Page:Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2002.djvu/54

 the scene. While under fire, officers removed the victim officer from the scene and shot the 77-year-old suspect in return fire. More than 40 shots were fired during the incident. The victim officer and the suspect were taken to different hospitals. The suspect died at 11:30 p.m. on March 18, and the officer succumbed to his wounds shortly after midnight on March 19.

About 8 p.m. on March 22 in Toulon, a deputy sheriff with the Stark County Sheriff's Office was shot and killed while attempting to serve an arrest warrant to a man who had been arrested for assault by the department in the past and had been verbally, but not physically, abusive to officers. The 23-year-old deputy with 2 years of law enforcement experience knocked on the man's door. Allegedly, the man came to the door and shot at the deputy, who was wearing body armor, from about 2 feet away with a sawed-off 12-gauge pump-action shotgun. The round hit the deputy's badge, ricocheted up, and struck the officer in the neck, killing him instantly. Apparently, the man then took the deputy's firearm and stole his police car. He drove approximately two blocks and rammed into a vehicle. Assumedly, he exited the police car, entered another residence, and killed a man and woman inside. The suspect returned to the police car and left the scene. About a block away, a responding officer rammed his patrol vehicle into the police car driven by the suspect. The man then engaged in a gunfight with what eventually included three police officers. One of the officers shot the suspect in the head. The man was taken into custody and transported to a hospital for treatment. The 60-year-old man, who had prior arrests for Assault, Aggravated Assault, and Disorderly Conduct, was charged with 12 counts of First-Degree Murder, four counts of Criminal Damage to Government Supported Property, three counts each of Aggravated Discharge of a Firearm and Attempted First-Degree Murder, two counts of Criminal Damage to Property, and one count each of Armed Robbery, Disarming a Peace Officer, Aggravated Vehicular Hijacking, Unlawful Use of Weapons, Home Invasion, and Aggravated Assault.

 KENTUCKY 

The 48-year-old sheriff of the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office was shot and killed in an ambush at 7:15 p.m. on April 13. The officer, with 28 years' experience in law enforcement, was leaving a benefit dinner in the city of Somerset. The officer, in uniform and wearing body armor, was unlocking the door to his police car when a single shot from a .25-06-caliber bolt-action rifle apparently fired from a wooded area more than 250 feet away fatally struck him in the side of the head. The assailant was seen leaving the area on a motorcycle. Police apprehended and arrested a 30-year-old suspect, who was a known narcotics user, a short time later in a rural area of the county. He was charged with Murder of a Police Officer. Two days later, a 34-year-old male and a 54-year-old male were also arrested and charged with Complicity to Commit Murder of a Police Officer.

 LOUISIANA 

A 25-year-old officer with the Marion Police Department was shot and killed following a felony traffic pursuit at 9:15 a.m. on March 5. The officer, who had 1 year of law enforcement experience, was responding to a call from a teller at the drive-through window of an area bank. Three males, aged 16, 22, and 23, in a pickup truck had attempted to cash a forged check at the bank. As the officer approached the bank, the 16-year-old driver sped away, and the officer followed. After a chase that lasted several minutes and approached speeds of 100 miles per hour, the driver lost control of the truck, which was later determined to have been stolen, and crashed into a ditch. The trio exited the truck through the passenger-side door. The officer stopped, exited his vehicle, and chased the driver, who was the last to exit the vehicle, into a wooded area. As the officer neared the 16-year-old, the teenager apparently turned and fired shots at close range from a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun. The first shot hit the officer in the chest and he dropped to his knees; a second and fatal shot hit him in his forehead. The driver was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder and Aggravated Flight from Officer. The 22-year-old and 23-year-old men, both with previous arrests and convictions, were each charged with Voluntary Manslaughter.

Just before 3:30 a.m. on August 4, a police officer with the New Orleans Police Department was shot and killed while investigating a robbery in progress at a neighborhood bar. The 35-year-old officer had more than 4 years' experience in law enforcement and was acting as Field Training Officer to his partner, a recent graduate of the police academy, when the call of a robbery in progress was dispatched. Responding to the dispatched call, the officers sat in their marked car across the intersection from the bar and observed that no activity was occurring outside the establishment. As the officers approached the bar in their cruiser, the robbers inside saw the police arrive and began a frantic search for an alternate exit. At some point, one of the suspects ordered the bartender to release the lock on the front door, and the suspect exited just as the officers drove past the door. Reportedly, he immediately fired 6 rounds from a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun toward the passenger door of the police car as the victim officer attempted to exit the vehicle. Although the officer was wearing body armor, one of the bullets struck him fatally in the front of the head. The four men reported to be involved in the robbery—two aged 20, one aged 31, and one aged 35—were all arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder and 16 counts of Armed Robbery.

 MARYLAND 

Two deputy sheriffs with the Prince George's County Sheriff's Office were shot and killed on August 29 just after 9:30 in the evening while attempting to serve a Court Order Emergency Psychiatric Evaluation Order. The two deputies arrived at the home of the parents of the individual who had been ordered to be evaluated and the father directed them to the basement. The individual was with an associate when the deputies attempted to take him into custody. The man bolted from the basement and ran to an upstairs bedroom with the deputies in pursuit. The 53-year-old veteran 48