Page:Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2002.djvu/52

 in the front of the head with a .38-caliber revolver; another officer and the shooter were also injured. The 31-year-old male, who was known to law enforcement as a drug user and was under the influence of a controlled substance at the time, was taken into custody and charged with Attempted Murder and multiple counts of Aggravated Assault. The victim corporal required 24-hour care; he was promoted to sergeant and, subsequently, medically retired from the Pinal County Sheriff's Office on June 4, 1994. The department also granted the other injured officer a medical retirement. On August 24, 2002, the victim officer succumbed to cardiopulmonary complications stemming from the initial gunshot wound.

 ARKANSAS 

A patrol officer with the Little Rock Police Department was fatally shot at 1:30 p.m. on February 1 at an apartment complex office while handling a mentally deranged individual who was acting suspiciously and making bizarre statements. The 34-year-old officer, with nearly 12 years of law enforcement experience, and a backup officer talked with the man for more than 10 minutes before attempting to escort him from the office. A struggle ensued during which the man began to assault the victim officer. The backup officer used a wrestling hold in an attempt to separate the two, but the man obtained the victim officer's firearm, a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and fired a first shot into the left side of the officer's head. The backup officer grabbed the barrel of the weapon and held it tightly as the man fired a second round, which struck the victim officer in the left arm. The backup officer fired one round from his weapon into the side of the suspect and, after clearing a malfunction, fired two more rounds into the suspect's back. Both the victim officer and the suspect were transported to a nearby hospital. The 28-year-old male was pronounced dead on arrival. The victim officer remained in critical condition until the next morning when he died.

 CALIFORNIA 

A 33-year-old deputy generalist with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was shot and killed during a traffic stop near Irwindale at 10:40 a.m. on April 29. The 7-year veteran to law enforcement, who initiated the stop for unknown reasons, entered the vehicle's license plate number into his Mobile Digital Terminal. According to witnesses, the man, known to law enforcement as a drug dealer, exited his vehicle and began walking towards the patrol unit. The deputy exited his vehicle, stood behind his opened car door, and ordered the individual to stop. The suspect stopped near the back of his own vehicle. The deputy approached the suspect from behind and was patting him down when the suspect grabbed a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun from his waistband with his right hand, spun around, and fired a shot at the deputy. The deputy fell to the ground and the suspect fired four more shots at him before fleeing in his vehicle. The victim officer suffered two fatal injuries, a chest wound from a bullet that went through his left arm before entering through the armhole of his protective vest and a wound to the front of his head. The suspect, a male in his mid-twenties, who has an extensive criminal history including various drug and weapons charges, remains at large at time of publication.

A 47-year-old deputy with the Fresno County Sheriff's Department was shot and killed during a traffic stop about 1 1:45 p.m. on May 19. The deputy, who had nearly 3 years of law enforcement experience, had stopped a vehicle in Clovis. The driver of the vehicle was suspected of being involved in the shooting of a commercial street sweeper earlier that day. Before exiting the marked patrol car, the deputy, who was wearing body armor, provided dispatchers with the vehicle's license plate number and location as well as a description of the vehicle and its occupant. As the deputy approached the car, the driver allegedly shot him once in the mouth area at close range with a .30-caliber lever-action rifle. The deputy died at the scene, and the suspected shooter fled in the deputy's police car, which had a rifle inside. On May 25, the suspect, who had a history of mental instability, was found near Auberry in a camper on a rural residential lot. He exited the camper holding a rifle and pointed it at SWAT personnel, who then shot and killed the 21 -year-old suspect. The officer's weapon was recovered.

A 31-year-old police officer with the Red Bluff Police Department was gunned down at 1:30 a.m. on November 19 in an ambush as he was fueling his marked police vehicle at a gasoline station. The officer, who had nearly 4 years of law enforcement experience, was wearing body armor when he was shot three times with a .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun. He was shot twice in the back, but the rounds penetrated the vest because the ammunition was more powerful than the body armor's capabilities. In addition, the victim officer was shot fatally once, execution-style, in the back of the head. There were no witnesses to the killing. The victim officer's weapon was found approximately 10 feet from his body. It is unclear if the officer drew his weapon, if the suspect removed the officer's weapon, or if the weapon ejected from the victim officer's holster as he fell to the ground. On November 25, a 23-year-old male confessed over the telephone to his parents about the killing and told them he was at a hotel in Concord, New Hampshire. The suspect's parents contacted law enforcement personnel with that information, and a felony warrant was issued in the early morning hours of November 26 for the suspect's arrest. When authorities went to the hotel to arrest the suspect, he had barricaded himself in the hotel room. He demanded media access, which was provided and his confession was taped. Hostage negotiators then convinced him to surrender, and he was arrested around 9 a.m. that day and charged with Murder of a Peace Officer Engaged in Duties.

On November 30 at 10:30 a.m., a 42-year-old deputy sheriff with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was fatally wounded after responding to a disturbance call in Artesia. The nearly 19-year veteran to law enforcement was among patrol units and an air 46