Archive for April 19th, 2009
Man shot at home by SWAT officers
Santaquin, Utah – Batchelor died at about 10:40 p.m. Sunday after police say he emerged from his home with his shotgun in hand, moving toward SWAT officers threateningly. Despite repeated commands to drop his weapon, said Santaquin police chief Dennis Howard, Batchelor continued toward police until he was shot twice by two officers. Howard said officers had non-lethal weapons available, but no time to use them.
“They have no other options,” he said Monday. “He was given commands to drop the weapon, and he didn’t. He just continued to advance.”
Barrowman said the scene family members saw Sunday night was not the same one they have heard reported by the media. Batchelor was not a man who had numerous encounters with law enforcement, she said. He was involved in two incidents in his life, both of which he understood were mistakes and he learned from them.
Batchelor was having a difficult time Sunday and spoke with his sister, Dena Ekins, asking her how he could cope with problems he was having, including a divorce.
“At no time did Dena ever think that Mike was at a point of no return, or she never would have never let him leave that day,” Barrowman said.
Batchelor later argued with his wife, who left with their three young sons for her mother’s house. At 8:15 p.m., he sent a text to Ekins, who went to his home, found the doors and windows locked and heard a gunshot. She then called 911 to get help for her brother, but responding officers physically removed her from the property without asking who she was, Barrowman said.
“She just wanted them to help,” Barrowman said.
The Utah County SWAT team was called in after responding Santaquin officers entered the home to help what they thought was an injured Batchelor, only to hear him load a round in his shotgun and tell them to leave, Howard said. While SWAT members tried to contact Batchelor, Howard said he refused to speak with them. More on Daily Herald
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Former UWEC Golf Coach gunned down at work in Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona – 51-year-old Doug Georgianni was shot and killed as he worked in a mobile speed enforcement van on a Phoenix freeway Sunday night. Georgianni was the women’s golf coach at UW-Eau Claire from 1995 to 2001.
Police say they don’t know the motive for the killing.
Arizona became the first state to use photo speed enforcement on state highways last year. The Arizona Department of Public Safety awarded a contract for the operation of 100 fixed and mobile photo speed enforcement cameras in July and the first were deployed in September.
The program has drawn criticism from many who call the effort costly and unfair to motorists. Its proponents say photo radar saves lives by slowing motorists and frees up police to tackle other problems.
Georgianni had worked for three months for RedFlex Traffic Systems Inc., which has the state contract to operate the photo radar systems.
Hill said investigators believe Destories stopped behind the van and then slowly pulled alongside it and fired a gun multiple times. Georgianni was sitting in the van, doing paperwork with an interior light turned on when he was shot.
Five large-caliber gunshots hit the marked Department of Public Safety van; three of them were in a tight pattern and grouped on the window of Georgianni’s seat, according to the document.
Police found the magazine for a .45-caliber pistol in Destories’ front pocket when they arrested him, according to the probable-cause statement. More on WEAU.com
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Man killed girlfriend over breakup, then committed suicde
Maple Grove, Minn –
In a bloody end to a domestic dispute, a young woman’s on-again, off-again boyfriend shot her to death Sunday afternoon outside a Maple Grove McDonald’s restaurant, then committed suicide on a nearby freeway, police said.
Just before 2 p.m., Maple Grove police received several frantic 911 calls about a woman being shot in the parking lot of the McDonald’s on Sycamore Lane N. Witnesses saw her stumble at the curb and fall onto a sidewalk by the restaurant as she was shot the first time, said Maple Grove police Capt. Tracy Stille. The male suspect then approached the woman and shot her again at “very close range,” Stille said.
The man then fled in a white vehicle.
The man and woman had arrived separately at the restaurant to break off a year-old relationship, Stille said. The identities of the two, whom police described as metro-area residents in their 20s, had not been released by late Sunday.
Armed with a vehicle description and a partial license plate number, a Brooklyn Park police officer was waiting for the suspect, who was driving 20 to 30 miles over the 55 miles-per-hour speed limit, on Interstate 694, Stille said.
About six minutes after the initial 911 calls, the officer pulled the suspect over on 694 at the border of Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center. He approached the parked vehicle and found the man dead inside from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Stille said. More on Star Tribune
Man Shot To Death over Argument Outside White Castle
Hopkins, Minn – A man was shot to death following a fight outside of a Twin Cities White Castle restaurant early Sunday morning.
According to authorities, a 24-year-old black male was shot at about 2 a.m. in the parking lot of the restaurant chain’s Hopkins location.
Witnesses said they saw the victim involved in an altercation with others before the shooting. Afterwards, two black male suspects were seen fleeing the scene.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. More on WCCO
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Woman shot dead her boyfriend at home
Denham Springs, LA – A 49-year-old woman allegedly shot and killed her 26-year-old boyfriend in self defense early this morning in Denham Springs.
Livingston Parish emergency dispatchers received a call around 2:22 a.m. from a woman who said she had shot her boyfriend at her home, 30891 Lilac St., Denham Springs, said Jason Ard, a spokesman for the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Mark Lockwood, 26, was dead at the scene when deputies arrived, having been shot once in the chest, Ard said.
The woman, Suzanne White, 49, told investigators Lockwood had put a knife to her throat demanding she tell him the location of the gun, Ard said. She convinced him to remove the knife from her throat, but he was still holding it when she reached the gun first and shot him. More on 2theAdvocate.com
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Police investigating shooting death
Colorado Springs, CO – Colorado Springs police are investigating the death of a man who may have been shot and was found unconscious early Sunday in the lot of a car dealership near East Platte Avenue and Circle Drive.
The man, whose age and identity have not been released, was found outside Southwest Auto Sales, 2444 Platte Place, at 5:32 a.m. after police received a report of a shooting in the area.
No arrests have been made. Several people were at the scene when officers arrived and their involvement is being investigated.
The El Paso County Coroner’s Office will conduct an autopsy, and if the death is ruled a homicide it will be the city’s 10th this year. More on Gazette.com
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )19-year-old Woman shot to death by boyfriend
Louisburg, N.C. — A 19-year-old woman died after being shot in the head at a Franklin County home early Sunday, Sheriff Pat Green said.
David Bishop, 24, pulled out a gun and began firing in a house at 609 Fox Ridge Road in Fox Ridge Farms subdivision, south of Louisburg, Green said. He then aimed at Gabrielle Reece, 19, of Abercrombie Road in Wake Forest, and fired, the sheriff said.
Another young woman managed to flee from the house and called 911.
Bishop fled the scene, but deputies followed him to a wooded area near the home, Green said. However, he was still on the run Sunday evening.
Bishop was Reece’s boyfriend, deputies said. He was on probation following a March arrest for carrying a concealed weapon. He was arrested again last month for causing damage to personal property, but was released on bond, deputies said. More on NC wanted
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Gun Deaths in the United States 