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 officer’s weapon, the alleged assailant attempted to flee the building but was confronted by a Brevard County sergeant, who was entering at the school’s front office door to serve as backup for the slain deputy. He immediately fired four rounds at the sergeant, one of which struck him in the leg. The suspect then jumped on the wounded officer, beating him and attempting to wrest his firearm from him. However, the sergeant was able to draw his weapon and fire one time into his adversary’s neck. The bullet entered the man’s spine causing paralysis and eventual death. Follow-up investigation revealed that the 20-year-old alleged assailant had been charged with 13 counts of school burglary/trespassing since April of 1995. He was on probation and awaiting sentencing later in the month. The sergeant recovered from his wounds and returned to duty. On September 17 at approximately 10:30 p.m., a deputy sheriff with over 5 years of law enforcement service with the Holmes County Sheriff’s Department was killed answering a robbery in progress call. The 25year-old deputy heard a dispatch alert concerning a robbery and came on duty to assist in the pursuit of the two individuals who had reportedly fled in a stolen vehicle. Locating two males working on the exhaust system of a vehicle, the deputy called in the description, license plate information, and location of the vehicle. He followed that call with another requesting backup. Investigation indicates that the officer searched the men and that, at some point, one of them allegedly retrieved a .30-caliber semiautomatic rifle from the vehicle and fired upon the deputy. The deputy returned fire on his alleged assailants, wounding them both. Two assisting officers arrived on the scene minutes later to find the victim deputy dead from a gunshot wound to the side of his head. One officer pursued the suspect vehicle as it fled the scene, and the second remained with the victim deputy. A third officer who was approaching from the direction the fleeing suspects had taken was

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alerted to the circumstances and established a roadblock. The two suspects, aged 29 and 36, were captured without further incident. They were charged with First-Degree Murder, Armed Robbery, and Grand Theft Auto. GEORGIA At approximately 2 a.m. on January 3, a patrol officer with the Forest Park Police was slain after stopping a vehicle to investigate two occupants whom he had earlier observed behaving suspiciously. After pulling the vehicle over, the 25-year-old officer, who had over 3 years of law enforcement experience, radioed a request for a backup officer to meet him at the pullover site. He then approached the vehicle and asked the driver to exit. He searched the man for weapons and ran a computer check on his driver’s license. Then he asked for and received the man’s permission to search his vehicle. At that point, the backup officer arrived and took charge of the driver. The victim officer again approached the vehicle, this time requesting the passenger to exit so that a search could be made. The passenger verbally protested the search while exiting the vehicle and then quickly walked toward the assisting officer and the driver. As he approached the pair, he reached into his jacket pocket. The assisting officer shouted at the passenger to get his hand out of his pocket, alerting the victim officer, who moved from behind and attempted to grab the man’s hands. However, a shot was fired, apparently hitting the nearest police unit. Both officers rolled to the ground, but the victim officer, despite wearing body armor, was immediately shot three times in the head and neck. The assisting officer was in the process of drawing his own weapon when a bullet entered his left arm and traveled through his chest to rest between his spine and throat. Despite this serious wound, he was able to fire six shots at the gunman, one of which hit him in the lower back. The wounded man and his companion then fled in their vehicle. The driver dropped the 23-yearold gunman off at the nearest hospital, but his