced the man to his girlfriend’s apartment, where he eventually surrendered to the officers. They found the weapon used in the murder of the officer in the courtyard behind the girlfriend’s apartment building, where the alleged shooter had apparently thrown it. The 27-year-old man, who was on probation and who had a prior record including police assault and other violent crimes, was arrested later that day and charged with First-Degree Murder, Second-Degree Murder: Intentional, First-Degree Robbery, Attempted Murder, and Assault With Intent to Cause Serious Injury.
A 28-year-old police officer with the New York Police Department was shot on December 10 at 5:20 a.m. while attempting to stop a burglary in progress. The officer was awoken in his home by the sound of breaking glass at his neighbor’s house. He gathered his police shield, cell phone, and off-duty weapon, and went outside to investigate. He called for backup after seeing a broken basement window. As two individuals emerged from the house, the officer identified himself as a police officer and gave a verbal command to stop. One of the suspects, aged 48, fired a .357-caliber revolver, striking the police officer in the chest. Despite being wounded, the officer was able to return fire, hitting the suspect four times and the other suspect, aged 29, twice. The victim officer was transported to a nearby medical center where he was pronounced dead at 6:09 a.m. Responding officers arrested the suspects, both known drug users with criminal records, near the scene of the shooting. The 48-year-old suspect was charged with First-Degree Murder – Law Enforcement Officer, Burglary-Dwelling, Criminal Use Firearm, and Second-Degree Criminal Possession Weapon. The 29-year-old suspect was charged with First-Degree Murder – Law Enforcement Officer, Burglary-Dwelling, Second-Degree Murder: Intentional, Criminal Use Firearm, and Criminal Possession Disguised Gun.
A 36-year-old patrol officer with the Boiling Spring Lakes Police Department was shot and killed after initiating a traffic stop on January 18. At 1:15 a.m. , the officer, with over 6 years of law enforcement experience, stopped a vehicle with two male occupants and one female occupant. The officer found a small amount of marijuana in the vehicle. He ran a license check on the driver and was notified that the driver was wanted in another county for a probation violation. As the officer attempted to arrest the man, he retrieved an empty liquor bottle from his vehicle and struck the officer in the head; they both fell to the ground. The officer pulled his weapon, but the suspect gained control of the officer’s .40-caliber semiautomatic service handgun. The suspect then fired one shot into the officer’s shoulder and two fatal shots into the officer’s head. A back-up officer from another agency arrived, and the suspect fired four shots at the Southport officer before fleeing the scene in the vehicle he had been driving. Officers from two other departments located the suspect’s vehicle and gave chase. When the suspect stopped and exited his vehicle, he fired shots at the officers and fled on foot. He was found a short time later hiding under a mobile home. The 19-year-old suspect was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder, Assault with Firearm on Law Enforcement Officer, Attempted First-Degree Murder, Assault with Deadly Weapon with Intent to Kill, and Robbery with Dangerous Weapon.
A 33-year-old police officer with the Columbus Division of Police was shot and killed on January 6 while working special duty at a bank. Just after 10:30 a.m., a masked man entered the bank with a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun and ordered customers and employees to the floor. The man then ran toward the teller’s counter with the weapon pointed toward the employees and fired seven times at the officer who was standing behind the counter. The bullets entered the officer’s front upper torso above his protective vest. Despite being shot, the officer returned fire and wounded the 29-year-old would-be robber who fled the scene without any money. The victim officer, who had over 8 years of law enforcement experience, died at the scene. The suspect, who had a prior criminal record, was arrested without incident on January 9 while hiding in the basement of a residence in Columbus . In addition to confessing to the robbery and the murder of the police officer, he also confessed to other robberies. He was arrested and charged with Murder and four counts of Bank Robbery.
A 44-year-old patrol officer with the Chillicothe Police Department was shot to death on April 21, at 9:10 p.m. while investigating a suspicious person. The veteran officer, with 19 years of law enforcement experience, was off duty and had been visiting his parents immediately prior to the incident under examination. His parents’ home was located across an alley from his residence. As he walked toward his home, he apparently observed not only the reflecting overhead emergency lights of a police vehicle but also a potential suspect in the alley. Unbeknownst to the officer, the suspect was armed and had allegedly stolen a car and robbed a gas station within the previous 20 minutes. Other officers of the Chillicothe Police Department had pursued him and attempted a traffic stop of the stolen vehicle, but the suspect abandoned it and fled down an alley on foot. One of the officers followed the suspect on foot. The suspect then turned down another alley, where he was seen by the off-duty officer. It is believed that the officer transitioned to on-duty status and, unarmed, pursued the suspect. From a distance of less than 5 feet, the suspect fired at the officer with a .38-caliber handgun, striking him in the neck and killing him instantly. Additional officers arrived at the scene and found the body of the victim officer in a dark area of the alley. The officer’s cell phone was found in his right hand, and his personal keys were located next to his left hand. An extensive crime scene search on April 27 resulted in the recovery of a second bullet located in the side paneling of a garage, approximately 220 feet from where the victim officer was shot. The 34-year-old suspect was a known drug user and was on parole at the time of the incident. The man was arrested on April 30; he confessed to the shooting on May 1 and was charged with Aggravated Murder and Aggravated Robbery.
On November 11 at 7:30 p.m. , an off-duty agent with the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, Oklahoma City, who was at home at the time, learned of the location of a known felon who was on probation for attempting to manufacture methamphetamine. The 38-year-old agent, who had more than 8 ½ years of law enforcement experience, left his house and went on duty in his bureau vehicle. The agent drove to where the suspect was and pulled him over in a traffic stop. The suspect exited his vehicle, and as the agent attempted to arrest him, a physical altercation erupted. The suspect managed to get back into his vehicle; however, the agent still was holding onto him. The man accelerated the car and attempted to leave the scene and escape arrest. The vehicle gained a high rate of speed as the suspect continued driving with the agent holding onto him. Eventually, the agent was able to draw his weapon and fire one shot, striking the suspect and subduing him. However, the agent lost his grip on the man and the vehicle, which was still moving, and he slid under the vehicle and was mortally wounded as it ran over him. The vehicle continued moving for approximately 30 yards and then struck a tree and stopped. The victim agent sustained fatal wounds to the side of his head in addition to injuries below his waist. He was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on November 18. The 29-year-old alleged assailant, who was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident, suffered a life-threatening wound from the gunshot and was also transported to a local medical facility. After an extensive recovery period, the alleged assailant remained paralyzed from the middle of his chest to his feet. At the time this publication was compiled, murder charges had yet to be filed against the man, and a prior deferred sentence for drug abuse violations was to be revoked.
One police officer with the Newtown Township Police Department was fatally shot and another was assaulted while handling a prisoner around 6:20 p.m. , on September 29. A man in custody for possibly driving under the influence had been transported to a medical facility where he was to provide blood and urine samples as the two officers and a medical technician monitored him. After exiting the bathroom, the suspect was directed to turn around so that one of the officers could handcuff him. As the 31-year-old officer, who had nearly 5 years’ law enforcement experience, reached for his handcuffs from under his jacket, the suspect suddenly turned and disarmed him. The officer reached toward the suspect; however, the suspect blocked the officer with his hand and fired one shot from the officer’s .357-caliber revolver. The round went through the suspect’s own hand and struck the officer in the chest, knocking him to the floor. The suspect then shot the 46-year-old officer, who had over 2 years of law enforcement experience and was wearing body armor, in the abdominal area, knocking him to the floor as well. The gunman then shot the medical technician, walked over to the second victim officer, and fatally shot the officer in the left temple. Reportedly, he stood over the officer, made a derogatory remark, leaned down, and fired another bullet into the lower left side of the officer’s head. The gunman walked back over to the first victim officer, who was still lying on the floor. He aimed the gun at the officer’s head and pulled the trigger five times. However, the gun was out of ammunition. Next, the man ran down a corridor toward the emergency room waiting area, where he dropped the victim officer’s gun on the floor before exiting to an attached parking garage. Officials placed the medical center in a lockdown status, and police SWAT teams searched the facility. A SWAT officer discovered the gunman sitting in a vehicle that he had apparently broken into on the top level of the parking garage. When the man refused to get out of the vehicle, officers deployed a flash-bang and broke out one of the vehicle’s windows to gain access to the man. After a brief struggle, officers arrested the 38-year-old man, who was under the influence of alcohol and had an extensive criminal record including police assault. Charges against the offender include First-Degree Murder, Aggravated Assault (4 counts), Robbery (4 counts), Terroristic Threats (2 counts), Recklessly Endangering Another (10 counts), Escape, Former Criminal Not to Own a Firearm, Criminal Attempt at Murder (2 Counts), Simple Assault, Unlawful Restraint, DUI, Resisting Arrest, and Disarming a Law Enforcement Officer. The wounded officer has since returned to duty.
A corporal with the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP), Pittsburgh, was shot and killed following a high-speed traffic pursuit well before dawn on December 12. The 45-year-old corporal began midnight-shift duty for the PSP-Pittsburgh station at 11 p.m. on December 11. About 1:55 the next morning, he contacted the PSP dispatch center to report his pursuit of a vehicle for a traffic violation and to request assistance. After the vehicle crashed onto the curb at a motel entrance, the corporal ordered the two passengers, who had gotten out of the car on the passenger side, to show their hands. He also commanded the driver to move to the trunk area on the driver’s side of the car. The driver reportedly became verbally combative and refused to comply with the command. According to one of the passengers, when the corporal tried to place the driver’s hands on the car, the driver attempted to attack the corporal physically. The corporal then sprayed the suspect with pepper spray, but the suspect grabbed the officer’s arm and hand. During this struggle, the suspect allegedly took the corporal’s service weapon, a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and shot him multiple times. The victim corporal, who had nearly 24 years of law enforcement experience, suffered wounds to the neck and throat. The fatal bullet entered his chest through the armhole or shoulder area of his body armor. The passengers fled the scene on foot before the shooting began but later reported hearing gunshots fired in rapid succession. The suspect left the scene in his own vehicle. Assisting officers discovered the victim corporal at 2:05 a.m. on the ground of the motel parking lot entrance. The emergency lights of his marked PSP vehicle were still flashing, and the driver’s door was open. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:26 a.m. Later that day, with the help of a confidential informant, officers were able to locate the suspect driver and the two passengers. One of the passengers reported receiving a cell phone call from the suspect, who allegedly referred to the shooting during the call. The suspect reportedly placed a second call requesting that the passenger return to the scene and retrieve a Glock handgun. The passenger refused to do so. The passenger reported that he had observed the suspect attempting to conceal the Glock under the driver’s seat prior to encountering the corporal. Members of a PSP forensic services unit subsequently found the fully loaded Glock in shrubbery near the motel parking lot. The 30-year-old suspect, who was under supervised parole at the time of the incident, had an extensive criminal history record, including prior convictions for weapons violations and drug-related crime. He was not licensed to carry a firearm. He was arrested on December 14 and charged with Criminal Homicide, Disarming a Law Enforcement Officer, Resisting an Arrest, Violation of Use of Firearm, Theft, and Fleeing the Police.
On July 24 at 1:50 in the morning, an agent with the Police of Puerto Rico in Hato Rey was shot and killed in an ambush. The 22-year-old agent, with nearly 4 years of law enforcement experience, was off duty and standing on a street corner attending a festival. A 19-year-old male confronted the agent and began to threaten him. A second male approached the agent from behind, placed a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun against the agent’s neck, and fired three times hitting the agent twice in the neck and once in the side of the face. The two men then fled the scene, one on a motorcycle. The wounded agent was taken to the paramedic station of the festival but was unresponsive. The agent died of his wounds. Subsequently, the 19-year-old suspect was cited to come to the station for a line-up, was identified, and arrested. He then provided information that led to the arrest of a 23-year-old suspect that he identified as the shooter. The 19-year-old, who had a prior criminal record, was convicted of Weapons Violations and First-Degree Murder and sentenced to 20 years for the weapons charge and 99 years in prison for the murder. The 23-year-old, who was under supervision at the time of the incident, was charged with Possession of a Firearm and First-Degree Murder. He was acquitted of all charges based on reasonable doubt; an electronic monitoring device he was wearing at the time of the shootings did not register that he was at the scene of the murder.
A 34-year-old undercover agent with the Police of Puerto Rico in Fajardo was shot and killed en route to an undercover drug buy around 7:30 a.m. on August 1. The officer, who had nearly 3 years’ law enforcement experience, had met at 7 a.m. with a subject who was to accompany him on a ferry to meet a drug supplier on a nearby island. The officer had $4,000 on his person in order to purchase marijuana in the planned drug transaction. Presumably because the officer was not heard from after the buy, police officers apprehended the subject later that night as he was leaving his place of employment. The suspect was a known drug dealer and user, had prior convictions for criminal behavior, and was on probation at the time. In addition, he was driving the undercover vehicle assigned to the missing undercover officer. Police arrested the 24-year-old and charged him with Carjacking-Drug Related. During an extensive search, police located the body of the missing officer in a remote area in the mountains overlooking Luquillo on August 5. The officer had been shot in the back of the head at close range with a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun, presumably in a parking lot close to the pier from which the ferry departed.
On April 16, shortly before midnight , a detective sergeant assigned to investigative activity was interrogating a felony assault suspect on the premises of the Providence Police Department (PPD) when the suspect overpowered him, took his .40-caliber semiautomatic service handgun, and shot him twice at close range. The 50-year-old sergeant, who had nearly 27 years of law enforcement experience, was taken to a local hospital, where he died at 12:29 a.m. on April 17 of a wound to the front of his head; the other bullet had entered his chest. The suspect had allegedly assaulted an 83-year-old woman during the afternoon of April 16, stabbing her in the back during an attempted robbery. By that evening, police officers had apprehended him and had taken him to a PPD conference room on the third floor to be interrogated by two detectives. One of the detectives left the room to fulfill the suspect’s request for a cup of water, leaving the sergeant alone with the suspect. Because he had not yet been arrested, the suspect was not handcuffed. When he was alone with the sergeant, the suspect got up from his chair and locked the door to the conference room. He assaulted the sergeant, took his service weapon, and shot him. The suspect then entered an adjacent office, shot the glass out of a window, and jumped 30 feet to the street below. He is believed to have called a taxi service, stating that he had $500 and wanted a ride from downtown Providence to Boston . The taxi driver reported the call to the PPD, and officers converged on the designated area. They arrested the 26-year-old suspect, who resisted with a violent struggle. He was charged with First-Degree Murder. The suspect was a known drug dealer; his prior criminal record included violent crime, weapons violations, and drug-related crime. At the time of the incidents under examination the man was on supervised probation.
A 29-year-old lance corporal with the South Carolina Highway Patrol in Blythewood was killed just before noon on May 16 while assisting in the pursuit of an armed robbery suspect by the Clarendon County Sheriff’s Department and the Manning Police Department. The corporal, who had more than 7 years of law enforcement experience, had pulled his cruiser to the shoulder of the road to await the pursuit in progress. As the suspect’s vehicle approached the cruiser, the suspect allegedly intentionally crashed into the victim corporal’s vehicle, causing it to go airborne into the trees and catch fire. Pursuing officers immediately rushed to the crashed patrol vehicle to render aid but were unsuccessful at rescuing the corporal. Emergency medical services responded but were also unable to save the corporal, who was fatally injured by the crash and fire. The driver of the fleeing vehicle, who was under the influence of narcotics, was transported to an area health center and treated for his injuries. The 34-year-old man was arrested and charged with one count of Murder.
At 11:15 in the evening of May 8, a 27-year-old deputy sheriff with the Llano County Sheriff’s Office was fatally shot while making a traffic stop. The deputy, with 3 years of law enforcement experience, had responded to a report of a reckless driver. Both the license plate of the suspect vehicle and an individual’s driver’s license had been reported to dispatch by the officer shortly before a citizen used the officer’s radio to tell dispatch that the deputy was lying next to his vehicle with a gunshot wound to the front of the head. Two more 911 calls from other individuals followed. The victim died the next day of the wound, subsequently found to be from a .22-caliber revolver. After a 10-hour extensive investigation and search, pilots with the Texas Department of Public Safety located the suspect in a wooded rural area. Officers surrounded the 30-year-old suspect. When the man became aware of the officers and the helicopters, he shot himself once in the head. The assailant, who was on parole at the time of the shooting, died the next day of the self-inflicted wound.
In the early morning hours of November 13, a 28-year-old police officer from the Dallas Police Department was shot and killed when he and his partner responded to a second call for police assistance for a domestic disturbance involving an armed offender. The officers arrived at the scene and learned that the suspect had fled the location of the disturbance and that the initial responding officers were searching the area. At 3 a.m. , as the officers were joining the search, the suspect began firing a .357-caliber revolver in their direction. In the exchange of gunfire that followed, the victim officer, a veteran with nearly 6 years of law enforcement experience, managed to return 3 shots before he was struck once in his upper torso. The bullet entered between the side panels of his body armor, immediately killing him. A 28-year-old man, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, was arrested at the scene. The alleged shooter, who had a prior criminal record, was charged with Capital Murder, 3 counts of Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer, and Aggravated Assault.
On November 29 at 2 p.m. , a 39-year-old officer with the Fort Worth Police Department was shot while attempting to arrest an individual who was the alleged subject of a felony warrant. The 17-year veteran officer and two other officers arrived at a residence where they thought the subject was staying. A female acquaintance of the subject met the officers at the door and told them that the man for whom they were searching was not inside. She invited the officers into the dwelling and gave them permission to search the rooms. As the officers approached a bedroom and opened the door, a man inside the room fired at them with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun. In the exchange of gunfire that followed, the assailant shot the victim officer in the front of his head, and he fell to the floor. The shooter fled the residence through a window and went into a nearby house where he took a hostage. A shootout between police and the assailant ensued. A SWAT team arrived, and the 39-year-old assailant, who had a history of violent crimes and drug abuse violations, released the hostage unharmed and surrendered to the SWAT officers without further incident. The man, a parolee who was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident, was arrested and charged with Capital Murder and Aggravated Kidnapping. The victim officer lingered for two days, but on December 1, succumbed to the gunshot wound.
A 41-year-old veteran police officer with the Pentagon Force Protection Agency died on February 14 from injuries he sustained during a traffic stop at 8:15 a.m. on January 11 in Arlington . The officer, who had 12 years of law enforcement experience, was manning an outdoor security booth at the Pentagon when he was run over by a vehicle that had been carjacked. The incident began when an individual carjacked a vehicle from a fast-food restaurant in Alexandria . The Alexandria Police Department located the suspect and attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver did not yield. Alexandria police officers pursued the vehicle through the city, into Arlington County , and then toward Washington , D.C. Because of heavy traffic, the carjacker turned the vehicle around and went the wrong way down a ramp into a parking lot at the Pentagon. The Alexandria police temporarily lost sight of the vehicle, and the officer at the security booth did not know the vehicle had been carjacked or was being pursued. The officer stepped out of the security booth and held his arms up in an attempt to stop the vehicle. The vehicle struck the officer, who was thrown into the air by the impact and landed on the pavement. The victim officer suffered injuries to nearly every part of his body. The vehicle continued to travel after hitting the officer until a police cruiser with the Alexandria Police Department then hit the suspect’s vehicle, blocking it in against a guardrail. A struggle ensued between four police officers and the suspect. During the struggle, the suspect took an Alexandria officer’s weapon and fired two shots. One round did not hit anyone, but one round struck the suspect in the leg. Alexandria police then apprehended the 22-year-old suspect and took him to the hospital. He was treated, released into the custody of the U.S. Marshal’s Service, and charged with two counts of Attempted Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer, Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer, Carjacking, and Use of a Firearm During a Crime of Violence. The victim officer was transported to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries on February 14.
A 45-year-old police officer with the Chesapeake Police Department was shot and killed at 9:50 a.m. on October 8 while he was assisting other officers who were responding to a silent alarm activated during a bank robbery. The officer, who had nearly 2 years of law enforcement experience, arrived at the scene and noticed four individuals in a vehicle leaving the parking lot at the rear of the bank. Knowing that another officer had already arrived and was securing the bank entrance, the officer attempted to pull over the vehicle. The driver refused to stop, and a brief chase ensued. The driver of the vehicle failed to negotiate a sharp curve and crashed into a guard rail. A man who had been sitting in the rear passenger side of the vehicle exited the car and started to flee on foot; however, he suddenly returned to the vehicle, grabbed one of the three passengers as a hostage, and attempted to use the individual as a shield. As the man attempted to leave the scene, the hostage broke free, ran in the direction of the police vehicle, and jumped over a guard rail into a ditch. The suspect fired a .38-caliber revolver in the direction of the officer, who had exited the police car and had positioned himself at the right rear of the car for cover. During the ensuing exchange of gunfire, the suspect grabbed a second person from inside the vehicle and attempted to steal the officer’s police vehicle. The officer fired eight rounds at the suspect, six of which struck the assailant, though none were fatal. One of the shots from the assailant’s gun struck the victim officer in the right side between the panels of his protective vest, and he collapsed to the ground. As the suspect forced the hostage into the driver’s side of the police car, another officer arrived on the scene and more shooting broke out. The responding officer fired a fatal shot into the neck of the suspect, who died at the scene. The victim officer was transported to a local hospital, where he died a short time later. Subsequent investigation of the incident revealed that the robbery suspect had taken the three hostages from inside the bank, along with a fourth whom he had forced to attend to the bank’s drive-through facility in order to avoid suspicion. Although the suspect’s vehicle was located a short distance from the bank, the suspect ordered one of the three hostages to drive her vehicle when they left the bank. The 43-year-old alleged assailant, a known drug dealer, had a prior criminal record that involved various violent crimes, including drug abuse and weapons violations.
On October 28, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, an officer with the Norfolk Police Department was killed while investigating a suspicious person. The 33-year-old officer, who had 11 years of law enforcement experience, was responding to a complaint of a person with a gun. When the officer arrived at the scene, a witness identified for him the person with the gun. As the individual exited an apartment building, the officer exited his vehicle and approached the man, who tried to walk away. The officer, who was wearing body armor, attempted a field interview with the person. The suspect pulled out a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and shot the officer three times at close range in the front of the head. After shooting the officer, the suspect removed the officer’s 9 mm semiautomatic handgun from its holster and fled the scene. The victim officer was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The suspect, aged 30, was on probation and was a known drug dealer who had prior convictions for violent crimes, drugs, and police assault. On October 29, a warrant was issued in Virginia for the suspect’s arrest. Investigation revealed that he was in the Yonkers , New York , area, and an Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution arrest warrant was issued there as well. He was arrested without incident on November 2 in White Plains , New York , and was charged with Capital Murder, Use/Display Firearm in the Commission of a Felony, Possess/Transport Firearms by a Convicted Felon, Failure to Appear on Misdemeanor Charge, and Flight to Avoid Prosecution/Confinement.
Contact the Communications Unit of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division via e-mail at cjis_comm@leo.gov or by telephone at (304) 625-4995.