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Home LEOKA 2010 Summaries of Officers Feloniously Killed

Summaries of Officers Feloniously Killed

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Note:  Occasionally, the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted Program is unable to publish summaries concerning some officers who are feloniously killed in the line of duty.  These situations may stem from insufficient information, gag orders that are issued by the courts, or other unusual circumstances that may exist. Although written summaries of the deaths of two officers who were killed in 2010 are not included in this publication, all available information is included where applicable in the data tables.

 AL | AK | AZ | AR | CA | CO | FL | GA | IL | LA | MD | MA | MI | MN | MS | MT | NV | NC | OH | PA | PR | TX | UT

Alabama

On January 1, a 63-year-old former sergeant with the Guntersville Police Department died from injuries he sustained in an incident more than 16 years earlier on July 16, 1993.  The sergeant, then a 47-year-old with 4 years of law enforcement experience, was one of four officers who responded to a domestic disturbance with shots fired at a residence around 12:20 a.m.  An individual at the home had shot his wife, and the individual’s brother was causing a disturbance at the scene.  The officer was subduing the individual’s brother on the hood of a patrol car when the subject fired a single shot from a .22-caliber revolver.  The round struck the victim sergeant under his protective vest in the lower back, immediately paralyzing him.  The suspect, who was 27 years old at the time of the incident, was known to use drugs and was under the influence of alcohol.  He was arrested and charged with Attempted Murder.

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Alaska

On August 28, two officers with the Hoonah Police Department were targeted in an ambush shortly before 11 p.m.  The first officer, a 31-year-old sergeant with more than 3 years of law enforcement experience, was on duty.  The second officer, a 39-year-old police officer with 1½ years of law enforcement experience, was off duty when he stopped to talk to the on-duty sergeant.  As the men spoke, the sergeant was shot in the back with an unknown caliber rifle.  The force of the round penetrated the sergeant’s protective vest, wounding him.  The off-duty officer radioed for backup and began to drag the sergeant to cover when the suspect fired four more rounds, striking the sergeant in the front below his waist and the off-duty officer twice in the chest.  Backup officers arrived and moved both victims to cover until emergency medical personnel could get there.  The victim officer was moved to the local clinic where he died 45 minutes later.  The victim sergeant was transported by helicopter to a Juneau hospital where he died the next day.  On August 30, after a 36-hour standoff during which he fired at officers, the 45-year-old suspect surrendered.  The Juneau Police Department and Alaska State Trooper SWAT teams, as well as officers from Hoonah, Wrangel, and the U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement assisted during the standoff.  The suspect reportedly had a mental disorder and a prior record of violent crime, including police assault.  He was known to the victim officers from previous encounters with law enforcement.  The offender was charged with Felony Misconduct Involving Weapons and two counts of First-Degree Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer.

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Arizona

On July 28, just after 6:30 p.m., a 34-year-old officer with the Chandler Police Department was killed during an undercover narcotics operation.  The officer, who had 6 years of law enforcement experience, was working with several other officers and a confidential informant, all of whom were part of an undercover deal to sell 500 pounds of marijuana to a group of individuals.  The deal and the details of the sale, including the amount that would be paid for the marijuana, had already been set between the informant and a broker.  According to the plan, the three undercover officers were to deliver the marijuana to a private residence where the transaction would take place.  On the day of the transaction, several backup officers were stationed around the location.  When the three undercover officers entered the house, they encountered at least six males.  As the officers began to discuss the deal, several of the men displayed weapons.  The officers reacted verbally and were immediately fired upon by multiple assailants.  The victim officer was fatally wounded in the chest by a bullet from a 5.45 mm semiautomatic rifle.  The other two undercover officers were also wounded in the incident.  Supported by backup police positioned nearby, the two injured officers engaged in a gunfight with the suspects.  In the end, two suspects were wounded, one was pronounced dead at the scene, and another died as he was trying to flee in a vehicle and was stopped by a detective down the street from the scene of the shooting.  Investigators later found information that suggested that the drug buyers had never intended to pay for the marijuana, but had planned an ambush to steal it from the beginning.  The 35-year-old man who allegedly had shot the victim officer had a prior criminal record including police assault and weapons and drug violations.  He was charged with three counts of First-Degree Murder, four counts of Aggravated Assault with a Dangerous Instrument, First-Degree Burglary, Possession of a Weapon by a Prohibited Person, Possession or Use of a Weapon in a Drug Offense, and Intent to Transport/Sell Marijuana.

A lieutenant with the Gilbert Police Department (GPD) was killed while conducting a traffic stop at 10:42 p.m. on January 28.  The 42-year-old lieutenant, who had more than 16 years of law enforcement experience and was wearing body armor, initiated the stop on a truck for an obstructed license plate.  The lieutenant made contact with two occupants of the vehicle, obtained their names and identification, and requested backup assistance.  As the lieutenant approached the passenger side of the vehicle, one of the occupants fired a single shot from a .38-caliber revolver at close range.  The bullet fatally struck the lieutenant in the front of the head.  The assailants fled in the truck.  Two sergeants with the Mesa Police Department (MPD) were in the vicinity, heard the shot, and began to check the area.  A witness notified the GPD of the shooting using the victim lieutenant’s radio, and another witness called 911.  A GPD officer spotted the suspects’ vehicle and was immediately met with gunfire.  As the pursuit began, the suspects fired on the officers and threw tools and equipment from the bed of the truck at the officers’ vehicles.  Several police cars were disabled because of gunfire and debris.  Officers from the GPD, the MPD, the Department of Public Safety, and the sheriff’s offices from Pinal and Maricopa Counties all took part in the pursuit, which ended after the suspects stopped in the roadway.  The 35-year-old passenger then exited the vehicle and engaged officers in gunfire as he ran to the front of the truck.  The driver also ran to the front of the truck.  Officers stopped the attack by returning gunfire and releasing a K-9 police dog.  The suspects were taken into custody and transported to local hospitals with nonlife-threatening injuries.  The alleged shooter was arrested on February 2 and charged with First-Degree Homicide, four counts of Drive by Shooting, nine counts of Aggravated Assault, and Felony Flight from Police.  A known drug user who was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident, the alleged assailant had a prior criminal record involving violent crime, drug violations, and police assault.

A police officer with the Phoenix Police Department was shot and killed while investigating a suspicious circumstance on May 26.  About an hour prior to the incident, officers observed a vehicle being driven at a high rate of speed and advised dispatch of the situation.  Just after 1:30 a.m., a 911 call came in that a male was observed covering up a car that he had parked in a carport at a vacant house.  The 29-year-old officer, who had 4 years of law enforcement experience, and his partner responded to the call in a marked police vehicle.  The officers exited their cruiser and approached the vehicle in question from opposite directions.  The partner began searching the backyard, but then heard gunshots.  He ran back toward the vehicle and found the victim officer lying on the ground in front of a nearby residence.  The victim officer had gunshot wounds from a .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle to his front below the waist and fatally to his front lower torso/stomach below his protective vest.  He was transported in a police vehicle to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead hours later.  The 30-year-old suspect, who had an extensive prior criminal record that included police assault and drug and weapons violations, was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder, First-Degree Burglary, Misconduct Involving Weapon, and Disorderly Conduct.

A sergeant with the Phoenix Police Department was killed with his department-issued shotgun while on patrol at 10:40 p.m. on October 18.  The 34-year-old veteran sergeant, who had nearly 12½ years of law enforcement experience, was wearing body armor at the time of his death.  He was shot once fatally in the back of the head.  He was found in full police uniform near his marked patrol vehicle, but, at the time of this publication, the circumstances surrounding his death are unknown, and the assailant remains at large.

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Arkansas

A patrol officer and a sergeant with the West Memphis Police Department were ambushed and killed during a traffic stop on May 20 just after 11:30 a.m.  The 38-year-old patrol officer was conducting a traffic stop and was speaking to the driver of the stopped vehicle by the front passenger side of his patrol car when the 39-year-old sergeant arrived as backup.  Shortly after the sergeant arrived, the driver’s 16-year-old son exited the vehicle and began firing a 7.62x39 mm semiautomatic rifle.  Both veteran officers received multiple gunshot wounds.  The sergeant, with more than 6 years of law enforcement experience, was fatally struck in the front of his head, and the patrol officer, with more than 8 years of law enforcement experience, was fatally shot in the front upper torso/chest when the bullet penetrated his protective vest.  The suspects fled in their vehicle, which was found an hour and a half later approximately 1 mile from the scene in a store parking lot.  When responding officers arrived, both suspects began firing at them.  During the ensuing gunfight, two veteran officers from the Crittenden County Sheriff’s Department were shot; both sustained serious injuries.  After exiting his police vehicle, the 68-year-old chief of enforcement, with more than 42 years of law enforcement experience, was hit in the front lower torso/stomach.  The 73-year-old sheriff, with more than 44 years of law enforcement experience, was hit in the arms/hands while still in the passenger seat of the vehicle.  Other officers on the scene engaged the suspects, and both the 16-year-old suspect and the 45-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record including weapons violations, were justifiably killed. 

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California

Around 9:50 a.m. on February 25, two deputy sheriffs with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) were shot and injured while serving a search warrant at a residence in Minkler.  Approximately an hour later, while responding to the “officer down” call, a corporal with the Reedley Police Department (RPD) was also shot.  One of the FCSO deputies and the RPD corporal subsequently died as a result of injuries sustained.  The two deputies initially attempted to serve a search warrant at the residence of a person of interest concerning several arsons and shootings in the Minkler area.  Apparently, the suspect opened fire on the deputies with a rifle while they were outside the home.  The 49-year-old veteran deputy, who had nearly 12 years of law enforcement experience, was hit in the chest by a round that entered his body armor through the armhole.  The second deputy was grazed on the face by one of the rounds fired.  Both victim deputies were transported to a regional medical center where the 49-year-old deputy died at 10:26 a.m. as the result of his gunshot wound; the other deputy was treated and released.  Meanwhile, other responding agencies on the scene of the incident had established a perimeter as the shooter continued to fire his weapon sporadically.  Around 10:50 a.m., one of the rounds struck an RPD corporal in the front of the head as he maintained his perimeter position 80 yards from the suspect’s residence.  The 28-year-old corporal, who had nearly 5 years of law enforcement experience and was wearing body armor at the time, was taken to a regional medical center where he died on March 1.  During the standoff, the 51-year-old assailant, who was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident, ended his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

On February 4, a former investigator from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department died as a result of complications from injuries he sustained more than 29 years earlier while investigating suspicious activity in a mall parking lot.  Around 8:30 p.m. on November 6, 1980, the investigator and his partner traveled to a mall in the City of Orange to collect bail on a warrant.  At that time, the investigator was 39 years old and an 8-year veteran of law enforcement.  While driving their unmarked car through the lot, the investigators noticed three men tampering with a parked car.  Two of the men were working under the hood, and a third man was inside the vehicle.  The investigator and his partner were approaching the men on foot when the man inside the car opened the passenger door and pointed a handgun at the partner.  The investigator removed his service weapon from his ankle holster and ordered the suspect to drop his weapon.  The man then turned and pointed his gun toward the investigator.  The suspects at the front of the vehicle also drew weapons, and a gun battle erupted.  The investigator was struck in the torso by two rounds fired from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  Two of the offenders fled in the investigators’ unmarked vehicle, while the other offender fled on foot.  While pursuing them in a high-speed car chase, California Highway Patrol units received gunfire from the two suspects.  During the pursuit, the suspects lost control and crashed the unmarked unit, allowing officers to capture the two men and take them into custody.  The man who escaped on foot was apprehended within days in Las Vegas, Nevada.   The bullets that struck the investigator during the gun battle paralyzed him from the chest down.  Over the next 29 years, he was confined to a wheelchair and required numerous medical procedures to address complications from his injuries.  The three suspects were all on parole at the time of the shooting and were attempting to steal a vehicle to serve as a get-away car for a planned robbery.  At the time of the incident, all three offenders were convicted of Attempted Murder and served prison sentences.

A 27-year-old officer with the Riverside Police Department (RPD) was killed with his service weapon during a traffic pursuit about 9:45 p.m. on November 7.  The officer, who had 4 years of law enforcement experience, was on patrol when he received information from dispatchers regarding a semi-truck that had been involved in a hit-and-run accident.  The officer saw the truck and attempted to pull the vehicle over.  The driver pulled the truck over and exited.  The officer’s dashboard camera showed the individual removing a bar from the rear of his waistband and running into a nearby park.  The officer, who was wearing body armor, called for assistance and began a foot chase.  An eyewitness said that the officer slipped while chasing the man.  While the officer was on the ground, the man struck the victim officer several times with the bar.  At some point, the suspect disarmed the victim officer and fired three rounds at the officer from his service weapon, a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  Two rounds missed the officer, but the third struck him fatally in the side of the head at close range.  The victim officer was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.  The dashboard camera from the officer’s vehicle showed the suspect getting back in the truck and fleeing the scene.  The RPD, the Inland Regional Apprehension Team, and the FBI searched for the suspect.  Officers located the suspect on November 9 and kept surveillance on him until a tactical team could arrive to arrest the suspect.  In the early morning of November 10, officers also recovered the victim officer’s weapon.  The 44-year-old suspect, who was on parole at the time of the incident, had a prior criminal record that included violent crime, police assault, and drug and weapons violations.  He was charged with Murder, Violation of Parole, and a Local Ordinance Violation.

A 50-year-old police officer with the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) was shot during a tactical situation on October 27.  Around 11:10 p.m., SDPD police officers responded to an apartment to assist San Diego County probation officers and U.S. Marshals in taking a fugitive suspect into custody.  The 30-year-old male suspect was barricaded in a bedroom of the apartment and initially, officers called out for him to surrender.  Preparing to release a K-9 into the room, officers kicked open the door and were immediately met with gunfire from the suspect and his female companion.  The victim officer, who had more than 17 years of law enforcement experience and was wearing body armor, was struck fatally in the side of his head.  Forensic examination determined that the 30-year-old suspect fired the fatal shot from a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  Both he and his 27-year-old accomplice committed suicide.  Both were under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident and both had prior criminal records.  The victim officer was transported to a hospital where he died the next day.

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Colorado

A deputy sheriff from the Weld County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed in Evans while pursuing a robbery suspect on November 23.  The 43-year-old deputy sheriff, who had 8 years of law enforcement experience, and his partner were dispatched to assist in a pursuit that was entering from a neighboring county and involved an armed and dangerous suspect that was connected with an armed robbery.  Around 10:45 a.m., the deputies joined in the pursuit.  Just after 11 a.m., the pursuit ended, and the suspect initially refused to exit the vehicle he was driving.  The suspect was pulled from his vehicle and stood upright with his back against the vehicle.  He immediately began punching, fighting, and struggling against the officers.  During the altercation, the suspect and the deputies fell to the ground.  The suspect gained possession of the deputy’s firearm, a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and shot him three times.  The victim deputy received injuries in his front upper torso/chest area and on his arms/hands.  One bullet entered the deputy’s bulletproof vest at an extremely shallow angle and traveled through several layers of the vest.  The bullet exited the top panel of the vest, striking the veteran deputy fatally in the head and killing him instantly.  Following this, the 20-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record including violent crime, police assault, and drug and weapons violations, was justifiably killed by other officers at the scene.

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Florida

A 33-year-old captain with the Dixie County Sheriff’s Office was killed while conducting a felony traffic stop in Cross City around 4:30 p.m. on January 14.  Near 3 p.m. in Hernando County, a man was allegedly involved in a domestic dispute that resulted in the death of two women and the wounding of two others.  The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office issued a “lookout” alert for the man and informed other law enforcement agencies along Florida’s coast of his vehicle’s make, model, and year.  Around 4:30 p.m., the man was spotted driving his vehicle in Cross City.  Officers followed him for a brief time until the man did a U-turn and pulled his vehicle into a convenience store parking lot.  The captain, who had 11½ years of law enforcement experience, was approaching the man and giving verbal commands to surrender when the man fired a single round from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, striking the veteran captain fatally in the jaw.  Three other deputies on the scene fired 11 rounds at the suspect, wounding him.  The victim captain was transported via helicopter to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.  The 55-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record for violent crime and drug and weapons violations, recovered from his injuries.  He was arrested and charged with three counts of Murder. 

Just before 8:30 p.m. on December 8, a deputy sheriff with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Orlando.  The 27-year-old deputy, who had nearly 5 years of law enforcement experience, had stopped a truck and was talking with the male driver as they stood near the front of the deputy’s patrol car.  Witnesses saw them conversing, reported hearing gunfire, and then saw the deputy on the ground.  Responding officers found the deputy at the scene lying on his back with his taser in his right hand and the suspect’s vehicle registration and driver’s license in his left hand.  The deputy, who was wearing body armor, had been shot in the front and side of his head with what was later determined to be a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  The victim deputy was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead from the bullet wound to the side of head.  Investigating deputies found the suspect’s truck near the apartment complex listed as the home address on his driver’s license.  They searched a wooded area nearby and found the suspect’s body with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.  The weapon used to murder the victim deputy was found near the man’s body.  One probe from the deputy’s taser was found on the 29-year-old alleged shooter’s jacket, which was discovered near his vehicle.  The medical examiner (ME) confirmed that, although the deputy had discharged his taser, it had not penetrated the man’s thick winter jacket.  Further, the ME indicated that, based on the deputy’s wounds, it was likely that the suspect and the deputy were on the ground fighting at the time the shots were fired.  The suspect, who was on parole at the time of the incident, had a prior criminal record that included police assault and weapons violations.

Two Tampa Police Department patrol officers, both 31 years old, were shot and killed while attempting an arrest about 2:15 a.m. on June 29.  One of the patrol officers had stopped a vehicle that did not have a license plate.  The officer, who had 3½ years of law enforcement experience, ran a check of the vehicle’s two occupants and discovered that the passenger had a misdemeanor warrant for arrest.  The second patrol officer, who had 1 year of law enforcement experience, arrived to assist with the traffic stop.  The officers, both of whom were wearing protective vests, approached the vehicle from the right side and asked the man in the passenger seat if he was aware of a warrant for his arrest.  The man denied knowing there was a warrant.  The first patrol officer, still standing outside the right front passenger door, asked the passenger to exit the vehicle.  The man exited the vehicle, and the same patrol officer secured the man’s left arm.  Then, the man pulled out a .38-caliber revolver with his right hand and fired two rounds.  Each officer was fatally shot once in the side of the head.  The passenger fled the scene on foot, and the driver sped off in the vehicle.  The 24-year-old alleged shooter was arrested on July 2 and charged with three counts of First-Degree Murder.  He had a prior criminal record that included violent crimes, including murder, police assault, and drug and weapons violations.   

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Georgia

On May 26, a 55-year-old former patrol officer with the Carrollton Police Department (CPD) died as a result of injuries received nearly 30 years earlier while answering a call to investigate suspicious persons.  About 9 p.m. on November 11, 1980, the patrol officer, then 25 years old with nearly 4 years of law enforcement experience, was responding to a report of a man who was heading to a tavern at a local mall with a shotgun and the intent to kill another person.  The patrol officer was the third member of law enforcement to arrive at the mall parking lot where the suspect’s car was located.  A CPD sergeant and another CPD assisting officer had parked cruisers at the rear and front of the suspect’s car.  The arriving patrol officer parked in front of the assisting officer’s vehicle.  The suspect and his female companion, who had tipped off a gas station clerk earlier in the evening about the suspect’s intent, exited their vehicle.  While the sergeant was talking to the suspects, the two officers retrieved the loaded shotgun from the floorboard of the suspect’s vehicle.  The sergeant talked to the suspects and determined from the female companion that the suspect was in town for a “big narcotic deal” and $20,000 had been stolen from his vehicle earlier as it sat in the mall parking lot.  The sergeant then went to his cruiser to check for outstanding warrants.  The assisting officer was standing with the female on the passenger side of the suspect’s vehicle, and the suspect was standing directly in front of him with the patrol officer by his side.  The assisting officer asked the patrol officer to walk the suspect away from the car so that the female could speak freely.  As the patrol officer attempted to do so, the suspect pulled a .38-caliber revolver from his pocket, put the barrel in the patrol officer’s stomach and ordered, “Okay, everybody hold it!”  The assisting officer took cover behind the suspect’s vehicle, and the sergeant took cover behind a nearby truck.  The suspect put the revolver to the patrol officer’s head and took the shotgun from him.  He demanded that the other law enforcement members drop their weapons just as the patrol officer he was holding hostage knocked the revolver from the suspect’s hand and a struggle ensued.  The suspect put the shotgun in the patrol officer’s back and the patrol officer raised his hands.  The suspect retrieved the revolver from the ground and shot the victim patrol officer in the upper left back before shooting the tire of the sergeant’s patrol car.  The assisting officer fired three shots at the suspect, and a gun battle followed.  As the assisting officer kept the suspect’s attention, the sergeant crawled under the suspect’s vehicle and shot the suspect once in the knee.  As the suspect fell to the ground, his weapons landed out of his reach.  The suspect, who was 39 years old and a corrections escapee at the time, was arrested and charged with Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer and Aggravated Assault.  The coroner ruled that the victim patrol officer ultimately died as a result of complications from the wounds received during this incident.

On February 15, at 11:34 a.m., a 56-year-old lieutenant with the Chattahoochee Hills Police Department (CHPD) was shot to death in an unprovoked attack.  The lieutenant, a 30-year veteran of law enforcement, was on patrol in the city.  Around noon, a county dispatcher received a telephone call from a passerby who had come upon the lieutenant’s patrol vehicle and discovered the lieutenant inside.  Responding units arrived at the scene and found the patrol car still running and the back window shattered.  Evidence showed that an attacker had shot five rounds into the vehicle with a .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle.  The victim lieutenant was in the front driver’s seat with bullet wounds to his chest, his arms/hands, and a fatal wound to the front of his head.  He was pronounced dead a short time later.  The next day, tips called in to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the CHPD’s tip line, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) provided information to investigators about the alleged shooter and the murder weapon.  A caller indicated that the suspect was in the area where the lieutenant had been shot and that the weapon used in the slaying had originally been purchased as a non-automatic weapon but had been altered by the alleged shooter to be “fully automatic.”  When the tipster spoke with the ATF agent, the individual indicated that the alleged shooter had said that when he shot the lieutenant, the weapon was on “full auto.”  On February 17, a 44-year-old man was arrested for the shooting and charged with Murder, Aggravated Assault, and Possession of a Firearm.  The man, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, had a prior criminal record that included violent crime and weapons violations.  He also was acquainted with the victim lieutenant through a law enforcement relationship.

Just before 10 p.m. on December 23, a 39-year-old lieutenant with the Dougherty County Police Department was killed while responding to a robbery in progress in Albany.  The lieutenant, who had more than 18 years of law enforcement experience, was one of several officers who were patrolling the general area looking for a robbery suspect or the suspect’s vehicle.  The veteran lieutenant saw an individual running through a dimly lit mobile home park near where the robbery took place and attempted to stop him.  The lieutenant exited his marked patrol vehicle to pursue the suspect; at some point, the individual fired two rounds from a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.  One round struck the victim lieutenant in the upper left thigh and exited through his lower back; the second and fatal round entered just below the lieutenant’s ballistic vest on the lower right side of his abdomen and exited the lower back near his spine.  The lieutenant was able to fire two rounds from his service weapon, but neither round hit the 20-year-old suspect, who was apprehended a short time later while hiding under a mobile home.  The suspect was on probation at the time of the incident and had a prior criminal record for drug violations.  He was arrested and charged with Murder, Armed Robbery, and Possession of a Firearm in the Commission of a Crime.

A trooper with the Georgia State Patrol, Forest Park, was killed during a traffic stop shortly after 11 p.m. on December 27.  The 38-year-old trooper, who had more than 2 years of law enforcement experience, stopped a car for a headlight violation on a road near a major parkway in Atlanta.  The driver pulled over to the right shoulder of the road, and the trooper approached the driver’s side door.  After checking the trunk to ensure that it was secure, the trooper asked the driver to roll down the rear window, presumably because the window was tinted and he could not see inside the vehicle.  The driver failed to comply with the request, and instead put the car into gear and fled.  The trooper radioed for assistance and gave chase in his patrol car.  The suspect crashed into a concrete mailbox a few miles away.  The trooper positioned his vehicle behind the suspect’s car, exited the unit, and cautiously approached the crash.  He attempted to shine a flashlight inside the window.  As he came closer, the passenger side door of the suspect’s vehicle opened slightly and the suspect fired three rounds from a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, striking the trooper in the neck above his protective vest.  Although the trooper was out of view of his vehicle’s in-car camera, it picked up the muzzle flashes of the shots that were fired.  Assisting officers arrived at the scene and called for an ambulance.  The victim trooper was transported to a local hospital where he died a short time later.  Two witnesses at the scene advised the investigating officer that the assailant had shot the victim trooper and then had fled the scene in the patrol car.  On December 28, a member of the Atlanta Police Department apprehended the 30-year-old suspect, who was on probation and a known drug dealer with a history of drug and weapons violations.  The alleged shooter was charged with Murder and Aggravated Assault of a Law Enforcement Officer.            

An investigator with the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed in an unprovoked attack at 12:55 p.m. on May 8.  The 28-year-old investigator, with nearly 5 years of law enforcement experience, along with other investigators and a deputy, were attempting to serve an arrest warrant on an individual at a residence in Conyers.  The warrant was for Rape, Aggravated Assault, and Kidnapping stemming from an incident the previous evening.  The entire house had been cleared except for the rear master bedroom.  The door to that room was locked and had to be breached to gain entry.  Once inside the room, all visible areas were cleared except for the closet, which was closed and did not have a doorknob.  When the investigator pulled open the door, the 41-year-old male began firing a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, striking the victim investigator twice.  The first shot entered through his left forearm and was stopped by his protective vest.  The second shot fatally struck him on the left side below the vest in the front lower torso/stomach.  Two other investigators and one deputy returned fire, killing the suspect, who had a prior criminal record.

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Illinois

An off-duty police officer with the Chicago Police Department was shot on May 19 in a robbery attempt involving four male suspects.  Shortly before 11:30 p.m., the 30-year-old officer, who had nearly 3 years of law enforcement experience, had gotten on his motorcycle and was about to drive away when two males, ages 19 and 20, approached the officer and announced they were going to rob him.  The 20-year-old robber produced a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun and placed it to the officer’s head.  A retired officer had been standing in the doorway of his nearby home and saw the robbery in progress.  The retired officer yelled to the offenders, who told the retired officer to mind his own business and the armed robber fired his weapon at him.  The 20-year-old robber moved the handgun away from the officer’s head, the officer announced that he was a police officer, retrieved his weapon, and fired at the offenders.  The officer and the 20-year-old assailant exchanged gunfire at close range.  The officer fired eight rounds, all of which struck the offenders, who were standing near each other.  The armed assailant fired four rounds, one of which grazed the officer’s rear below the waist and one that struck him fatally in the center of his torso, above his abdomen.  As this was happening, the retired officer retrieved a handgun from his residence.  He saw a vehicle on the scene and saw the 19-year-old offender attempting to help the 20-year-old offender into the car.  The retired officer then walked toward the street and saw two additional males in the car, one of whom had a handgun.  The retired officer saw the two offenders at the side of the vehicle and saw one raise a handgun, at which point the retired officer fired on the men.  The men in the vehicle backed it away from the scene, appearing to leave the two offenders behind.  Apparently, the victim officer was struck and dragged by the vehicle and then was dislodged when the driver put the car in reverse to pick up the offenders.  The retired officer then went to assist the victim officer, and all of the offenders fled. The victim officer was taken to a local hospital where he died the next day.  The 20-year-old suspect, who was known to possess drugs and had a prior criminal record involving violent crime and drug and weapons violations, was killed by the victim officer’s gunfire.  The other three men—the 19-year-old, a 20-year-old male passenger, and a 29-year-old male passenger—also had prior criminal records.  All three suspects were arrested on June 12 and charged with two counts of First-Degree Murder and Armed Robbery.

A 43-year-old patrol officer with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) was shot and killed in an ambush in the parking lot of the CPD’s Tactical Response Unit around 3:45 p.m. on July 7.  The patrol officer, who had nearly 12 years of law enforcement experience, was standing at the back of his personal vehicle removing his gear at the end of his shift when a man approached and attacked him.  The offender gained control of the veteran patrol officer’s 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and shot the patrol officer several times.  The patrol officer suffered gunshot wounds to the neck, chest, and a fatal wound to the front of his head.  Another officer wounded the 24-year-old man, who was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder and 4 counts of Attempted Murder.  The offender was a known drug user who had a prior criminal record that included violent crime, police assault, and drug and weapons violations.  Further investigation revealed that individuals had heard him say earlier in the day that he was going to kill the police.

An off-duty police officer with the Chicago Police Department was shot and killed during a robbery attempt shortly after 6 a.m. on July 18.  The 60-year-old officer, a 20-year veteran of law enforcement, was returning home from his shift and was still in his uniform, with an oversized shirt covering his uniform shirt.  He arrived at his home, exited his vehicle, and prepared to wipe it down.  Then, investigators believe he was approached by someone and a struggle ensued.  The officer was able to fire several shots from his service weapon, but the assailant fatally shot the officer in the chest and the abdomen with a revolver.  The offender then fled the scene, and at the time of this publication, he remains at large.

A 46-year-old police officer with the Chicago Police Department was shot and killed in an ambush around 1:40 p.m. on November 26.  The officer, who had nearly 20 years of law enforcement experience, was processing the scene of an earlier burglary at a local garage.  After taking photographs of the scene and dusting for fingerprints, the officer was standing at the back of his police vehicle wearing his protective vest when a man apparently approached him from behind and fatally shot him in the side of the head with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.  The offender then allegedly shot the owner of the garage in the head and attempted to move evidence regarding the earlier burglary of the garage.  He left the scene, but later returned and reportedly shot both the officer and the garage owner one more time in the face to make sure they were dead.  Later that day, witnesses told detectives that a man confessed to them that he had committed the murders.  On November 27, detectives arrested a 19-year-old man and charged him with First-Degree Murder.  His prior criminal record included charges of violent crime, and drug and weapons violations; he was on parole at the time of the incident.  Detectives also recovered a fingerprint from the burglary scene that matched the alleged offender.   

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Louisiana

On March 4, at 6:18 p.m., a 33-year-old corporal with the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office was shot after responding to a call to assist a deputy with an arrest.  The veteran corporal, who had more than 8 years of law enforcement experience, arrived at the residence in West Monroe where the suspect in an investigation of an Aggravated Battery with a Motor Vehicle had been located.  The man was standing in the front yard of the residence, and after a brief interview by the officers, the man was advised that he was going to be taken into custody.  As the officers attempted to arrest him, the man began backing away from them and said, “Uh-uh.”  The corporal drew his taser; and the suspect reached into the back waistband of his pants, produced a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and started firing at the officers.  The victim corporal was struck once in the back of his right shoulder, just outside his protective ballistic vest, as he was moving for cover.  The bullet exited his shoulder area and reentered his body in the back of his neck, lodging at the base of his skull.  The deputy returned gunfire, striking the shooter in the face, killing him.  The deputy called for assistance and administered first aid to the victim corporal.  Emergency medical personnel transported the corporal to a local medical center where he was placed on life support.  On March 6, the victim corporal died from the bullet wound to the back of his head.  The 26-year-old offender, who had a prior criminal record and conviction, also had a history of violent crime and drugs and weapons violations.  He was a known drug user and was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident.

A 57-year-old sergeant with the Rayville Police Department was shot and killed while investigating a burglary in progress around 9:15 p.m. on September 11.  Just after 9 p.m., the 20-year veteran of law enforcement responded to a call for assistance from a deputy with the Richland Parish Sheriff’s Office (RPSO), who was en route to the home of a woman who reported a window of her house had been broken.  At 9:12 p.m., the sergeant arrived at the residence and met the woman outside of her home.  They walked into the home together and heard noises.  The sergeant continued to search the house.  At the same time, two deputies arrived at the scene and heard shots fired from inside the home.  In the house, the sergeant told the woman to run, and he shielded her as she ran to the other end of the house.  The deputies ran toward the home and saw the woman running to them.  One of the deputies assisted her to a safe distance from the home.  The other deputy entered the home and found the sergeant lying on the floor with multiple gunshot wounds.  The deputy reported an officer down, and a medical helicopter was dispatched.  The victim sergeant suffered gunshot wounds to his stomach, the front below his waist, and a fatal injury to his chest from a .38-caliber revolver.  The sheriff arrived at the scene and, along with the deputy, continued to search the home.  The deputy located a 52-year-old man hiding under a bed and arrested him.  The deputy took the suspect, who knew the victim sergeant through a previous law enforcement relationship and was on probation at the time, to the RPSO, where he was interrogated.  Investigators began looking for two additional suspects, a 33-year-old man believed to be the shooter who escaped from the scene, and a 20-year-old man who had planned to drive the get-away car after the burglary.  Through their investigation, officers arrested the suspected driver, also on probation at the time of the incident, in a nearby town on September 12.  Also that day, deputies with the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested the alleged shooter, who had a prior criminal record that included violent crimes (such as murder and police assault) and drug and weapons violations.  All three suspects, who were known drug dealers, were charged with First-Degree Murder, Aggravated Burglary, Conspiracy to Commit First-Degree Murder, and Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Burglary.  On September 13, deputies with the RPSO located the weapon used to kill the sergeant.

Shortly after 3:30 a.m. on October 24, a sergeant with the Shreveport Police Department was killed during an unprovoked attack.  The 43-year-old sergeant, with 19 years of law enforcement experience, was checking on a clerk at a local establishment and stood at the front of his patrol car as the two were talking.  A car pulled into a parking space three spaces down from the sergeant’s vehicle.  A male exited the car and immediately began firing a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun at the sergeant.  The sergeant attempted to take cover but was struck several times below his protective vest, sustaining a fatal wound in his back below his waist.  He was able to return fire but did not hit the suspect, who fled the scene.  Another officer in the area heard the gunshots and found the victim sergeant.  The veteran sergeant was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.  The store clerk gave a description of the suspect and his vehicle.  A short time later the 24‑year‑old suspect, who had a prior criminal record, was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder and Attempted Second-Degree Murder.

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Maryland

A 24-year-old trooper with the Maryland State Police, Forestville, was killed on June 11 while working off-duty as a part-time security officer at a local restaurant.  The trooper, who had more than 3½ years of law enforcement experience, was working with an off-duty Maryland parole and probation officer late on the evening of June 10.  When a patron became disruptive, the pair asked the patron to leave the restaurant.  The patron became argumentative, pushed past the parole officer, and left the restaurant on foot.  Shortly after 12:30 a.m., on June 11, the trooper went outside to take a cellular telephone call.  Minutes later the parole officer went outside to check on the trooper.  As the parole officer got to the front of the restaurant, he heard gunshots in the parking lot and saw the glass front door shatter.  The trooper turned toward the door to try to enter the restaurant, and the parole officer saw that the trooper had been struck by gunfire.  An unknown number of rounds from a handgun injured the trooper in the front below the waist and additional rounds also penetrated through the side panels of the trooper’s protective vest, fatally wounding him in the upper chest.  The victim trooper was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.  A subsequent law enforcement investigation of the incident led to the arrest of two people on June 13.  One was a 27-year-old male, who had a previous law enforcement relationship with the victim trooper, as well as a prior criminal record for drug and weapons violations.  The other was a 28-year-old male with a prior criminal record for drug violations.  Both were charged with First-Degree Murder.

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Massachusetts

A 60-year-old patrol officer with the Woburn Police Department (WPD) died from a gunshot wound sustained while pursuing a robbery suspect around 8:50 p.m. on December 26.  Minutes earlier, the WPD received several 911 calls about a robbery in progress at a local department store.  The first officer to arrive at the scene observed a man leaving the store carrying a handgun and a black canvas bag.  When he saw the suspect fleeing across the parking lot on foot, the officer exited his cruiser and pursued him.  As the suspect approached one of the exits of the parking lot, a second officer, who was operating a marked police cruiser, encountered the suspect.  The veteran patrol officer, who had nearly 35 years of law enforcement experience, exited his vehicle; immediately he and the suspect exchanged gunfire.  At least four shots from the .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun used by the offender hit the victim officer, injuring him in the chest, in the front below the waist, on his arms/hands, and fatally in the stomach area.  Although paramedics took the victim officer to a clinic, he died as a result of his injuries.  Three of the officer’s rounds hit the 57-year-old offender, who died at the scene.  The offender, who was on parole at the time of the incident, had a prior criminal record including violent crimes and weapons violations.

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Michigan

A 42-year-old police officer with the Detroit Police Department was shot and killed on May 3 while responding to a burglary in progress.  At 2:45 a.m., three two-person squad units responded to the call.  As the 12-year veteran officer approached the front door, another officer went to the rear of the location to secure the perimeter, and the remaining four officers fanned out across the front yard.  The officer at the front door found it open and announced clearly, “Detroit Police.”  He pushed the front door open further, and entered the dwelling.  A man immediately began firing from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, striking the officer in the front of his head and fatally in his neck/throat above his protective vest.  As the suspect exited the home through the front door, he continued firing at the officers in the front yard.  They returned fire while trying to find cover.  When the officer in the backyard heard gunshots, he came toward the corner of the house and encountered the suspect, who shot him in the leg.  The suspect, who suffered a gunshot wound to his back in the exchange of gunfire with the officers in the front yard, climbed over a gate in the driveway.  He then collapsed and was arrested.  The 25-year-old suspect had an extensive prior criminal history that included police assault, was a known drug dealer, and was on conditional release at the time of the incident.  He was charged with Felony Murder, Assault with Intent To Murder, Felony Firearm, Possess with Intent To Deliver, Fourth-Degree Habitual Offender, Home Invasion, and Felon in Possession.  Three of the officers in the front yard and the officer securing the back of the house, all of whom were wearing body armor, received gunshot wounds during the exchange of gunfire.  They included a 48-year-old police officer with more than 16 years of law enforcement experience shot in the front below the waist, a 25-year-old police officer with nearly 2 years of law enforcement experience shot in the arms/hands, a 31-year-old police officer with nearly 2 years of law enforcement experience shot in the front below the waist, and a 29-year-old police officer with more than 1 year of law enforcement experience shot in the front below the waist.  At the time of this publication, the three wounded officers had not returned to duty.   

At 12:12 a.m. on March 9, a 26-year-old patrol officer with the Jackson Police Department (JPD) was killed and a 22-year-old officer with the Blackman Department of Public Safety (DPS) (now the Blackman and Leoni Township DPS) was injured during the investigation of a domestic situation.  The DPS officer, who had 3½ years of law enforcement experience, had been dispatched to investigate a complaint of a man who had been beating on the door of his estranged wife’s apartment and threatening her with bodily harm.  When the officer arrived at the woman’s apartment, the man had left.  After gathering more information, including the fact that the man was possibly in possession of a firearm, the officer went to the man’s residence and requested a backup unit to assist.  At the suspect’s residence, the DPS officer was invited in by the suspect, who was intoxicated and somewhat agitated.  The officer asked the man to sit on the couch and keep his hands in sight on his lap.  When the JPD patrol officer with nearly 2½ years of law enforcement experience arrived as backup and entered the room, the suspect became more agitated and jumped to his feet.  The officers ordered him back onto the couch, but he refused.  The DPS officer advised him that he was being placed into custody.  The man struggled with the officers, but the DPS officer was able to place a cuff on the man’s right wrist.  The man placed his left hand under his mid section and refused to show it to the officers.  The JPD officer tried to gain control of the suspect’s left hand as the man bent over the couch, face down.  Suddenly, a shot was fired unexpectedly.  Both officers checked to ensure their service weapons were still holstered.  Then, the suspect swung his left hand toward the DPS officer and fired a .357-caliber revolver that had been hidden in the couch, striking the officer in the upper right thigh.  The man then spun back to his left and shot the JPD patrol officer through the armhole of this body armor, striking him in the upper torso/chest.  The JPD officer fell to the floor immediately.  The shooter switched the handgun into his right hand and swung back around toward the DPS officer, who also was wearing body armor.  While still falling backward from the shot fired into his thigh, the DPS officer drew his service weapon and shot the suspect in the back of the head and neck area, fatally wounding him before he could fire another round.  The JPD officer died from the bullet wound to his chest.  The DPS officer underwent immediate surgery for his injury; he made a full recovery and returned to duty 5 months later.  The 63-year-old offender had a prior criminal history that included a previous murder and weapons violations.  He was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident.

A 31-year-old corporal with the Taylor Police Department was shot and killed during a burglary in progress around 5:45 a.m. on July 23.  The corporal, who had 6½ years of law enforcement experience, and his partner responded to a reported break-in at an apartment.  When they arrived at the scene, the officers observed a screen that had been removed from a window of the apartment and a man leaning against a mini-van in a parking lot near the apartment.  The corporal exited the passenger side of the patrol car, and the man began walking towards the patrol car.  The man, who was carrying a small bag, told the corporal that he and his wife had an argument and she had thrown him out of the apartment.  The corporal stayed with the man in the parking lot as his partner walked toward the apartment.  The partner heard gunshots behind him.  He turned and saw the man holding a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun and shooting the corporal.  The partner shot and wounded the man.  The corporal, who was wearing a protective vest, was injured in his stomach and suffered a fatal wound to the front of his head.  The 36-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record that included violent crime (murder) and drug and weapons violations, was arrested and charged with Murder.

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Minnesota

On August 9, a deputy sheriff from the Mahnomen County Sheriff’s Office succumbed to gunshot wounds he received on February 18, 2009, while investigating suspicious circumstances.  At the time of the incident, the 26-year-old deputy, who had more than 5 years of law enforcement experience, responded to a call at 7:10 a.m. reporting that shots had been fired in the city of Mahnomen.  Upon his arrival at the scene, the deputy encountered two men in a driveway.  The deputy exited his vehicle and approached the two individuals, at which time a physical altercation ensued.  During the struggle, the deputy, who was wearing body armor, was shot twice in the abdomen and once in the back of his head with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.  A second deputy arrived on scene and returned fire on the suspects, hitting one suspect in the abdomen.  The assisting deputy called for an ambulance for the wounded deputy.  The two suspects fled to a residence across the street and a standoff ensued.  Nine hours later, both suspects surrendered peacefully and were arrested.  One suspect, a 32-year-old man, was initially charged with Attempted Murder.  The other suspect, a 27-year-old man, was charged with a Felon Convicted of a Crime of Violence, Possession of a Weapon, First-Degree Assault, Use of Deadly Force Against a Law Enforcement Officer, Attempted Theft of a Motor Vehicle Without Consent, Failure to Render Aid/Assistance, and Contempt of Court.  It was determined that both individuals were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the shooting.  Both suspects also had prior criminal records that included violent crimes and weapons violations.  When the victim deputy eventually died as the result of the gunshot wound to the back of his head, the suspect’s Attempted Murder charge was increased to Second-Degree Murder.

A 49-year-old sergeant with the Maplewood Police Department was shot and killed while investigating suspicious persons at 6:45 a.m. on May 1.  Minutes earlier, police were summoned to a residential area where a man reported that he had just escaped from a carjacking incident.  He said that two suspects were last seen fleeing on foot near a walking trail.  The veteran sergeant, with more than 25 years of law enforcement experience, was asked to check the trail and radioed that he would be out with two people at the trail.  Moments later, a citizen, who had been jogging on the trail and witnessed the shooting, came on the radio and broadcast that an officer had been shot.  The victim sergeant, who was wearing body armor, was fatally shot in the front of his head with a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  A large perimeter was set up and a search initiated.  A 21-year-old male approached an officer who was covering the perimeter; in the process of being frisked, the suspect began to strike the officer with a large bolt that had been wrapped in some type of material.  The offender, who had a prior criminal record and was on parole at the time of the incident, was justifiably shot and killed by the officer during the attack.  A second suspect, also 21 years old, with a prior criminal record and on probation at the time of the incident, was located in a nearby apartment and taken into custody.  He was arrested and charged with Second-Degree Murder.

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Mississippi

A 63-year-old sheriff serving with the George County Sheriff’s Department was killed when he was struck by a truck crashing through a roadblock in Lucedale at 2:45 p.m. on July 21.  The veteran sheriff had nearly 37 years of law enforcement experience.  Earlier, a deputy with the same agency attempted a traffic stop of a truck driven by a female.  Although the deputy turned on his blue lights and siren, the driver increased her speed in an attempt to flee.  Out of concern for the safety of the public, the deputy backed off from the pursuit, which had reached speeds in excess of 100 mph.  During the pursuit, a male passenger in the truck took control of the vehicle.  The deputy kept the truck in sight and witnessed the male throwing what was later discovered to be methamphetamine out of the vehicle’s window.  During this time, the sheriff and several other deputies set up a roadblock in an attempt to stop the vehicle and arrest the man, who had been recognized as a subject who had failed to appear in court to face a previous narcotics conviction.  Upon encountering the roadblock, the man drove through it, striking the sheriff and causing extensive and fatal injuries to the victim sheriff.  The man fled the scene; however, the next day, the 24-year-old male suspect and the 18-year-old female suspect were arrested and charged with Capital Murder.  They were both known drug users who had prior criminal records that included drug violations.  The male suspect’s record also included a prior police assault.

At 8:35 p.m. on August 6, a patrol officer with the Jackson Police Department was killed with his service weapon while transporting a prisoner.  The 31-year-old patrol officer, who had 10 years of law enforcement experience, and another officer were transporting a suspect to a detention center; a third officer was in a vehicle following them.  During the transport, the suspect was handcuffed but was able to escape from the vehicle and flee on foot.  The veteran patrol officer, who was wearing body armor, pursued the individual on foot, while his partner and the third officer tried to cut off the man using their patrol vehicles.  Shortly after losing sight of the patrol officer and suspect, the other two officers heard a gunshot but were unable to make contact with the patrol officer.  The two officers contacted their command center and began a search.  The victim officer was found submerged in a creek; his service weapon, a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, was missing.  The victim officer, who had been fatally shot once at close range in the front of the head, was taken by helicopter to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.  When the 24-year-old suspect was found later, he was still wearing handcuffs.  He was arrested and charged with Capital Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer, Escape, and Convicted Felon in Possession of a Firearm.  The suspect was a known drug user who was on probation at the time of the incident.  He had a prior criminal record for violent crime, police assault, and drug and weapons violations.

A 62-year-old deputy sheriff with the Tippah County Sheriff’s Department, was shot and killed in Ripley around 4:30 in the morning on December 3.  He and another deputy were responding to a domestic disturbance call.  When they arrived on the scene, the deputies encountered an uncooperative suspect in the driveway of the residence.  The first deputy was attempting to restrain the man when the suspect gained control of the deputy’s service weapon, .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and shot the other deputy twice.  The victim deputy, a 7-year veteran of law enforcement, was struck in the front lower torso/stomach area and fatally in the front upper chest.  He died at the scene.  The weapon jammed after the assailant had fired the two shots, so the other deputy was able to subdue the suspect until responders arrived to assist with the arrest.  The 26-year-old suspect, who was on parole at the time of the incident, was charged with Capital Murder.

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Montana

A 23-year-old trooper with the Montana Highway Patrol, Bozeman, was shot and killed on December 1 around 4:20 in the afternoon while investigating a suspicious person or circumstance in Three Forks.  The trooper, who had a little more than 2 years of law enforcement experience, was patrolling the area when he saw a man with a shotgun in a field.  The trooper believed the locale to be an area where hunting was not allowed, and he radioed the Three Forks Marshal’s Office and requested marshal assistance in contacting the individual.  However, before assistance could arrive, the man got into his vehicle and started to leave the vicinity, and the trooper attempted to stop him.  Apparently, the man exited his automobile and after a brief encounter with the trooper, he returned to his vehicle, retrieved a 12-gauge shotgun, and shot the trooper in the abdomen.  The trooper, who was wearing body armor, managed to shoot his attacker once.  The assailant reloaded his shotgun and fired at the victim trooper again, striking him in the front upper torso/chest, in the front of the head, and fatally in the throat.  The shooter then fled the scene.  The marshal arrived and found the trooper, who appeared to be deceased, and immediately requested assistance.  The 56‑year‑old suspect, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, drove approximately 35 miles from the scene of the shooting, where he stopped and committed suicide.

On February 12, a sergeant from the Missoula Police Department succumbed to complications from a gunshot wound he sustained more than 11 years earlier while investigating a suspicious person.  On October 21, 1998, at 5:30 p.m., the sergeant responded to a call from a bank concerning a man who was possibly involved in forgery.  When the sergeant, who was 35 years old at the time, first saw the suspect, the man was standing at the drive-thru window of the bank without a vehicle.  The sergeant parked in an alley and exited his patrol car about a half-block from the bank.  When the suspect saw the sergeant, he fled on foot.  The veteran sergeant, who had nearly 8 years of law enforcement experience, chased the suspect across a four-lane road and into a parking lot.  The man drew a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun and fired two shots.  The first shot hit a cargo truck, and the second shot entered the armhole of the sergeant’s protective vest, striking him in the upper torso.  The shooter ran to the sergeant, took his service firearm, and fled the scene.  Deputies with the Missoula County Sheriff’s Department later found the man two blocks away, hiding in a crawl space.  The suspect fired at one of the deputies who found him, and the deputy fired back, but neither was hit.  The shooter surrendered and was taken into custody.  The victim sergeant lived the rest of his life as a quadriplegic because the bullet that entered through the armhole of his protective vest traveled through his shoulder and into his spine.  The suspect, 20 years old at the time of the incident, was a known drug dealer and was charged with Deliberate Homicide, Burglary, Aggravated Assault, Escape, Felony Forgery, and two counts of Felony Theft.  He was found guilty of Murder and received a life sentence.

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Nevada

A 27-year-old deputy sheriff with the Nye County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed in an ambush around 3:40 p.m. on April 26 in Pahrump.  The deputy, who was a 6-year veteran of law enforcement, had recently returned from a military tour of duty in Afghanistan and was in Field Training status.  He responded with his training officer to a domestic dispute involving shots fired at a local casino.  When they arrived at the scene, the male subject involved in the domestic dispute positioned his vehicle in front of the deputy’s patrol vehicle.  The deputy, the training officer, and the subject exited their vehicles at approximately the same time.  A third officer arrived at the scene and pulled in behind the suspect’s vehicle, when the suspect pulled out a semiautomatic rifle and opened fire on the deputy.  The third officer shot the suspect.  The victim deputy, who suffered gunshot wounds to the back, the front below the waist, and the chest, was taken by helicopter to a hospital.  Although the deputy sheriff was wearing a protective vest, the bullets penetrated the armor, and he died later that day from the wounds to his chest.  The 30-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record, died at the scene.

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North Carolina

On July 28, just after 7:30 p.m., a 31-year-old deputy sheriff with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office was killed during an unprovoked attack.  The veteran deputy, who had 10 years of law enforcement experience, responded to a domestic call between a mother and her son in Snow Hill.  The call included a code to alert the deputy that a weapon was present in the home.  When the deputy arrived at the scene, the mother allowed him into the house, and he walked to the den in the back of the house and asked the son to come out of his bedroom so they could talk.  The son opened the bedroom door and began firing at the deputy at close range with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, hitting the deputy in the nose, the hand, and twice in the upper chest, fatally wounding him.  The assailant then took the deputy’s .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and used it to shoot the deputy again, this time behind the ear.  The man fired more rounds from the service weapon inside the home before going into his mother’s room and shooting himself in the head.  In all, the 22-year-old offender shot 15 rounds during the attack.  When the investigating officer arrived, he found the victim deputy lying in the floor of the den, deceased.  He found the attacker, who was still alive but barely breathing, in the mother’s bedroom.  When emergency medical personnel arrived, they attempted to save the man, but he died a few minutes later.  It was later determined that the assailant was under the influence of alcohol during the shooting.  He had a prior criminal record, including violent crime and weapons violations, and was on probation at the time of the incident.

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Ohio

A patrol officer with the Elyria Police Department was fatally shot on March 15 shortly before 10 p.m. when he responded to a disturbance call.  The officer, who was an 18-year veteran of law enforcement, arrived on the scene, made contact with the man who was the subject of the call, and then went inside the residence with the man.  While they were in the dwelling, the man fired at the 43-year-old officer with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, striking the officer in the front and side of his head, in his neck and chest, and in his stomach below his protective vest.  The victim officer radioed that he had been shot and asked for backup.  The alleged shooter, who had exited the residence, was confronted by assisting officers who had arrived on the scene, and an altercation ensued.  The alleged offender was shot and killed by the backup officers.  The victim officer was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival from the gunshot wound to the side of his head.  The 58-year-old alleged shooter had a prior law enforcement relationship with the victim officer and a prior criminal record that included violent crime.

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Pennsylvania

A trooper with the Pennsylvania State Police, Franklin, was ambushed in an unprovoked attack shortly before noon on January 13 while responding to a domestic disturbance involving a husband and wife at their home in Cranberry Township, Venango County.  The 40-year-old trooper, with more than 16½ years of law enforcement experience, arrived on the scene with another officer.  As they exited their vehicles, someone inside the residence told the officers to return to their vehicles and leave.  The troopers ordered the subject to show himself.  The individual then fired a single shot from a .30-30 lever-action rifle from a second-story bedroom window.  The fatal round struck the victim trooper, who was wearing body armor, in the neck.  Other troopers arrived and fired 26 shots from a .223-caliber automatic rifle and 12 shots from a .45-caliber handgun into the residence to provide cover while evacuating the victim trooper.  A Special Emergency Response Team eventually entered the home and found both the suspect and his wife dead in a second-story bedroom.  The wife died of a single gunshot wound to the head, and the suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.  The suspect’s rifle was found in his lap; autopsies revealed that neither individual had been shot by police.  The 44-year-old suspect, who had a prior law enforcement relationship with the victim trooper, had a prior criminal record including police assault and weapons violations, and a history of mental disorders.

Approximately 10:30 p.m., on November 11, a conservation officer with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Huntingdon, was shot and killed while investigating reports of illegal poaching of deer near Freedom Township.  Upon hearing gunfire in the vicinity, the 31-year-old conservation officer traveled toward the source of the gunfire, where he encountered a pickup with at least two individuals in it.  The officer, who had 4 years of law enforcement experience, called dispatch with the license plate of the pickup and requested backup.  Before backup officers could arrive, the driver allegedly exited the pickup and approached the officer, who was wearing body armor.  When the officer attempted to handcuff the man, a struggle ensued, and there was an exchange of gunfire.  The suspect shot the officer in the back of his legs and, fatally, in the back of his neck with a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  Two of the victim officer’s rounds hit the suspect; another shot was deflected by a knife worn by the man.  Apparently, the suspect fled the scene with a handcuff on his right wrist, but he managed to shoot off the handcuff.  Shortly after the shooter left the scene, he and a passenger in the pickup went separate ways.  When law enforcement personnel later interviewed the passenger, he said that the suspect had illegally shot a deer shortly before the officer arrived, and that the suspect stated that he was “not going back to prison” for possessing a handgun.  The 27-year-old offender, who had a prior criminal record including violent crime and weapons violations, was apprehended the next day at a hunting cabin in Adams County.  He was charged with First-Degree Murder, Possession/Use/Transfer of a Firearm, Flight to Avoid Appeals Trial, Firearm Carried Without a License, Possession of Instrument of Crime, and Violation of Game Laws.

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Puerto Rico

The Puerto Rico Department of Environment and Natural Resources lost two of its rangers on March 23 at 12:30 a.m. while they were on guard duty at the agency’s facility in San Juan.  Each of the rangers was 30 years old and each had nearly 6 years of law enforcement experience.  Both rangers, who were wearing body armor, were going about their normal duties, unaware that two men who intended to steal their service weapons were watching them.  The two men had maintained their surveillance for more than an hour when one of the rangers left the guard station to go on his rounds within the property, leaving the other ranger alone in the small building.  The would-be robbers then climbed over the fence surrounding the property and entered the guard shack.  One of the perpetrators, a 23-year-old man, pointed a .45-caliber handgun at the ranger.  The ranger fell to the ground in surprise, and the attacker attempted to take the ranger’s 9 mm semiautomatic service handgun.  A short struggle ensued as the ranger fought to keep possession of his weapon, but the attacker gained control and shot the victim ranger with the service weapon, striking him in the arms and hands.  The shooter handed one of the handguns to the second perpetrator, a 35-year-old man.  Meanwhile, the second ranger, who had detected the intruders, moved to a position in front of the guard station near a large rock where he opened fire on the two assailants with his service weapon, also a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.  The 23-year-old attacker was shot in the left calf.  After a few more shots were exchanged, the second ranger fell to the ground, mortally wounded when a bullet from his partner’s stolen 9 mm service handgun struck him in the side of his head.  The 23-year-old attacker went to the body to steal the fallen ranger’s service handgun, but he could not find the weapon.  He returned to the guard station and saw that the first ranger was still moving.  He shot the ranger fatally in the side of the head.  Because of the attacker’s calf wound, he was unable to jump over the fence that they had scaled to enter the property.  The pair then stole a truck that was parked next to the guard shack and drove it through the gate that was locked with a chain.  They joined a third man, a 21-year-old, who was part of the original robbery plan, and fled to the home of the 23-year-old man.  Later that morning, the 21-year-old and the 35-year-old suspects were detained in an unrelated traffic stop.  When police searched the vehicle, they found the 9 mm service weapon belonging to the first victim ranger.  All three men, who were known to use drugs and who were under the influence of narcotics, were subsequently arrested.  The 23-year-old man was charged with Carjacking and Murder.  The 35-year-old man was charged with Carjacking, Murder, Stolen Weapon, and Interstate Commerce.  The 21-year-old man was charged with Possession of a Stolen Firearm and Accessory After the Fact.

On October 26, a 52-year-old lieutenant with the Police of Puerto Rico in Hato Rey was shot and killed while interrupting a robbery in progress in San Lorenzo.  Around 8:15 p.m., two masked gunmen entered a convenience store/bar and announced a robbery to the store owner and customers inside.  While one gunman hid by the side of the door, the other proceeded to the bar area where the cash register was located.  Outside the bar, the off-duty lieutenant, who had 31 years’ law enforcement experience, was socializing with friends when he realized there was a robbery in progress.  As the veteran lieutenant entered the bar, he announced that he was a police officer and attempted to draw his weapon from the holster in the small of his back.  The gunman beside the door then pointed his weapon at the lieutenant.  The lieutenant attempted to grab the weapon from the gunman with his other hand and a brief struggle ensued.  The gunman shot the lieutenant three times in the front upper torso/chest area, wounding him with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.  The gunmen stole cash from the register, took the lieutenant’s service weapon, and then fled the store on foot.  The victim lieutenant was transported to a local emergency room where he died of his wounds shortly after the shooting incident.  The two subjects and a third individual, who had been waiting with a get-away vehicle some distance from the store, were subsequently arrested in connection with the murder.  A 22-year-old man, a known drug user with a prior criminal record including violent crime and weapons violations, was charged with First-Degree Murder, Robbery, and Firearms Law Violation.  A 26-year-old man, a known drug user with a prior criminal record including violent crime, was also charged with First-Degree Murder, Robbery, and Firearms Law Violation.  No information was available on the third arrestee at the time of this publication.  

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Texas

A police officer with the Lancaster Police Department was shot and killed at 6 p.m. on June 20 while responding to a disturbance call involving a man with a gun at an apartment complex.  The 37-year-old officer, who had more than 5 years of law enforcement experience and who was wearing body armor, arrived at the complex and saw the individual attempting to leave in a vehicle.  When the officer stopped and exited his patrol vehicle, the individual shot at him with a 7.62x39 mm semiautomatic rifle.  The officer returned fire with his .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle.  However, as the officer ran for cover behind his patrol vehicle, the gunman continued firing at him.  One of the offender’s rounds fatally struck the victim officer in the side of the head.  Responding officers then justifiably killed the 27-year-old offender, who had a prior criminal record that included drug violations and was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident.

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Utah

A 41-year-old deputy sheriff with the Kane County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) was shot and killed at 3:20 p.m., August 26, during an ambush in Fredonia as he and other law enforcement officers were searching for a suspected armed burglar.  Earlier that afternoon, a man had broken into a local grade school.  When he was discovered by the school janitor, the man shot at the janitor, missed, then fled on foot.  Responding to a call about a man with a gun, KCSO deputies and Fredonia marshals organized a search team and began pursuing the suspect, who authorities believed had stolen a rifle from a residence the night before.  The deputies and the marshals went over a hill where the suspect was in position to ambush them.  The suspect fired one shot from a .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle that struck one of the deputies in the front of the head.  The victim deputy, who had 13 years’ law enforcement experience and was wearing body armor, died at the scene.  Law enforcement officers then exchanged gunfire with the suspect, and he shot a second deputy in the leg.  Additional officers from the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies responded and tracked the suspect to a cliff and set up a perimeter; however, the next morning a witness saw the suspect fleeing on foot with his weapon just north of the cliff.  In the early morning hours of August 30, members of the Salt Lake SWAT Team and deputies from the U.S. Marshals Service responded to a call about a potential burglar with a rifle outside a residence in Kanab.  Once the law enforcement authorities surrounded the suspect and identified themselves, the 23-year-old alleged shooter, a known drug user with a prior criminal record including violent crime, surrendered without further incident.  He was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder, two counts of Aggravated Assault, Burglary, and Theft.

Around 1 a.m. on January 5, a 37-year-old deputy sheriff with the Millard County Sheriff’s Department (MCSD) was killed during a felony traffic stop near Delta.  Minutes earlier, a sergeant with the MCSD had witnessed an illegal drug deal involving two men.  The sergeant pursued one of the men and requested that the veteran deputy sheriff, who had more than 5 years of law enforcement experience, follow the other man.  She pursued the individual and requested backup.  When the backup officers arrived about 3 minutes later, they found that the deputy had been shot twice with a 7.62x39 mm semiautomatic rifle.  Although the victim deputy was wearing body armor, the ammunition exceeded the vest’s capabilities.  One of the rounds fatally penetrated the right chest area and stopped at the back panel of her body armor; the other shot was to her neck.  A third round missed the deputy.  Law enforcement agencies including the Salt Lake City Police SWAT Team, the Utah County Sheriff’s Department, the MCSD, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation provided tactical and investigative assistance.  In the early morning hours of January 6, a resident at a trailer park in Beaver, about 90 miles from the incident, saw the suspect sleeping in a shed and notified the Beaver County Sheriff’s Department.  Officers arrested the suspect without incident.  After his arrest, the suspect provided a full confession and furnished details about the incident.  The 37-year-old suspect said that he shot the victim deputy without warning as she approached his vehicle.  He then fled, disposing of his car and the weapon, which law enforcement later recovered.  He traveled with an acquaintance to Salt Lake City, Provo, and Payson before stopping in Beaver.  The suspect, a known drug dealer with a prior criminal record including drug and weapons violations, was charged with Aggravated Murder.

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Summaries of Officers Feloniously Killed

 

Note:  Occasionally, the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted Program is unable to publish summaries concerning some officers who are feloniously killed in the line of duty.  These situations may stem from insufficient information, gag orders that are issued by the courts, or other unusual circumstances that may exist.  Although written summaries of the deaths of two officers who were killed in 2010 are not included in this publication, all available information is included where applicable in the data tables.

Alabama

On January 1, a 63-year-old former sergeant with the Guntersville Police Department died from injuries he sustained in an incident more than 16 years earlier on July 16, 1993.  The sergeant, then a 47-year-old with 4 years of law enforcement experience, was one of four officers who responded to a domestic disturbance with shots fired at a residence around 12:20 a.m.  An individual at the home had shot his wife, and the individual’s brother was causing a disturbance at the scene.  The officer was subduing the individual’s brother on the hood of a patrol car when the subject fired a single shot from a .22-caliber revolver.  The round struck the victim sergeant under his protective vest in the lower back, immediately paralyzing him.  The suspect, who was 27 years old at the time of the incident, was known to use drugs and was under the influence of alcohol.  He was arrested and charged with Attempted Murder.

Alaska

On August 28, two officers with the Hoonah Police Department were targeted in an ambush shortly before 11 p.m.  The first officer, a 31-year-old sergeant with more than 3 years of law enforcement experience, was on duty.  The second officer, a 39-year old police officer with 1½ years of law enforcement experience, was off duty when he stopped to talk to the on-duty sergeant.  As the men spoke, the sergeant was shot in the back with an unknown caliber rifle.  The force of the round penetrated the sergeant’s protective vest, wounding him.  The off-duty officer radioed for backup and began to drag the sergeant to cover when the suspect fired four more rounds, striking the sergeant in the front below his waist and the off-duty officer twice in the chest.  Backup officers arrived and moved both victims to cover until emergency medical personnel could get there.  The victim officer was moved to the local clinic where he died 45 minutes later.  The victim sergeant was transported by helicopter to a Juneau hospital where he died the next day.  On August 30, after a 36-hour standoff during which he fired at officers, the 45-year-old suspect surrendered.  The Juneau Police Department and Alaska State Trooper SWAT teams, as well as officers from Hoonah, Wrangel, and the U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement assisted during the standoff.  The suspect reportedly had a mental disorder and a prior record of violent crime, including police assault.  He was known to the victim officers from previous encounters with law enforcement.  The offender was charged with Felony Misconduct Involving Weapons and two counts of First-Degree Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer. 

Arizona

On July 28, just after 6:30 p.m., a 34-year-old officer with the Chandler Police Department was killed during an undercover narcotics operation.  The officer, who had 6 years of law enforcement experience, was working with several other officers and a confidential informant, all of whom were part of an undercover deal to sell 500 pounds of marijuana to a group of individuals.  The deal and the details of the sale, including the amount that would be paid for the marijuana, had already been set between the informant and a broker.  According to the plan, the three undercover officers were to deliver the marijuana to a private residence where the transaction would take place.  On the day of the transaction, several backup officers were stationed around the location.  When the three undercover officers entered the house, they encountered at least six males.  As the officers began to discuss the deal, several of the men displayed weapons.  The officers reacted verbally and were immediately fired upon by multiple assailants.  The victim officer was fatally wounded in the chest by a bullet from a 5.45 mm semiautomatic rifle.  The other two undercover officers were also wounded in the incident.  Supported by backup police positioned nearby, the two injured officers engaged in a gunfight with the suspects.  In the end, two suspects were wounded, one was pronounced dead at the scene, and another died as he was trying to flee in a vehicle and was stopped by a detective down the street from the scene of the shooting.  Investigators later found information that suggested that the drug buyers had never intended to pay for the marijuana, but had planned an ambush to steal it from the beginning.  The 35-year-old man who allegedly had shot the victim officer had a prior criminal record including police assault and weapons and drug violations.  He was charged with three counts of First-Degree Murder, four counts of Aggravated Assault with a Dangerous Instrument, First-Degree Burglary, Possession of a Weapon by a Prohibited Person, Possession or Use of a Weapon in a Drug Offense, and Intent to Transport/Sell Marijuana.

A lieutenant with the Gilbert Police Department (GPD) was killed while conducting a traffic stop at 10:42 p.m. on January 28.  The 42-year-old lieutenant, who had more than 16 years of law enforcement experience and was wearing body armor, initiated the stop on a truck for an obstructed license plate.  The lieutenant made contact with two occupants of the vehicle, obtained their names and identification, and requested backup assistance.  As the lieutenant approached the passenger side of the vehicle, one of the occupants fired a single shot from a .38-caliber revolver at close range.  The bullet fatally struck the lieutenant in the front of the head.  The assailants fled in the truck.  Two sergeants with the Mesa Police Department (MPD) were in the vicinity, heard the shot, and began to check the area.  A witness notified the GPD of the shooting using the victim lieutenant’s radio, and another witness called 911.  A GPD officer spotted the suspects’ vehicle and was immediately met with gunfire.  As the pursuit began, the suspects fired on the officers and threw tools and equipment from the bed of the truck at the officers’ vehicles.  Several police cars were disabled because of gunfire and debris.  Officers from the GPD, the MPD, the Department of Public Safety, and the sheriff’s offices from Pinal and Maricopa Counties all took part in the pursuit, which ended after the suspects stopped in the roadway.  The 35-year-old passenger then exited the vehicle and engaged officers in gunfire as he ran to the front of the truck.  The driver also ran to the front of the truck.  Officers stopped the attack by returning gunfire and releasing a K-9 police dog.  The suspects were taken into custody and transported to local hospitals with nonlife-threatening injuries.  The alleged shooter was arrested on February 2 and charged with First-Degree Homicide, four counts of Drive by Shooting, nine counts of Aggravated Assault, and Felony Flight from Police.  A known drug user who was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident, the alleged assailant had a prior criminal record involving violent crime, drug violations, and police assault.

A police officer with the Phoenix Police Department was shot and killed while investigating a suspicious circumstance on May 26.  About an hour prior to the incident, officers observed a vehicle being driven at a high rate of speed and advised dispatch of the situation.  Just after 1:30 a.m., a 911 call came in that a male was observed covering up a car that he had parked in a carport at a vacant house.  The 29-year-old officer, who had 4 years of law enforcement experience, and his partner responded to the call in a marked police vehicle.  The officers exited their cruiser and approached the vehicle in question from opposite directions.  The partner began searching the backyard, but then heard gunshots.  He ran back toward the vehicle and found the victim officer lying on the ground in front of a nearby residence.  The victim officer had gunshot wounds from a .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle to his front below the waist and fatally to his front lower torso/stomach below his protective vest.  He was transported in a police vehicle to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead hours later.  The 30-year-old suspect, who had an extensive prior criminal record that included police assault and drug and weapons violations, was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder, First-Degree Burglary, Misconduct Involving Weapon, and Disorderly Conduct.

A sergeant with the Phoenix Police Department was killed with his department-issued shotgun while on patrol at 10:40 p.m. on October 18.  The 34-year-old veteran sergeant, who had nearly 12½ years of law enforcement experience, was wearing body armor at the time of his death.  He was shot once fatally in the back of the head.  He was found in full police uniform near his marked patrol vehicle, but, at the time of this publication, the circumstances surrounding his death are unknown, and the assailant remains at large.

Arkansas

A patrol officer and a sergeant with the West Memphis Police Department were ambushed and killed during a traffic stop on May 20 just after 11:30 a.m.  The 38-year-old patrol officer was conducting a traffic stop and was speaking to the driver of the stopped vehicle by the front passenger side of his patrol car when the 39-year-old sergeant arrived as backup.  Shortly after the sergeant arrived, the driver’s 16-year-old son exited the vehicle and began firing a 7.62x39 mm semiautomatic rifle.  Both veteran officers received multiple gunshot wounds.  The sergeant, with more than 6 years of law enforcement experience, was fatally struck in the front of his head, and the patrol officer, with more than 8 years of law enforcement experience, was fatally shot in the front upper torso/chest when the bullet penetrated his protective vest.  The suspects fled in their vehicle, which was found an hour and a half later approximately 1 mile from the scene in a store parking lot.  When responding officers arrived, both suspects began firing at them.  During the ensuing gunfight, two veteran officers from the Crittenden County Sheriff’s Department were shot; both sustained serious injuries.  After exiting his police vehicle, the 68-year-old chief of enforcement, with more than 42 years of law enforcement experience, was hit in the front lower torso and stomach.  The 73-year-old sheriff, with more than 44 years of law enforcement experience, was hit in the arms and hands while still in the passenger seat of the vehicle.  Other officers on the scene engaged the suspects, and both the 16-year-old suspect and the 45-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record including weapons violations, were justifiably killed. 

California

Around 9:50 a.m. on February 25, two deputy sheriffs with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) were shot and injured while serving a search warrant at a residence in Minkler.  Approximately an hour later, while responding to the “officer down” call, a corporal with the Reedley Police Department (RDP) was also shot.  One of the FCSO deputies and the RDP corporal subsequently died as a result of injuries sustained.  The two deputies initially attempted to serve a search warrant at the residence of a person of interest concerning several arsons and shootings in the Minkler area.  Apparently, the suspect opened fire on the deputies with a rifle while they were outside the home.  The 49-year-old veteran deputy, who had nearly 12 years of law enforcement experience, was hit in the chest by a round that entered his body armor through the armhole.  The second deputy was grazed on the face by one of the rounds fired.  Both victim deputies were transported to a regional medical center where the 49-year-old deputy died at 10:26 a.m. as the result of his gunshot wound; the other deputy was treated and released.  Meanwhile, other responding agencies on the scene of the incident had established a perimeter as the shooter continued to fire his weapon sporadically.  Around 10:50 a.m. one of the rounds struck an RPD corporal in the front of the head as he maintained his perimeter position 80 yards from of the suspect’s residence.  The 28-year-old corporal, who had nearly 5 years of law enforcement experience and was wearing body armor at the time, was taken to a regional medical center where he died on March 1.  During the standoff, the 51-year-old assailant, who was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident, ended his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

On February 4, a former investigator from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department died as a result of complications from injuries he sustained more than 29 years earlier while investigating suspicious activity in a mall parking lot.  Around 8:30 p.m. on November 6, 1980, the investigator and his partner traveled to a mall in the City of Orange to collect bail on a warrant.  At that time, the investigator was 39 years old and an 8-year veteran of law enforcement.  While driving their unmarked car through the lot, the investigators noticed three men tampering with a parked car.  Two of the men were working under the hood, and a third man was inside the vehicle.  The investigator and his partner were approaching the men on foot when the man inside the car opened the passenger door and pointed a handgun at the partner.  The investigator removed his service weapon from his ankle holster and ordered the suspect to drop his weapon.  The man then turned and pointed his gun toward the investigator.  The suspects at the front of the vehicle also drew weapons, and a gun battle erupted.  The investigator was struck in the torso by two rounds fired from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  Two of the offenders fled in the investigators’ unmarked vehicle, while the other offender fled on foot.  While pursing them in a high-speed car chase, California Highway Patrol units received gunfire from the two suspects.  During the pursuit, the suspects lost control and crashed the unmarked unit, allowing officers to capture the two men and take them into custody.  The man who escaped on foot was apprehended within days in Las Vegas, Nevada.   The bullets that struck the investigator during the gun battle paralyzed him from the chest down.  Over the next 29 years, he was confined to a wheelchair and required numerous medical procedures to address complications from his injuries.  The three suspects were all on parole at the time of the shooting and were attempting to steal a vehicle to serve as a get-away car for a planned robbery.  At the time of the incident, all three offenders were convicted of Attempted Murder and served prison sentences.

A 27-year-old officer with the Riverside Police Department (RPD) was killed with his service weapon during a traffic pursuit about 9:45 p.m. on November 7.  The officer, who had 4 years of law enforcement experience, was on patrol when he received information from dispatchers regarding a semi-truck that had been involved in a hit-and-run accident.  The officer saw the truck and attempted to pull the vehicle over.  The driver pulled the truck over and exited.  The officer’s dashboard camera showed the individual removing a bar from the rear of his waistband and running into a nearby park.  The officer, who was wearing body armor, called for assistance and began a foot chase.  An eyewitness said that the officer slipped while chasing the man.  While the officer was on the ground, the man struck the victim officer several times with the bar.  At some point, the suspect disarmed the victim officer and fired three rounds at the officer from his service weapon, a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  Two rounds missed the officer, but the third struck him fatally in the side of the head at close range.  The victim officer was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.  The dashboard camera from the officer’s vehicle showed the suspect getting back in the truck and fleeing the scene.  The RPD, the Inland Regional Apprehension Team, and the FBI searched for the suspect.  Officers located the suspect on November 9 and kept surveillance on him until a tactical team could arrive to arrest the suspect.  In the early morning of November 10, officers also recovered the victim officer’s weapon.  The 44-year old suspect, who was on parole at the time of the incident, had a prior criminal record that included violent crime, police assault, and drug and weapons violations.  He was charged with Murder, Violation of Parole, and a Local Ordinance Violation.

A 50-year-old police officer with the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) was shot during a tactical situation on October 27.  Around 11:10 p.m., SDPD police officers responded to an apartment to assist San Diego County probation officers and U.S. Marshals in taking a fugitive suspect into custody.  The 30-year-old male suspect was barricaded in a bedroom of the apartment and initially, officers called out for him to surrender.  Preparing to release a K-9 into the room, officers kicked open the door and were immediately met with gunfire from the suspect and his female companion.  The victim officer, who had more than 17 years of law enforcement experience and was wearing body armor, was struck fatally in the side of his head.  Forensic examination determined that the 30-year-old suspect fired the fatal shot from a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  Both he and his 27-year-old accomplice committed suicide.  Both were under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident and both had prior criminal records.  The victim officer was transported to a hospital where he died the next day.

Colorado

A deputy sheriff from the Weld County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed in Evans while pursuing a robbery suspect on November 23.  The 43-year-old deputy sheriff, who had 8 years of law enforcement experience, and his partner were dispatched to assist in a pursuit that was entering from a neighboring county and involved an armed and dangerous suspect that was connected with an armed robbery.  Around 10:45 a.m., the deputies joined in the pursuit.  Just after 11 a.m., the pursuit ended, and the suspect initially refused to exit the vehicle he was driving.  The suspect was pulled from his vehicle and stood upright with his back against the vehicle.  He immediately began punching, fighting, and struggling against the officers.  During the altercation, the suspect and the deputies fell to the ground.  The suspect gained possession of the deputy’s firearm, a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and shot him three times.  The victim deputy received injuries in his front upper torso/chest area and on his arms/hands.  One bullet entered the deputy’s bulletproof vest at an extremely shallow angle and traveled through several layers of the vest.  The bullet exited the top panel of the vest, striking the veteran deputy fatally in the head and killing him instantly.  Following this, the 20-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record including violent crime, police assault, and drug and weapons violations, was justifiably killed by other officers at the scene.

Florida

A 33-year-old captain with the Dixie County Sheriff’s Office was killed while conducting a felony traffic stop in Cross City around 4:30 p.m. on January 14.  Near 3 p.m. in Hernando County, a man was allegedly involved in a domestic dispute that resulted in the death of two women and the wounding of two others.  The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office issued a “lookout” alert for the man and informed other law enforcement agencies along Florida’s coast of his vehicle’s make, model, and year.  Around 4:30 p.m., the man was spotted driving his vehicle in Cross City.  Officers followed him for a brief time until the man did a U-turn and pulled his vehicle into a convenience store parking lot.  The captain, who had 11½ years of law enforcement experience, was approaching the man and giving verbal commands to surrender when the man fired a single round from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, striking the veteran captain fatally in the jaw.  Three other deputies on the scene fired 11 rounds at the suspect, wounding him.  The victim captain was transported via helicopter to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.  The 55-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record for violent crime and drug and weapons violations, recovered from his injuries.  He was arrested and charged with three counts of Murder. 

Just before 8:30 p.m. on December 8, a deputy sheriff with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Orlando.  The 27-year-old deputy, who had nearly 5 years of law enforcement experience, had stopped a truck and was talking with the male driver as they stood near the front of the deputy’s patrol car.  Witnesses saw them conversing, reported hearing gunfire, and then saw the deputy on the ground.  Responding officers found the deputy at the scene lying on his back with his taser in his right hand and the suspect’s vehicle registration and driver’s license in his left hand.  The deputy, who was wearing body armor, had been shot in the front and side of his head with what was later determined to be a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  The victim deputy was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead from the bullet wound to the side of head.  Investigating deputies found the suspect’s truck near the apartment complex listed as the home address on his driver’s license.  They searched a wooded area nearby and found the suspect’s body with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.  The weapon used to murder the victim deputy was found near the man’s body.  One probe from the deputy’s taser was found on the 29-year-old alleged shooter’s jacket, which was discovered near his vehicle.  The medical examiner (ME) confirmed that, although the deputy had discharged his taser, it had not penetrated the man’s thick winter jacket.  Further, the ME indicated that, based on the deputy’s wounds, it was likely that the suspect and the deputy were on the ground fighting at the time the shots were fired.  The suspect, who was on parole at the time of the incident, had a prior criminal record that included police assault and weapons violations.

Two Tampa Police Department patrol officers, both 31 years old, were shot and killed while attempting an arrest about 2:15 a.m. on June 29.  One of the patrol officers had stopped a vehicle that did not have a license plate.  The officer, who had 3½ years of law enforcement experience, ran a check of the vehicle’s two occupants and discovered that the passenger had a misdemeanor warrant for arrest.  The second patrol officer, who had 1 year of law enforcement experience, arrived to assist with the traffic stop.  The officers, both of whom were wearing protective vests, approached the vehicle from the right side and asked the man in the passenger seat if he was aware of a warrant for his arrest.  The man denied knowing there was a warrant.  The first patrol officer, still standing outside the right front passenger door, asked the passenger to exit the vehicle.  The man exited the vehicle, and the same patrol officer secured the man’s left arm.  Then, the man pulled out a .38-caliber revolver with his right hand and fired two rounds.  Each officer was fatally shot once in the side of the head.  The passenger fled the scene on foot, and the driver sped off in the vehicle.  The 24-year-old alleged shooter was arrested on July 2 and charged with three counts of First-Degree Murder.  He had a prior criminal record that included violent crimes, including murder, police assault, and drug and weapons violations.   

Georgia

On May 26, a 55-year-old former patrol officer with the Carrollton Police Department (CPD) died as a result of injuries received nearly 30 years earlier while answering a call to investigate suspicious persons.  About 9 p.m. on November 11, 1980, the patrol officer, then 25-years-old with nearly 4 years of law enforcement experience, was responding to a report of a man who was heading to a tavern at a local mall with a shotgun and the intent to kill another person.  The patrol officer was the third member of law enforcement to arrive at the mall parking lot where the suspect’s car was located.  A CPD sergeant and another CPD assisting officer had parked cruisers at the rear and front of the suspect’s car.  The arriving patrol officer parked in front of the assisting officer’s vehicle.  The suspect and his female companion, who had tipped off a gas station clerk earlier in the evening about the suspect’s intent, exited their vehicle.  While the sergeant was talking to the suspects, the two officers retrieved the loaded shotgun from the floorboard of the suspect’s vehicle.  The sergeant talked to the suspects and determined from the female companion that the suspect was in town for a “big narcotic deal” and $20,000 had been stolen from his vehicle earlier as it sat in the mall parking lot.  The sergeant then went to his cruiser to check for outstanding warrants.  The assisting officer was standing with the female on the passenger side of the suspect’s vehicle, and the suspect was standing directly in front of him with the patrol officer by his side.  The assisting officer asked the patrol officer to walk the suspect away from the car so that the female could speak freely.  As the patrol officer attempted to do so, the suspect pulled a .38-caliber revolver from his pocket, put the barrel in the patrol officer’s stomach and ordered, “Okay, everybody hold it!”  The assisting officer took cover behind the suspect’s vehicle, and the sergeant took cover behind a nearby truck.  The suspect put the revolver to the patrol officer’s head and took the shotgun from him.  He demanded that the other law enforcement members drop their weapons just as the patrol officer he was holding hostage knocked the revolver from the suspect’s hand and a struggle ensued.  The suspect put the shotgun in the patrol officer’s back and the patrol officer raised his hands.  The suspect retrieved the revolver from the ground and shot the victim patrol officer in the upper left back before shooting the tire of the sergeant’s patrol car.  The assisting officer fired three shots at the suspect, and a gun battle followed.  As the assisting officer kept the suspect’s attention, the sergeant crawled under the suspect’s vehicle and shot the suspect once in the knee.  As the suspect fell to the ground, his weapons landed out of his reach.  The suspect, who was 39 years old and a corrections escapee at the time, was arrested and charged with Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer and Aggravated Assault.  The coroner ruled that that the victim patrol officer ultimately died as a result of complications from the wounds received during this incident.

On February 15, at 11:34 a.m., a 56-year-old lieutenant with the Chattahoochee Hills Police Department (CHPD) was shot to death in an unprovoked attack.  The lieutenant, a 30-year veteran of law enforcement, was on patrol in the city.  Around noon, a county dispatcher received a telephone call from a passerby who had come upon the lieutenant’s patrol vehicle and discovered the lieutenant inside.  Responding units arrived at the scene and found the patrol car still running and the back window shattered.  Evidence showed that an attacker had shot five rounds into the vehicle with a .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle.  The victim lieutenant was in the front driver’s seat with bullet wounds to his chest, his arms/hands, and a fatal wound to the front of his head.  He was pronounced dead a short time later.  The next day, tips called in to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the CHPD’s tip line and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) provided information to investigators about the alleged shooter and the murder weapon.  A caller indicated that the suspect was in the area where the lieutenant had been shot and that the weapon used in the slaying had originally been purchased as a non-automatic weapon but had been altered by the alleged shooter to be “fully automatic.”  When the tipster spoke with the ATF agent, the individual indicated that the alleged shooter had said that when he shot the lieutenant, the weapon was on “full auto.”  On February 17, a 44-year-old man was arrested for the shooting and charged with Murder, Aggravated Assault, and Possession of a Firearm.  The man, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, had a prior criminal record that included violent crime and weapons violations.  He also was acquainted with the victim lieutenant through a law enforcement relationship.

Just before 10 p.m. on December 23, a 39-year-old lieutenant with the Dougherty County Police Department was killed while responding to a robbery in progress in Albany.  The lieutenant, who had more than 18 years of law enforcement experience, was one of several officers who were patrolling the general area looking for a robbery suspect or the suspect’s vehicle.  The veteran lieutenant saw an individual running through a dimly lit mobile home park near where the robbery took place and attempted to stop him.  The lieutenant exited his marked patrol vehicle to pursue the suspect; at some point, the individual fired two rounds from a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.  One round struck the victim lieutenant in the upper left thigh and exited through his lower back; the second and fatal round entered just below the lieutenant’s ballistic vest on the lower right side of his abdomen and exited the lower back near his spine.  The lieutenant was able to fire two rounds from his service weapon, but neither round hit the 20-year-old suspect, who was apprehended a short time later while hiding under a mobile home.  The suspect was on probation at the time of the incident and had a prior criminal record for drug violations.  He was arrested and charged with Murder, Armed Robbery, and Possession of a Firearm in the Commission of a Crime.

A trooper with the Georgia State Patrol, Forest Park, was killed during a traffic stop shortly after 11:00 p.m. on December 27.  The 38-year-old trooper, who had more than 2 years of law enforcement experience, stopped a car for a headlight violation on a road near a major parkway in Atlanta.  The driver pulled over to the right shoulder of the road, and the trooper approached the driver’s side door.  After checking the trunk to ensure that it was secure, the trooper asked the driver to roll down the rear window, presumably because the window was tinted and he could not see inside the vehicle.  The driver failed to comply with the request, and instead put the car into gear and fled.  The trooper radioed for assistance and gave chase in his patrol car.  The suspect crashed into a concrete mailbox a few miles away.  The trooper positioned his vehicle behind the suspect’s car, exited the unit, and cautiously approached the crash.  He attempted to shine a flashlight inside the window.  As he came closer, the passenger side door of the suspect’s vehicle opened slightly and the suspect fired three rounds from a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, striking the trooper in the neck above his protective vest.  Although the trooper was out of view of his vehicle’s in-car camera, it picked up the muzzle flashes of the shots that were fired.  Assisting officers arrived at the scene and called for an ambulance.  The victim trooper was transported to a local hospital where he died a short time later.  Two witnesses at the scene advised the investigating officer that the assailant had shot the victim trooper and then had fled the scene in the patrol car.  On December 28, a member of the Atlanta Police Department apprehended the 30-year-old suspect, who was on probation and a known drug dealer with a history of drug and weapons violations.  The alleged shooter was charged with Murder and Aggravated Assault of a Law Enforcement Officer.            

An investigator with the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed in an unprovoked attack at 12:55 p.m. on May 8.  The 28-year-old investigator, with nearly 5 years of law enforcement experience, along with other investigators and a deputy, were attempting to serve an arrest warrant on an individual at a residence in Conyers.  The warrant was for Rape, Aggravated Assault, and Kidnapping stemming from an incident the previous evening.  The entire house had been cleared except for the rear master bedroom.  The door to that room was locked and had to be breached to gain entry.  Once inside the room, all visible areas were cleared except for the closet, which was closed and did not have a doorknob.  When the investigator pulled open the door, the 41-year-old male began firing a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, striking the victim investigator twice.  The first shot entered through his left forearm and was stopped by his protective vest.  The second shot fatally struck him on the left side below the vest in the front lower torso/stomach.  Two other investigators and one deputy returned fire, killing the suspect, who had a prior criminal record.

Illinois

An off-duty police officer with the Chicago Police Department was shot on May 19 in a robbery attempt involving four male suspects.  Shortly before 11:30 p.m., the 30-year-old officer, who had nearly 3 years of law enforcement experience, had gotten on his motorcycle and was about to drive away when two males, ages 19 and 20, approached the officer and announced they were going to rob him.  The 20-year-old robber produced a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun and placed it to the officer’s head.  A retired officer had been standing in the doorway of his nearby home and saw the robbery in progress.  The retired officer yelled to the offenders, who told the retired officer to mind his own business and the armed robber fired his weapon at him.  The 20-year-old robber moved the handgun away from the officer’s head, the officer announced that he was a police officer, retrieved his weapon, and fired at the offenders.  The officer and the 20-year-old assailant exchanged gunfire at close range.  The officer fired eight rounds, all of which struck the offenders, who were standing near each other.  The armed assailant fired four rounds, one of which grazed the officer’s rear below the waist and one that struck him fatally in the center of his torso, above his abdomen.  As this was happening, the retired officer retrieved a handgun from his residence.  He saw a vehicle on the scene and saw the 19-year-old offender attempting to help the 20-year-old offender into the car.  The retired officer then walked toward the street and saw two additional males in the car, one of whom had a handgun.  The retired officer saw the two offenders at the side of the vehicle and saw one raise a handgun, at which point the retired officer fired on the men.  The men in the vehicle backed it away from the scene, appearing to leave the two offenders behind.  Apparently, the victim officer was struck and dragged by the vehicle and then was dislodged when the driver put the car in reverse to pick up the offenders.  The retired officer then went to assist the victim officer, and all of the offenders fled. The victim officer was taken to a local hospital where he died the next day.  The 20-year-old suspect, who was known to possess drugs and had a prior criminal record involving violent crime and drug and weapons violations, was killed by the victim officer’s gunfire.  The other three men—the 19-year-old, a 20-year-old male passenger, and a 29-year-old male passenger—also had prior criminal records.  All three suspects were arrested on June 12 and charged with two counts of First-Degree Murder and Armed Robbery.

A 43-year-old patrol officer with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) was shot and killed in an ambush in the parking lot of the CPD’s Tactical Response Unit around 3:45 p.m. on July 7.  The patrol officer, who had nearly 12 years of law enforcement experience, was standing at the back of his personal vehicle removing his gear at the end of his shift when a man approached and attacked him.  The offender gained control of the veteran patrol officer’s 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and shot the patrol officer several times.  The patrol officer suffered gunshot wounds to the neck, chest, and a fatal wound to the front of his head.  Another officer wounded the 24-year-old man, who was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder and 4 counts of Attempted Murder.  The offender was a known drug user who had a prior criminal record that included violent crime, police assault, and drug and weapons violations.  Further investigation revealed that individuals had heard him say earlier in the day that he was going to kill the police.

An off-duty police officer with the Chicago Police Department was shot and killed during a robbery attempt shortly after 6 a.m. on July 18.  The 60-year-old officer, a 20-year veteran of law enforcement, was returning home from his shift and was still in his uniform, with an oversized shirt covering his uniform shirt.  He arrived at his home, exited his vehicle, and prepared to wipe it down.  Then, investigators believe he was approached by someone and a struggle ensued.  The officer was able to fire several shots from his service weapon, but the assailant fatally shot the officer in the chest and the abdomen with a revolver.  The offender then fled the scene, and at the time of this publication, he remains at large.

A 46-year-old police officer with the Chicago Police Department was shot and killed in an ambush around 1:40 p.m. on November 26.  The officer, who had nearly 20 years of law enforcement experience, was processing the scene of an earlier burglary at a local garage.  After taking photographs of the scene and dusting for fingerprints, the officer was standing at the back of his police vehicle wearing his protective vest when a man apparently approached him from behind and fatally shot him in the side of the head with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.  The offender then allegedly shot the owner of the garage in the head and attempted to move evidence regarding the earlier burglary of the garage.  He left the scene, but later returned and reportedly shot both the officer and the garage owner one more time in the face to make sure they were dead.  Later that day, witnesses told detectives that a man confessed to them that he had committed the murders.  On November 27, detectives arrested a 19-year-old man and charged him with First-Degree Murder.  His prior criminal record included charges of violent crime, and drug and weapons violations; he was on parole at the time of the incident.  Detectives also recovered a fingerprint from the burglary scene that matched the alleged offender.   

Louisiana

On March 4, at 6:18 p.m., a 33-year-old corporal with the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office was shot after responding to a call to assist a deputy with an arrest.  The veteran corporal, who had more than 8 years of law enforcement experience, arrived at the residence in West Monroe where the suspect in an investigation of an Aggravated Battery with a Motor Vehicle had been located.  The man was standing in the front yard of the residence, and after a brief interview by the officers, the man was advised that he was going to be taken into custody.  As the officers attempted to arrest him, the man began backing away from them and said, “Uh-uh.”  The corporal drew his taser; and the suspect reached into the back waistband of his pants, produced a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and started firing at the officers.  The victim corporal was struck once in the back of his right shoulder, just outside his protective ballistic vest, as he was moving for cover.  The bullet exited his shoulder area and reentered his body in the back of his neck, lodging at the base of his skull.  The deputy returned gunfire, striking the shooter in the face, killing him.  The deputy called for assistance and administered first aid to the victim corporal.  Emergency medical personnel transported the corporal to a local medical center where he was placed on life support.  On March 6, the victim corporal died from the bullet wound to the back of his head.  The 26-year-old offender, who had a prior criminal record and conviction, also had a history of violent crime and drugs and weapons violations.  He was a known drug user and was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident.

A 57-year-old sergeant with the Rayville Police Department was shot and killed while investigating a burglary in progress around 9:15 p.m. on September 11.  Just after 9 p.m., the 20-year veteran of law enforcement responded to a call for assistance from a deputy with the Richland Parish Sheriff’s Office (RPSO), who was en route to the home of a woman who reported a window of her house had been broken.  At 9:12 p.m., the sergeant arrived at the residence and met the woman outside of her home.  They walked into the home together and heard noises.  The sergeant continued to search the house.  At the same time, two deputies arrived at the scene and heard shots fired from inside the home.  In the house, the sergeant told the woman to run, and he shielded her as she ran to the other end of the house.  The deputies ran toward the home and saw the woman running to them.  One of the deputies assisted her to a safe distance from the home.  The other deputy entered the home and found the sergeant lying on the floor with multiple gunshot wounds.  The deputy reported an officer down, and a medical helicopter was dispatched.  The victim sergeant suffered gunshot wounds to his stomach, the front below his waist, and a fatal injury to his chest from a .38-caliber revolver.  The sheriff arrived at the scene and, along with the deputy, continued to search the home.  The deputy located a 52-year-old man hiding under a bed and arrested him.  The deputy took the suspect, who knew the victim sergeant through a previous law enforcement relationship and was on probation at the time, to the RPSO, where he was interrogated.  Investigators began looking for two additional suspects, a 33-year-old man believed to be the shooter who escaped from the scene, and a 20-year-old man who had planned to drive the get-away car after the burglary.  Through their investigation, officers arrested the suspected driver, also on probation at the time of the incident, in a nearby town on September 12.  Also that day, deputies with the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested the alleged shooter, who had a prior criminal record that included violent crimes (such as murder and police assault) and drug and weapons violations.  All three suspects, who were known drug dealers, were charged with First-Degree Murder, Aggravated Burglary, Conspiracy to Commit First-Degree Murder, and Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Burglary.  On September 13, deputies with the RPSO located the weapon used to kill the sergeant.

Shortly after 3:30 a.m. on October 24, a sergeant with the Shreveport Police Department was killed during an unprovoked attack.  The 43-year-old sergeant, with 19 years of law enforcement experience, was checking on a clerk at a local establishment and stood at the front of his patrol car as the two were talking.  A car pulled into a parking space three spaces down from the sergeant’s vehicle.  A male exited the car and immediately began firing a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun at the sergeant.  The sergeant attempted to take cover but was struck several times below his protective vest, sustaining a fatal wound in his back below his waist.  He was able to return fire but did not hit the suspect, who fled the scene.  Another officer in the area heard the gunshots and found the victim sergeant.  The veteran sergeant was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.  The store clerk gave a description of the suspect and his vehicle.  A short time later the 24‑year‑old suspect, who had a prior criminal record, was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder and Attempted Second-Degree Murder.

Maryland

A 24-year-old trooper with the Maryland State Police, Forestville, was killed on June 11 while working off-duty as a part-time security officer at a restaurant in Forestville.  The trooper, who had more than 3½ years of law enforcement experience, was working with an off-duty Maryland parole and probation officer late on the evening of June 10.  When a patron became disruptive, the pair asked the patron to leave the restaurant.  The patron became argumentative, pushed past the parole officer, and left the restaurant on foot.  Shortly after 12:30 a.m., on June 11, the trooper went outside to take a cellular telephone call.  Minutes later the parole officer went outside to check on the trooper.  As the parole officer got to the front of the restaurant, he heard gunshots in the parking lot and saw the glass front door shatter.  The trooper turned toward the door to try to enter the restaurant, and the parole officer saw that the trooper had been struck by gunfire.  An unknown number of rounds from a handgun injured the trooper in the front below the waist and additional rounds also penetrated through the side panels of the trooper’s protective vest, fatally wounding him in the upper chest.  The victim trooper was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.  A subsequent law enforcement investigation of the incident led to the arrest of two people on June 13.  One was a 27-year-old male, who had a previous law enforcement relationship with the victim trooper, as well as a prior criminal record for drug and weapons violations.  The other was a 28-year-old male with a prior criminal record for drug violations.  Both were charged with First-Degree Murder.

Massachusetts

A 60-year-old patrol officer with the Woburn Police Department (WPD) died from a gunshot wound sustained while pursuing a robbery suspect around 8:50 p.m. on December 26.  Minutes earlier, the WPD received several 911 calls about a robbery in progress at a local department store.  The first officer to arrive at the scene observed a man leaving the store carrying a handgun and a black canvas bag.  When he saw the suspect fleeing across the parking lot on foot, the officer exited his cruiser and pursued him.  As the suspect approached one of the exits of the parking lot, a second officer, who was operating a marked police cruiser, encountered the suspect.  The veteran patrol officer, who had nearly 35 years of law enforcement experience, exited his vehicle; immediately he and the suspect exchanged gunfire.  At least four shots from the .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun used by the offender hit the victim officer, injuring him in the chest, in the front below the waist, on his arms and hands, and fatally in the stomach area.  Although paramedics took the victim officer to a clinic, he died as a result of his injuries.  Three of the officer’s rounds hit the 57-year-old offender, who died at the scene.  The offender, who was on parole at the time of the incident, had a prior criminal record including violent crimes and weapons violations.

Michigan

A 42-year-old police officer with the Detroit Police Department was shot and killed on May 3 while responding to a burglary in progress.  At 2:45 a.m., three two-person squad units responded to the call.  As the 12-year veteran officer approached the front door, another officer went to the rear of the location to secure the perimeter, and the remaining four officers fanned out across the front yard.  The officer at the front door found it open and announced clearly, “Detroit Police.”  He pushed the front door open further, and entered the dwelling.  A man immediately began firing from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, striking the officer in the front of his head and fatally in his neck/throat above his protective vest.  As the suspect exited the home through the front door, he continued firing at the officers in the front yard.  They returned fire while trying to find cover.  When the officer in the backyard heard gunshots, he came toward the corner of the house and encountered the suspect, who shot him in the leg.  The suspect, who suffered a gunshot wound to his back in the exchange of gunfire with the officers in the front yard, climbed over a gate in the driveway.  He then collapsed and was arrested.  The 25-year-old suspect had an extensive prior criminal history that included police assault, was a known drug dealer, and was on conditional release at the time of the incident.  He was charged with Felony Murder, Assault with Intent To Murder, Felony Firearm, Possess with Intent To Deliver, Fourth-Degree Habitual Offender, Home Invasion, and Felon in Possession.  Three of the officers in the front yard and the officer securing the back of the house, all of whom were wearing body armor, received gunshot wounds during the exchange of gunfire.  They included a 48-year old police officer with more than 16 years of law enforcement experience shot in the front below the waist, a 25-year-old police officer with nearly 2 years of law enforcement experience shot in the arms/hands, a 31-year-old police officer with nearly 2 years of law enforcement experience shot in the front below the waist, and a 29-year-old police officer with more than 1 year of law enforcement experience shot in the front below the waist.  At the time of this publication, the three wounded officers had not returned to duty.   

At 12:12 a.m. on March 9, a 26-year-old patrol officer with the Jackson Police Department (JPD) was killed and a 22-year-old officer with the Blackman Department of Public Safety (DPS) (now the Blackman and Leoni Township DPS) was injured during the investigation of a domestic situation.  The DPS officer, who had 3½ years of law enforcement experience, had been dispatched to investigate a complaint of a man who had been beating on the door of his estranged wife’s apartment and threatening her with bodily harm.  When the officer arrived at the woman’s apartment, the man had left.  After gathering more information, including the fact that the man was possibly in possession of a firearm, the officer went to the man’s residence and requested a backup unit to assist.  At the suspect’s residence, the DPS officer was invited in by the suspect, who was intoxicated and somewhat agitated.  The officer asked the man to sit on the couch and keep his hands in sight on his lap.  When the JPD patrol officer with nearly 2½ years of law enforcement experience arrived as backup and entered the room, the suspect became more agitated and jumped to his feet.  The officers ordered him back onto the couch, but he refused.  The DPS officer advised him that he was being placed into custody.  The man struggled with the officers, but the DPS officer was able to place a cuff on the man’s right wrist.  The man placed his left hand under his mid section and refused to show it to the officers.  The JPD officer tried to gain control of the suspect’s left hand as the man bent over the couch, face down.  Suddenly, a shot was fired unexpectedly.  Both officers checked to ensure their service weapons were still holstered.  Then, the suspect swung his left hand toward the DPS officer and fired a .357-caliber revolver that had been hidden in the couch, striking the officer in the upper right thigh.  The man then spun back to his left and shot the JPD patrol officer through the armhole of this body armor, striking him in the upper torso/chest.  The JPD officer fell to the floor immediately.  The shooter switched the handgun into his right hand and swung back around toward the DPS officer, who also was wearing body armor.  While still falling backward from the shot fired into his thigh, the DPS officer drew his service weapon and shot the suspect in the back of the head and neck area, fatally wounding him before he could fire another round.  The JPD officer died from the bullet wound to his chest.  The DPS officer underwent immediate surgery for his injury; he made a full recovery and returned to duty 5 months later.  The 63-year-old offender had a prior criminal history that included a previous murder and weapons violations.  He was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident.

A 31-year-old corporal with the Taylor Police Department was shot and killed during a burglary in progress around 5:45 a.m. on July 23.  The corporal, who had 6½ years of law enforcement experience, and his partner responded to a reported break-in at an apartment.  When they arrived at the scene, the officers observed a screen that had been removed from a window of the apartment and a man leaning against a mini-van in a parking lot near the apartment.  The corporal exited the passenger side of the patrol car, and the man began walking towards the patrol car.  The man, who was carrying a small bag, told the corporal that he and his wife had an argument and she had thrown him out of the apartment.  The corporal stayed with the man in the parking lot as his partner walked toward the apartment.  The partner heard gunshots behind him.  He turned and saw the man holding a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun and shooting the corporal.  The partner shot and wounded the man.  The corporal, who was wearing a protective vest, was injured in his stomach and suffered a fatal wound to the front of his head.  The 36-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record that included violent crime (murder) and drug and weapons violations, was arrested and charged with Murder.           

Minnesota

On August 9, a deputy sheriff from the Mahnomen County Sheriff’s Office succumbed to gunshot wounds he received on February 18, 2009, while investigating suspicious circumstances.  At the time of the incident, the 26-year-old deputy, who had more than 5 years of law enforcement experience, responded to a call at 7:10 a.m. reporting that shots had been fired in the city of Mahnomen.  Upon his arrival at the scene, the deputy encountered two men in a driveway.  The deputy exited his vehicle and approached the two individuals, at which time a physical altercation ensued.  During the struggle, the deputy, who was wearing body armor, was shot twice in the abdomen and once in the back of his head with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.  A second deputy arrived on scene and returned fire on the suspects, hitting one suspect in the abdomen.  The assisting deputy called for an ambulance for the wounded deputy.  The two suspects fled to a residence across the street and a standoff ensued.  Nine hours later, both suspects surrendered peacefully and were arrested.  One suspect, a 32-year-old man, was initially charged with Attempted Murder.  The other suspect, a 27-year-old man, was charged with a Felon Convicted of a Crime of Violence, Possession of a Weapon, First-Degree Assault, Use of Deadly Force Against a Law Enforcement Officer, Attempted Theft of a Motor Vehicle Without Consent, Failure to Render Aid/Assistance, and Contempt of Court.  It was determined that both individuals were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the shooting.  Both suspects also had prior criminal records that included violent crimes and weapons violations.  When the victim deputy eventually died as the result of the gunshot wound to the back of his head, the suspect’s Attempted Murder charge was increased to Second-Degree Murder.

A 49-year-old sergeant with the Maplewood Police Department was shot and killed while investigating suspicious persons at 6:45 a.m. on May 1.  Minutes earlier, police were summoned to a residential area where a man reported that he had just escaped from a carjacking incident.  He said that two suspects were last seen fleeing on foot near a walking trail.  The veteran sergeant, with more than 25 years of law enforcement experience, was asked to check the trail and radioed that he would be out with two people at the trail.  Moments later, a citizen, who had been jogging on the trail and witnessed the shooting, came on the radio and broadcast that an officer had been shot.  The victim sergeant, who was wearing body armor, was fatally shot in the front of his head with a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  A large perimeter was set up and a search initiated.  A 21-year-old male approached an officer who was covering the perimeter; in the process of being frisked, the suspect began to strike the officer with a large bolt that had been wrapped in some type of material.  The offender, who had a prior criminal record and was on parole at the time of the incident, was justifiably shot and killed by the officer during the attack.  A second suspect, also 21 years old, with a prior criminal record and on probation at the time of the incident, was located in a nearby apartment and taken into custody.  He was arrested and charged with Second-Degree Murder.

Mississippi

A 63-year-old sheriff serving with the George County Sheriff’s Department was killed when he was struck by a truck crashing through a roadblock in Lucedale at 2:45 p.m. on July 21.  The veteran sheriff had nearly 37 years of law enforcement experience.  Earlier, a deputy with the same agency attempted a traffic stop of a truck driven by a female.  Although the deputy turned on his blue lights and siren, the driver increased her speed in an attempt to flee.  Out of concern for the safety of the public, the deputy backed off from the pursuit, which had reached speeds in excess of 100 mph.  During the pursuit, a male passenger in the truck took control of the vehicle.  The deputy kept the truck in sight and witnessed the male throwing what was later discovered to be methamphetamine out of the vehicle’s window.  During this time, the sheriff and several other deputies set up a roadblock in an attempt to stop the vehicle and arrest the man, who had been recognized as a subject who had failed to appear in court to face a previous narcotics conviction.  Upon encountering the roadblock, the man drove through it, striking the sheriff and causing extensive and fatal injuries to the victim sheriff.  The man fled the scene; however, the next day, the 24-year-old male suspect and the 18-year-old female suspect were arrested and charged with Capital Murder.  They were both known drug users who had prior criminal records that included drug violations.  The male suspect’s record also included a prior police assault.

At 8:35 p.m. on August 6, a patrol officer with the Jackson Police Department was killed with his service weapon while transporting a prisoner.  The 31-year-old patrol officer, who had 10 years of law enforcement experience, and another officer were transporting a suspect to a detention center; a third officer was in a vehicle following them.  During the transport, the suspect was handcuffed but was able to escape from the vehicle and flee on foot.  The veteran patrol officer, who was wearing body armor, pursued the individual on foot, while his partner and the third officer tried to cut off the man using their patrol vehicles.  Shortly after losing sight of the patrol officer and suspect, the other two officers heard a gunshot but were unable to make contact with the patrol officer.  The two officers contacted their command center and began a search.  The victim officer was found submerged in a creek; his service weapon, a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, was missing.  The victim officer, who had been fatally shot once at close range in the front of the head, was taken by helicopter to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.  When the 24-year-old suspect was found later, he was still wearing handcuffs.  He was arrested and charged with Capital Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer, Escape, and Convicted Felon in Possession of a Firearm.  The suspect was a known drug user who was on probation at the time of the incident.  He had a prior criminal record for violent crime, police assault, and drug and weapons violations.

A 62-year-old deputy sheriff with the Tippah County Sheriff’s Department, was shot and killed in Ripley around 4:30 in the morning on December 3.  He and another deputy were responding to a domestic disturbance call.  When they arrived on the scene, the deputies encountered an uncooperative suspect in the driveway of the residence.  The first deputy was attempting to restrain the man when the suspect gained control of the deputy’s service weapon, .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and shot the other deputy twice.  The victim deputy, a 7-year veteran of law enforcement, was struck in the front lower torso/stomach area and fatally in the front upper chest.  He died at the scene.  The weapon jammed after the assailant had fired the two shots, so the other deputy was able to subdue the suspect until responders arrived to assist with the arrest.  The 26-year-old suspect, who was on parole at the time of the incident, was charged with Capital Murder.              

Montana

A 23-year-old trooper with the Montana Highway Patrol, Bozeman, was shot and killed on December 1 around 4:20 in the afternoon while investigating a suspicious person or circumstance in Three Forks.  The trooper, who had a little more than 2 years of law enforcement experience, was patrolling the area when he saw a man with a shotgun in a field.  The trooper believed the locale to be an area where hunting was not allowed, and he radioed the Three Forks Marshal’s Office and requested marshal assistance in contacting the individual.  However, before assistance could arrive, the man got into his vehicle and started to leave the vicinity, and the trooper attempted to stop him.  Apparently, the man exited his automobile and after a brief encounter with the trooper, he returned to his vehicle, retrieved a 12-gauge shotgun, and shot the trooper in the abdomen.  The trooper, who was wearing body armor, managed to shoot his attacker once.  The assailant reloaded his shotgun and fired at the victim trooper again, striking him in the front upper torso/chest, in the front of the head, and fatally in the throat.  The shooter then fled the scene.  The marshal arrived and found the trooper, who appeared to be deceased, and immediately requested assistance.  The 56‑year‑old suspect, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, drove approximately 35 miles from the scene of the shooting, where he stopped and committed suicide.

On February 12, a sergeant from the Missoula Police Department succumbed to complications from a gunshot wound he sustained more than 11 years earlier while investigating a suspicious person.  On October 21, 1998, at 5:30 p.m., the sergeant responded to a call from a bank concerning a man who was possibly involved in forgery.  When the sergeant, who was 35 years old at the time, first saw the suspect, the man was standing at the drive-thru window of the bank without a vehicle.  The sergeant parked in an alley and exited his patrol car about a half-block from the bank.  When the suspect saw the sergeant, he fled on foot.  The veteran sergeant, who had nearly 8 years of law enforcement experience, chased the suspect across a four-lane road and into a parking lot.  The man drew a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun and fired two shots.  The first shot hit a cargo truck, and the second shot entered the armhole of the sergeant’s protective vest, striking him in the upper torso.  The shooter ran to the sergeant, took his service firearm, and fled the scene.  Deputies with the Missoula County Sheriff’s Department later found the man two blocks away, hiding in a crawl space.  The suspect fired at one of the deputies who found him, and the deputy fired back, but neither was hit.  The shooter surrendered and was taken into custody.  The victim sergeant lived the rest of his life as a quadriplegic because the bullet that entered through the armhole of his protective vest traveled through his shoulder and into his spine.  The suspect, 20 years old at the time of the incident, was a known drug dealer and was charged with Deliberate Homicide, Burglary, Aggravated Assault, Escape, Felony Forgery , and two counts of Felony Theft.  He was found guilty of Murder and received a life sentence.

Nevada

A 27-year-old deputy sheriff with the Nye County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed in an ambush around 3:40 p.m. on April 26 in Pahrump.  The deputy, who was a 6 year veteran of law enforcement, had recently returned from a military tour of duty in Afghanistan and was in Field Training status.  He responded with his training officer to a domestic dispute involving shots fired at a local casino.  When they arrived at the scene, the male subject involved in the domestic dispute positioned his vehicle in front of the deputy’s patrol vehicle.  The deputy, the training officer, and the subject exited their vehicles at approximately the same time.  A third officer arrived at the scene and pulled in behind the suspect’s vehicle, when the suspect pulled out a semiautomatic rifle and opened fire on the deputy.  The third officer shot the suspect.  The victim deputy, who suffered gunshot wounds to the back, the front below the waist, and the chest, was taken by helicopter to a hospital.  Although the deputy sheriff was wearing a protective vest, the bullets penetrated the armor, and he died later that day from the wounds to his chest.  The 30-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record, died at the scene.

North Carolina

On July 28, just after 7:30 p.m., a 31-year-old deputy sheriff with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office was killed during an unprovoked attack.  The veteran deputy, who had 10 years of law enforcement experience, responded to a domestic call between a mother and her son in Snow Hill.  The call included a code to alert the deputy that a weapon was present in the home.  When the deputy arrived at the scene, the mother allowed him into the house, and he walked to the den in the back of the house and asked the son to come out of his bedroom so they could talk.  The son opened the bedroom door and began firing at the deputy at close range with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, hitting the deputy in the nose, the hand, and twice in the upper chest, fatally wounding him.  The assailant then took the deputy’s .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and used it to shoot the deputy again, this time behind the ear.  The man fired more rounds from the service weapon inside the home before going into his mother’s room and shooting himself in the head.  In all, the 22-year-old offender shot 15 rounds during the attack.  When the investigating officer arrived, he found the victim deputy lying in the floor of the den, deceased.  He found the attacker, who was still alive but barely breathing, in the mother’s bedroom.  When emergency medical personnel arrived, they attempted to save the man, but he died a few minutes later.  It was later determined that the assailant was under the influence of alcohol during the shooting.  He had a prior criminal record, including violent crime and weapons violations, and was on probation at the time of the incident.            

Ohio

A patrol officer with the Elyria Police Department was fatally shot on March 15 shortly before 10 p.m. when he responded to a disturbance call.  The officer, who was an 18-year veteran of law enforcement, arrived on the scene, made contact with the man who was the subject of the call, and then went inside the residence with the man.  While they were in the dwelling, the man fired at the 43-year-old officer with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, striking the officer in the front and side of his head, in his neck and chest, and in his stomach below his protective vest.  The victim officer radioed that he had been shot and asked for back up.  The alleged shooter, who had exited the residence, was confronted by assisting officers who had arrived on the scene, and an altercation ensued.  The alleged offender was shot and killed by the backup officers.  The victim officer was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival from the gunshot wound to the side of his head.  The 58-year-old alleged shooter had a prior law enforcement relationship with the victim officer and a prior criminal record that included violent crime.

Pennsylvania

A trooper with the Pennsylvania State Police, Franklin, was ambushed in an unprovoked attack shortly before noon on January 13 while responding to a domestic disturbance involving a husband and wife at their home in Cranberry Township, Venango County.  The 40-year-old trooper, with more than 16½ years of law enforcement experience, arrived on the scene with another officer.  As they exited their vehicles, someone inside the residence told the officers to return to their vehicles and leave.  The troopers ordered the subject to show himself.  The individual then fired a single shot from a .30-30 lever-action rifle from a second-story bedroom window.  The fatal round struck the victim trooper, who was wearing body armor, in the neck.  Other troopers arrived and fired 26 shots from a .223-caliber automatic rifle and 12 shots from a .45-caliber handgun into the residence to provide cover while evacuating the victim trooper.  A Special Emergency Response Team eventually entered the home and found both the suspect and his wife dead in a second-story bedroom.  The wife died of a single gunshot wound to the head, and the suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.  The suspect’s rifle was found in his lap; autopsies revealed that neither individual had been shot by police.  The 44-year-old suspect, who had a prior law enforcement relationship with the victim trooper, had a prior criminal record including police assault and weapons violations, and a history of mental disorders.

Approximately 10:30 p.m., on November 11, a conservation officer with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Huntingdon, was shot and killed while investigating reports of illegal poaching of deer near Freedom Township.  Upon hearing gunfire in the vicinity, the 31-year-old conservation officer traveled toward the source of the gunfire, where he encountered a pickup with at least two individuals in it.  The officer, who had 4 years of law enforcement experience, called dispatch with the license plate of the pickup and requested backup.  Before backup officers could arrive, the driver allegedly exited the pickup and approached the officer, who was wearing body armor.  When the officer attempted to handcuff the man, a struggle ensued, and there was an exchange of gunfire.  The suspect shot the officer in the back of his legs and, fatally, in the back of his neck with a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  Two of the victim officer’s rounds hit the suspect; another shot was deflected by a knife worn by the man.  Apparently, the suspect fled the scene with a handcuff on his right wrist, but he managed to shoot off the handcuff.  Shortly after the shooter left the scene, he and a passenger in the pickup went separate ways.  When law enforcement personnel later interviewed the passenger, he said that the suspect had illegally shot a deer shortly before the officer arrived, and that the suspect stated that he was “not going back to prison” for possessing a handgun.  The 27-year-old offender, who had a prior criminal record including violent crime and weapons violations, was apprehended the next day at a hunting cabin in Adams County.  He was charged with First-Degree Murder, Possession/Use/Transfer of a Firearm, Flight to Avoid Appeals Trial, Firearm Carried Without a License, Possession of Instrument of Crime, and Violation of Game Laws.

Puerto Rico

The Puerto Rico Department of Environment and Natural Resources lost two of its rangers on March 23 at 12:30 a.m. while they were on guard duty at the agency’s facility in San Juan.  Each of the rangers was 30 years old and each had nearly 6 years of law enforcement experience.  Both rangers, who were wearing body armor, were going about their normal duties, unaware that two men who intended to steal their service weapons were watching them.  The two men had maintained their surveillance for more than an hour when one of the rangers left the guard station to go on his rounds within the property, leaving the other ranger alone in the small building.  The would-be robbers then climbed over the fence surrounding the property and entered the guard shack.  One of the perpetrators, a 23-year-old man, pointed a .45-caliber handgun at the ranger.  The ranger fell to the ground in surprise, and the attacker attempted to take the ranger’s 9 mm semiautomatic service handgun.  A short struggle ensued as the ranger fought to keep possession of his weapon, but the attacker gained control and shot the victim ranger with the service weapon, striking him in the arms and hands.  The shooter handed one of the handguns to the second perpetrator, a 35-year-old man.  Meanwhile, the second ranger, who had detected the intruders, moved to a position in front of the guard station near a large rock where he opened fire on the two assailants with his service weapon, also a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.  The 23-year-old attacker was shot in the left calf.  After a few more shots were exchanged, the second ranger fell to the ground, mortally wounded when a bullet from his partner’s stolen 9 mm service handgun struck him in the side of his head.  The 23-year-old attacker went to the body to steal the fallen ranger’s service handgun, but he could not find the weapon.  He returned to the guard station and saw that the first ranger was still moving.  He shot the ranger fatally in the side of the head.  Because of the attacker’s calf wound, he was unable to jump over the fence that they had scaled to enter the property.  The pair then stole a truck that was parked next to the guard shack and drove it through the gate that was locked with a chain.  They joined a third man, a 21-year-old, who was part of the original robbery plan, and fled to the home of the 23-year-old man.  Later that morning, the 21-year-old and the 35-year-old suspects were detained in an unrelated traffic stop.  When police searched the vehicle, they found the 9 mm service weapon belonging to the first victim ranger.  All three men, who were known to use drugs and who were under the influence of narcotics, were subsequently arrested.  The 23-year-old man was charged with Carjacking and Murder.  The 35-year old man was charged with Carjacking, Murder, Stolen Weapon, and Interstate Commerce.  The 21-year-old man was charged with Possession of a Stolen Firearm and Accessory After the Fact.

On October 26, a 52-year-old lieutenant with the Police of Puerto Rico in Hato Rey was shot and killed while interrupting a robbery in progress in San Lorenzo.  Around 8:15 p.m., two masked gunmen entered a convenience store/bar and announced a robbery to the store owner and customers inside.  While one gunman hid by the side of the door, the other proceeded to the bar area where the cash register was located.  Outside the bar, the off-duty lieutenant, who had 31 years’ law enforcement experience, was socializing with friends when he realized there was a robbery in progress.  As the veteran lieutenant entered the bar, he announced that he was a police officer and attempted to draw his weapon from the holster in the small of his back.  The gunman beside the door then pointed his weapon at the lieutenant.  The lieutenant attempted to grab the weapon from the gunman with his other hand and a brief struggle ensued.  The gunman shot the lieutenant three times in the front upper torso/chest area, wounding him with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.  The gunmen stole cash from the register, took the lieutenant’s service weapon, and then fled the store on foot.  The victim lieutenant was transported to a local emergency room where he died of his wounds shortly after the shooting incident.  The two subjects and a third individual, who had been waiting with a getaway vehicle some distance from the store, were subsequently arrested in connection with the murder.  A 22-year-old man, a known drug user with a prior criminal record including violent crime and weapons violations, was charged with First-Degree Murder, Robbery, and Firearms Law Violation.  A 26-year-old man, a known drug user with a prior criminal record including violent crime, was also charged with First-Degree Murder, Robbery, and Firearms Law Violation.  No information was available on the third arrestee at the time of this publication.  

Texas

A police officer with the Lancaster Police Department was shot and killed at 6 p.m. on June 20 while responding to a disturbance call involving a man with a gun at an apartment complex.  The 37-year-old officer, who had more than 5 years of law enforcement experience and who was wearing body armor, arrived at the complex and saw the individual attempting to leave in a vehicle.  When the officer stopped and exited his patrol vehicle, the individual shot at him with a 7.62x39 mm semiautomatic rifle.  The officer returned fire with his .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle.  However, as the officer ran for cover behind his patrol vehicle, the gunman continued firing at him.  One of the offender’s rounds fatally struck the victim officer in the side of the head.  Responding officers then justifiably killed the 27-year-old offender, who had a prior criminal record that included drug violations and was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident.

Utah

A 41-year-old deputy sheriff with the Kane County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) was shot and killed at 3:20 p.m., August 26, during an ambush in Fredonia as he and other law enforcement officers were searching for a suspected armed burglar.  Earlier that afternoon, a man had broken into a local grade school.  When he was discovered by the school janitor, the man shot at the janitor, missed, then fled on foot.  Responding to a call about a man with a gun, KCSO deputies and Fredonia marshals organized a search team and began pursuing the suspect, who authorities believed had stolen a rifle from a residence the night before.  The deputies and the marshals went over a hill where the suspect was in position to ambush them.  The suspect fired one shot from a .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle that struck one of the deputies in the front of the head.  The victim deputy, who had 13 years’ law enforcement experience and was wearing body armor, died at the scene.  Law enforcement officers then exchanged gunfire with the suspect, and he shot a second deputy in the leg.  Additional officers from the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies responded and tracked the suspect to a cliff and set up a perimeter; however, the next morning a witness saw the suspect fleeing on foot with his weapon just north of the cliff.  In the early morning hours of August 30, members of the Salt Lake SWAT Team and deputies from the U.S. Marshals Service responded to a call about a potential burglar with a rifle outside a residence in Kanab.  Once the law enforcement authorities surrounded the suspect and identified themselves, the 23-year-old alleged shooter, a known drug user with a prior criminal record including violent crime, surrendered without further incident.  He was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder, two counts of Aggravated Assault, Burglary, and Theft.

Around 1 a.m. on January 5, a 37-year-old deputy sheriff with the Millard County Sheriff’s Department (MCSD) was killed during a felony traffic stop near Delta.  Minutes earlier, a sergeant with the MCSD had witnessed an illegal drug deal involving two men.  The sergeant pursued one of the men and requested that the veteran deputy sheriff, who had more than 5 years of law enforcement experience, follow the other man.  She pursued the individual and requested backup.  When the backup officers arrived about 3 minutes later, they found that the deputy had been shot twice with a 7.62x39 mm semiautomatic rifle.  Although the victim officer was wearing body armor, the ammunition exceeded the vest’s capabilities.  One of the rounds fatally penetrated the right chest area and stopped at the back panel of her body armor; the other shot was to her neck.  A third round missed the deputy.  Law enforcement agencies including the Salt Lake City Police SWAT Team, the Utah County Sheriff’s Department, the MCSD, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation provided tactical and investigative assistance.  In the early morning hours of January 6, a resident at a trailer park in Beaver, about 90 miles from the incident, saw the suspect sleeping in a shed and notified the Beaver County Sheriff’s Department.  Officers arrested the suspect witho

Note:  Occasionally, the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted Program is unable to publish summaries concerning some officers who are feloniously killed in the line of duty.  These situations may stem from insufficient information, gag orders that are issued by the courts, or other unusual circumstances that may exist.  Although written summaries of the deaths of two officers who were killed in 2010 are not included in this publication, all available information is included where applicable in the data tables.

Alabama

On January 1, a 63-year-old former sergeant with the Guntersville Police Department died from injuries he sustained in an incident more than 16 years earlier on July 16, 1993.  The sergeant, then a 47-year-old with 4 years of law enforcement experience, was one of four officers who responded to a domestic disturbance with shots fired at a residence around 12:20 a.m.  An individual at the home had shot his wife, and the individual’s brother was causing a disturbance at the scene.  The officer was subduing the individual’s brother on the hood of a patrol car when the subject fired a single shot from a .22-caliber revolver.  The round struck the victim sergeant under his protective vest in the lower back, immediately paralyzing him.  The suspect, who was 27 years old at the time of the incident, was known to use drugs and was under the influence of alcohol.  He was arrested and charged with Attempted Murder.

Alaska

On August 28, two officers with the Hoonah Police Department were targeted in an ambush shortly before 11 p.m.  The first officer, a 31-year-old sergeant with more than 3 years of law enforcement experience, was on duty.  The second officer, a 39-year old police officer with 1½ years of law enforcement experience, was off duty when he stopped to talk to the on-duty sergeant.  As the men spoke, the sergeant was shot in the back with an unknown caliber rifle.  The force of the round penetrated the sergeant’s protective vest, wounding him.  The off-duty officer radioed for backup and began to drag the sergeant to cover when the suspect fired four more rounds, striking the sergeant in the front below his waist and the off-duty officer twice in the chest.  Backup officers arrived and moved both victims to cover until emergency medical personnel could get there.  The victim officer was moved to the local clinic where he died 45 minutes later.  The victim sergeant was transported by helicopter to a Juneau hospital where he died the next day.  On August 30, after a 36-hour standoff during which he fired at officers, the 45-year-old suspect surrendered.  The Juneau Police Department and Alaska State Trooper SWAT teams, as well as officers from Hoonah, Wrangel, and the U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement assisted during the standoff.  The suspect reportedly had a mental disorder and a prior record of violent crime, including police assault.  He was known to the victim officers from previous encounters with law enforcement.  The offender was charged with Felony Misconduct Involving Weapons and two counts of First-Degree Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer. 

Arizona

On July 28, just after 6:30 p.m., a 34-year-old officer with the Chandler Police Department was killed during an undercover narcotics operation.  The officer, who had 6 years of law enforcement experience, was working with several other officers and a confidential informant, all of whom were part of an undercover deal to sell 500 pounds of marijuana to a group of individuals.  The deal and the details of the sale, including the amount that would be paid for the marijuana, had already been set between the informant and a broker.  According to the plan, the three undercover officers were to deliver the marijuana to a private residence where the transaction would take place.  On the day of the transaction, several backup officers were stationed around the location.  When the three undercover officers entered the house, they encountered at least six males.  As the officers began to discuss the deal, several of the men displayed weapons.  The officers reacted verbally and were immediately fired upon by multiple assailants.  The victim officer was fatally wounded in the chest by a bullet from a 5.45 mm semiautomatic rifle.  The other two undercover officers were also wounded in the incident.  Supported by backup police positioned nearby, the two injured officers engaged in a gunfight with the suspects.  In the end, two suspects were wounded, one was pronounced dead at the scene, and another died as he was trying to flee in a vehicle and was stopped by a detective down the street from the scene of the shooting.  Investigators later found information that suggested that the drug buyers had never intended to pay for the marijuana, but had planned an ambush to steal it from the beginning.  The 35-year-old man who allegedly had shot the victim officer had a prior criminal record including police assault and weapons and drug violations.  He was charged with three counts of First-Degree Murder, four counts of Aggravated Assault with a Dangerous Instrument, First-Degree Burglary, Possession of a Weapon by a Prohibited Person, Possession or Use of a Weapon in a Drug Offense, and Intent to Transport/Sell Marijuana.

A lieutenant with the Gilbert Police Department (GPD) was killed while conducting a traffic stop at 10:42 p.m. on January 28.  The 42-year-old lieutenant, who had more than 16 years of law enforcement experience and was wearing body armor, initiated the stop on a truck for an obstructed license plate.  The lieutenant made contact with two occupants of the vehicle, obtained their names and identification, and requested backup assistance.  As the lieutenant approached the passenger side of the vehicle, one of the occupants fired a single shot from a .38-caliber revolver at close range.  The bullet fatally struck the lieutenant in the front of the head.  The assailants fled in the truck.  Two sergeants with the Mesa Police Department (MPD) were in the vicinity, heard the shot, and began to check the area.  A witness notified the GPD of the shooting using the victim lieutenant’s radio, and another witness called 911.  A GPD officer spotted the suspects’ vehicle and was immediately met with gunfire.  As the pursuit began, the suspects fired on the officers and threw tools and equipment from the bed of the truck at the officers’ vehicles.  Several police cars were disabled because of gunfire and debris.  Officers from the GPD, the MPD, the Department of Public Safety, and the sheriff’s offices from Pinal and Maricopa Counties all took part in the pursuit, which ended after the suspects stopped in the roadway.  The 35-year-old passenger then exited the vehicle and engaged officers in gunfire as he ran to the front of the truck.  The driver also ran to the front of the truck.  Officers stopped the attack by returning gunfire and releasing a K-9 police dog.  The suspects were taken into custody and transported to local hospitals with nonlife-threatening injuries.  The alleged shooter was arrested on February 2 and charged with First-Degree Homicide, four counts of Drive by Shooting, nine counts of Aggravated Assault, and Felony Flight from Police.  A known drug user who was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident, the alleged assailant had a prior criminal record involving violent crime, drug violations, and police assault.

A police officer with the Phoenix Police Department was shot and killed while investigating a suspicious circumstance on May 26.  About an hour prior to the incident, officers observed a vehicle being driven at a high rate of speed and advised dispatch of the situation.  Just after 1:30 a.m., a 911 call came in that a male was observed covering up a car that he had parked in a carport at a vacant house.  The 29-year-old officer, who had 4 years of law enforcement experience, and his partner responded to the call in a marked police vehicle.  The officers exited their cruiser and approached the vehicle in question from opposite directions.  The partner began searching the backyard, but then heard gunshots.  He ran back toward the vehicle and found the victim officer lying on the ground in front of a nearby residence.  The victim officer had gunshot wounds from a .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle to his front below the waist and fatally to his front lower torso/stomach below his protective vest.  He was transported in a police vehicle to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead hours later.  The 30-year-old suspect, who had an extensive prior criminal record that included police assault and drug and weapons violations, was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder, First-Degree Burglary, Misconduct Involving Weapon, and Disorderly Conduct.

A sergeant with the Phoenix Police Department was killed with his department-issued shotgun while on patrol at 10:40 p.m. on October 18.  The 34-year-old veteran sergeant, who had nearly 12½ years of law enforcement experience, was wearing body armor at the time of his death.  He was shot once fatally in the back of the head.  He was found in full police uniform near his marked patrol vehicle, but, at the time of this publication, the circumstances surrounding his death are unknown, and the assailant remains at large.

Arkansas

A patrol officer and a sergeant with the West Memphis Police Department were ambushed and killed during a traffic stop on May 20 just after 11:30 a.m.  The 38-year-old patrol officer was conducting a traffic stop and was speaking to the driver of the stopped vehicle by the front passenger side of his patrol car when the 39-year-old sergeant arrived as backup.  Shortly after the sergeant arrived, the driver’s 16-year-old son exited the vehicle and began firing a 7.62x39 mm semiautomatic rifle.  Both veteran officers received multiple gunshot wounds.  The sergeant, with more than 6 years of law enforcement experience, was fatally struck in the front of his head, and the patrol officer, with more than 8 years of law enforcement experience, was fatally shot in the front upper torso/chest when the bullet penetrated his protective vest.  The suspects fled in their vehicle, which was found an hour and a half later approximately 1 mile from the scene in a store parking lot.  When responding officers arrived, both suspects began firing at them.  During the ensuing gunfight, two veteran officers from the Crittenden County Sheriff’s Department were shot; both sustained serious injuries.  After exiting his police vehicle, the 68-year-old chief of enforcement, with more than 42 years of law enforcement experience, was hit in the front lower torso and stomach.  The 73-year-old sheriff, with more than 44 years of law enforcement experience, was hit in the arms and hands while still in the passenger seat of the vehicle.  Other officers on the scene engaged the suspects, and both the 16-year-old suspect and the 45-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record including weapons violations, were justifiably killed. 

California

Around 9:50 a.m. on February 25, two deputy sheriffs with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) were shot and injured while serving a search warrant at a residence in Minkler.  Approximately an hour later, while responding to the “officer down” call, a corporal with the Reedley Police Department (RDP) was also shot.  One of the FCSO deputies and the RDP corporal subsequently died as a result of injuries sustained.  The two deputies initially attempted to serve a search warrant at the residence of a person of interest concerning several arsons and shootings in the Minkler area.  Apparently, the suspect opened fire on the deputies with a rifle while they were outside the home.  The 49-year-old veteran deputy, who had nearly 12 years of law enforcement experience, was hit in the chest by a round that entered his body armor through the armhole.  The second deputy was grazed on the face by one of the rounds fired.  Both victim deputies were transported to a regional medical center where the 49-year-old deputy died at 10:26 a.m. as the result of his gunshot wound; the other deputy was treated and released.  Meanwhile, other responding agencies on the scene of the incident had established a perimeter as the shooter continued to fire his weapon sporadically.  Around 10:50 a.m. one of the rounds struck an RPD corporal in the front of the head as he maintained his perimeter position 80 yards from of the suspect’s residence.  The 28-year-old corporal, who had nearly 5 years of law enforcement experience and was wearing body armor at the time, was taken to a regional medical center where he died on March 1.  During the standoff, the 51-year-old assailant, who was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident, ended his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

On February 4, a former investigator from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department died as a result of complications from injuries he sustained more than 29 years earlier while investigating suspicious activity in a mall parking lot.  Around 8:30 p.m. on November 6, 1980, the investigator and his partner traveled to a mall in the City of Orange to collect bail on a warrant.  At that time, the investigator was 39 years old and an 8-year veteran of law enforcement.  While driving their unmarked car through the lot, the investigators noticed three men tampering with a parked car.  Two of the men were working under the hood, and a third man was inside the vehicle.  The investigator and his partner were approaching the men on foot when the man inside the car opened the passenger door and pointed a handgun at the partner.  The investigator removed his service weapon from his ankle holster and ordered the suspect to drop his weapon.  The man then turned and pointed his gun toward the investigator.  The suspects at the front of the vehicle also drew weapons, and a gun battle erupted.  The investigator was struck in the torso by two rounds fired from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  Two of the offenders fled in the investigators’ unmarked vehicle, while the other offender fled on foot.  While pursing them in a high-speed car chase, California Highway Patrol units received gunfire from the two suspects.  During the pursuit, the suspects lost control and crashed the unmarked unit, allowing officers to capture the two men and take them into custody.  The man who escaped on foot was apprehended within days in Las Vegas, Nevada.   The bullets that struck the investigator during the gun battle paralyzed him from the chest down.  Over the next 29 years, he was confined to a wheelchair and required numerous medical procedures to address complications from his injuries.  The three suspects were all on parole at the time of the shooting and were attempting to steal a vehicle to serve as a get-away car for a planned robbery.  At the time of the incident, all three offenders were convicted of Attempted Murder and served prison sentences.

A 27-year-old officer with the Riverside Police Department (RPD) was killed with his service weapon during a traffic pursuit about 9:45 p.m. on November 7.  The officer, who had 4 years of law enforcement experience, was on patrol when he received information from dispatchers regarding a semi-truck that had been involved in a hit-and-run accident.  The officer saw the truck and attempted to pull the vehicle over.  The driver pulled the truck over and exited.  The officer’s dashboard camera showed the individual removing a bar from the rear of his waistband and running into a nearby park.  The officer, who was wearing body armor, called for assistance and began a foot chase.  An eyewitness said that the officer slipped while chasing the man.  While the officer was on the ground, the man struck the victim officer several times with the bar.  At some point, the suspect disarmed the victim officer and fired three rounds at the officer from his service weapon, a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  Two rounds missed the officer, but the third struck him fatally in the side of the head at close range.  The victim officer was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.  The dashboard camera from the officer’s vehicle showed the suspect getting back in the truck and fleeing the scene.  The RPD, the Inland Regional Apprehension Team, and the FBI searched for the suspect.  Officers located the suspect on November 9 and kept surveillance on him until a tactical team could arrive to arrest the suspect.  In the early morning of November 10, officers also recovered the victim officer’s weapon.  The 44-year old suspect, who was on parole at the time of the incident, had a prior criminal record that included violent crime, police assault, and drug and weapons violations.  He was charged with Murder, Violation of Parole, and a Local Ordinance Violation.

A 50-year-old police officer with the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) was shot during a tactical situation on October 27.  Around 11:10 p.m., SDPD police officers responded to an apartment to assist San Diego County probation officers and U.S. Marshals in taking a fugitive suspect into custody.  The 30-year-old male suspect was barricaded in a bedroom of the apartment and initially, officers called out for him to surrender.  Preparing to release a K-9 into the room, officers kicked open the door and were immediately met with gunfire from the suspect and his female companion.  The victim officer, who had more than 17 years of law enforcement experience and was wearing body armor, was struck fatally in the side of his head.  Forensic examination determined that the 30-year-old suspect fired the fatal shot from a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  Both he and his 27-year-old accomplice committed suicide.  Both were under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident and both had prior criminal records.  The victim officer was transported to a hospital where he died the next day.

Colorado

A deputy sheriff from the Weld County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed in Evans while pursuing a robbery suspect on November 23.  The 43-year-old deputy sheriff, who had 8 years of law enforcement experience, and his partner were dispatched to assist in a pursuit that was entering from a neighboring county and involved an armed and dangerous suspect that was connected with an armed robbery.  Around 10:45 a.m., the deputies joined in the pursuit.  Just after 11 a.m., the pursuit ended, and the suspect initially refused to exit the vehicle he was driving.  The suspect was pulled from his vehicle and stood upright with his back against the vehicle.  He immediately began punching, fighting, and struggling against the officers.  During the altercation, the suspect and the deputies fell to the ground.  The suspect gained possession of the deputy’s firearm, a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and shot him three times.  The victim deputy received injuries in his front upper torso/chest area and on his arms/hands.  One bullet entered the deputy’s bulletproof vest at an extremely shallow angle and traveled through several layers of the vest.  The bullet exited the top panel of the vest, striking the veteran deputy fatally in the head and killing him instantly.  Following this, the 20-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record including violent crime, police assault, and drug and weapons violations, was justifiably killed by other officers at the scene.

Florida

A 33-year-old captain with the Dixie County Sheriff’s Office was killed while conducting a felony traffic stop in Cross City around 4:30 p.m. on January 14.  Near 3 p.m. in Hernando County, a man was allegedly involved in a domestic dispute that resulted in the death of two women and the wounding of two others.  The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office issued a “lookout” alert for the man and informed other law enforcement agencies along Florida’s coast of his vehicle’s make, model, and year.  Around 4:30 p.m., the man was spotted driving his vehicle in Cross City.  Officers followed him for a brief time until the man did a U-turn and pulled his vehicle into a convenience store parking lot.  The captain, who had 11½ years of law enforcement experience, was approaching the man and giving verbal commands to surrender when the man fired a single round from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, striking the veteran captain fatally in the jaw.  Three other deputies on the scene fired 11 rounds at the suspect, wounding him.  The victim captain was transported via helicopter to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.  The 55-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record for violent crime and drug and weapons violations, recovered from his injuries.  He was arrested and charged with three counts of Murder. 

Just before 8:30 p.m. on December 8, a deputy sheriff with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Orlando.  The 27-year-old deputy, who had nearly 5 years of law enforcement experience, had stopped a truck and was talking with the male driver as they stood near the front of the deputy’s patrol car.  Witnesses saw them conversing, reported hearing gunfire, and then saw the deputy on the ground.  Responding officers found the deputy at the scene lying on his back with his taser in his right hand and the suspect’s vehicle registration and driver’s license in his left hand.  The deputy, who was wearing body armor, had been shot in the front and side of his head with what was later determined to be a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  The victim deputy was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead from the bullet wound to the side of head.  Investigating deputies found the suspect’s truck near the apartment complex listed as the home address on his driver’s license.  They searched a wooded area nearby and found the suspect’s body with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.  The weapon used to murder the victim deputy was found near the man’s body.  One probe from the deputy’s taser was found on the 29-year-old alleged shooter’s jacket, which was discovered near his vehicle.  The medical examiner (ME) confirmed that, although the deputy had discharged his taser, it had not penetrated the man’s thick winter jacket.  Further, the ME indicated that, based on the deputy’s wounds, it was likely that the suspect and the deputy were on the ground fighting at the time the shots were fired.  The suspect, who was on parole at the time of the incident, had a prior criminal record that included police assault and weapons violations.

Two Tampa Police Department patrol officers, both 31 years old, were shot and killed while attempting an arrest about 2:15 a.m. on June 29.  One of the patrol officers had stopped a vehicle that did not have a license plate.  The officer, who had 3½ years of law enforcement experience, ran a check of the vehicle’s two occupants and discovered that the passenger had a misdemeanor warrant for arrest.  The second patrol officer, who had 1 year of law enforcement experience, arrived to assist with the traffic stop.  The officers, both of whom were wearing protective vests, approached the vehicle from the right side and asked the man in the passenger seat if he was aware of a warrant for his arrest.  The man denied knowing there was a warrant.  The first patrol officer, still standing outside the right front passenger door, asked the passenger to exit the vehicle.  The man exited the vehicle, and the same patrol officer secured the man’s left arm.  Then, the man pulled out a .38-caliber revolver with his right hand and fired two rounds.  Each officer was fatally shot once in the side of the head.  The passenger fled the scene on foot, and the driver sped off in the vehicle.  The 24-year-old alleged shooter was arrested on July 2 and charged with three counts of First-Degree Murder.  He had a prior criminal record that included violent crimes, including murder, police assault, and drug and weapons violations.   

Georgia

On May 26, a 55-year-old former patrol officer with the Carrollton Police Department (CPD) died as a result of injuries received nearly 30 years earlier while answering a call to investigate suspicious persons.  About 9 p.m. on November 11, 1980, the patrol officer, then 25-years-old with nearly 4 years of law enforcement experience, was responding to a report of a man who was heading to a tavern at a local mall with a shotgun and the intent to kill another person.  The patrol officer was the third member of law enforcement to arrive at the mall parking lot where the suspect’s car was located.  A CPD sergeant and another CPD assisting officer had parked cruisers at the rear and front of the suspect’s car.  The arriving patrol officer parked in front of the assisting officer’s vehicle.  The suspect and his female companion, who had tipped off a gas station clerk earlier in the evening about the suspect’s intent, exited their vehicle.  While the sergeant was talking to the suspects, the two officers retrieved the loaded shotgun from the floorboard of the suspect’s vehicle.  The sergeant talked to the suspects and determined from the female companion that the suspect was in town for a “big narcotic deal” and $20,000 had been stolen from his vehicle earlier as it sat in the mall parking lot.  The sergeant then went to his cruiser to check for outstanding warrants.  The assisting officer was standing with the female on the passenger side of the suspect’s vehicle, and the suspect was standing directly in front of him with the patrol officer by his side.  The assisting officer asked the patrol officer to walk the suspect away from the car so that the female could speak freely.  As the patrol officer attempted to do so, the suspect pulled a .38-caliber revolver from his pocket, put the barrel in the patrol officer’s stomach and ordered, “Okay, everybody hold it!”  The assisting officer took cover behind the suspect’s vehicle, and the sergeant took cover behind a nearby truck.  The suspect put the revolver to the patrol officer’s head and took the shotgun from him.  He demanded that the other law enforcement members drop their weapons just as the patrol officer he was holding hostage knocked the revolver from the suspect’s hand and a struggle ensued.  The suspect put the shotgun in the patrol officer’s back and the patrol officer raised his hands.  The suspect retrieved the revolver from the ground and shot the victim patrol officer in the upper left back before shooting the tire of the sergeant’s patrol car.  The assisting officer fired three shots at the suspect, and a gun battle followed.  As the assisting officer kept the suspect’s attention, the sergeant crawled under the suspect’s vehicle and shot the suspect once in the knee.  As the suspect fell to the ground, his weapons landed out of his reach.  The suspect, who was 39 years old and a corrections escapee at the time, was arrested and charged with Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer and Aggravated Assault.  The coroner ruled that that the victim patrol officer ultimately died as a result of complications from the wounds received during this incident.

On February 15, at 11:34 a.m., a 56-year-old lieutenant with the Chattahoochee Hills Police Department (CHPD) was shot to death in an unprovoked attack.  The lieutenant, a 30-year veteran of law enforcement, was on patrol in the city.  Around noon, a county dispatcher received a telephone call from a passerby who had come upon the lieutenant’s patrol vehicle and discovered the lieutenant inside.  Responding units arrived at the scene and found the patrol car still running and the back window shattered.  Evidence showed that an attacker had shot five rounds into the vehicle with a .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle.  The victim lieutenant was in the front driver’s seat with bullet wounds to his chest, his arms/hands, and a fatal wound to the front of his head.  He was pronounced dead a short time later.  The next day, tips called in to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the CHPD’s tip line and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) provided information to investigators about the alleged shooter and the murder weapon.  A caller indicated that the suspect was in the area where the lieutenant had been shot and that the weapon used in the slaying had originally been purchased as a non-automatic weapon but had been altered by the alleged shooter to be “fully automatic.”  When the tipster spoke with the ATF agent, the individual indicated that the alleged shooter had said that when he shot the lieutenant, the weapon was on “full auto.”  On February 17, a 44-year-old man was arrested for the shooting and charged with Murder, Aggravated Assault, and Possession of a Firearm.  The man, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, had a prior criminal record that included violent crime and weapons violations.  He also was acquainted with the victim lieutenant through a law enforcement relationship.

Just before 10 p.m. on December 23, a 39-year-old lieutenant with the Dougherty County Police Department was killed while responding to a robbery in progress in Albany.  The lieutenant, who had more than 18 years of law enforcement experience, was one of several officers who were patrolling the general area looking for a robbery suspect or the suspect’s vehicle.  The veteran lieutenant saw an individual running through a dimly lit mobile home park near where the robbery took place and attempted to stop him.  The lieutenant exited his marked patrol vehicle to pursue the suspect; at some point, the individual fired two rounds from a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.  One round struck the victim lieutenant in the upper left thigh and exited through his lower back; the second and fatal round entered just below the lieutenant’s ballistic vest on the lower right side of his abdomen and exited the lower back near his spine.  The lieutenant was able to fire two rounds from his service weapon, but neither round hit the 20-year-old suspect, who was apprehended a short time later while hiding under a mobile home.  The suspect was on probation at the time of the incident and had a prior criminal record for drug violations.  He was arrested and charged with Murder, Armed Robbery, and Possession of a Firearm in the Commission of a Crime.

A trooper with the Georgia State Patrol, Forest Park, was killed during a traffic stop shortly after 11:00 p.m. on December 27.  The 38-year-old trooper, who had more than 2 years of law enforcement experience, stopped a car for a headlight violation on a road near a major parkway in Atlanta.  The driver pulled over to the right shoulder of the road, and the trooper approached the driver’s side door.  After checking the trunk to ensure that it was secure, the trooper asked the driver to roll down the rear window, presumably because the window was tinted and he could not see inside the vehicle.  The driver failed to comply with the request, and instead put the car into gear and fled.  The trooper radioed for assistance and gave chase in his patrol car.  The suspect crashed into a concrete mailbox a few miles away.  The trooper positioned his vehicle behind the suspect’s car, exited the unit, and cautiously approached the crash.  He attempted to shine a flashlight inside the window.  As he came closer, the passenger side door of the suspect’s vehicle opened slightly and the suspect fired three rounds from a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, striking the trooper in the neck above his protective vest.  Although the trooper was out of view of his vehicle’s in-car camera, it picked up the muzzle flashes of the shots that were fired.  Assisting officers arrived at the scene and called for an ambulance.  The victim trooper was transported to a local hospital where he died a short time later.  Two witnesses at the scene advised the investigating officer that the assailant had shot the victim trooper and then had fled the scene in the patrol car.  On December 28, a member of the Atlanta Police Department apprehended the 30-year-old suspect, who was on probation and a known drug dealer with a history of drug and weapons violations.  The alleged shooter was charged with Murder and Aggravated Assault of a Law Enforcement Officer.            

An investigator with the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed in an unprovoked attack at 12:55 p.m. on May 8.  The 28-year-old investigator, with nearly 5 years of law enforcement experience, along with other investigators and a deputy, were attempting to serve an arrest warrant on an individual at a residence in Conyers.  The warrant was for Rape, Aggravated Assault, and Kidnapping stemming from an incident the previous evening.  The entire house had been cleared except for the rear master bedroom.  The door to that room was locked and had to be breached to gain entry.  Once inside the room, all visible areas were cleared except for the closet, which was closed and did not have a doorknob.  When the investigator pulled open the door, the 41-year-old male began firing a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, striking the victim investigator twice.  The first shot entered through his left forearm and was stopped by his protective vest.  The second shot fatally struck him on the left side below the vest in the front lower torso/stomach.  Two other investigators and one deputy returned fire, killing the suspect, who had a prior criminal record.

Illinois

An off-duty police officer with the Chicago Police Department was shot on May 19 in a robbery attempt involving four male suspects.  Shortly before 11:30 p.m., the 30-year-old officer, who had nearly 3 years of law enforcement experience, had gotten on his motorcycle and was about to drive away when two males, ages 19 and 20, approached the officer and announced they were going to rob him.  The 20-year-old robber produced a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun and placed it to the officer’s head.  A retired officer had been standing in the doorway of his nearby home and saw the robbery in progress.  The retired officer yelled to the offenders, who told the retired officer to mind his own business and the armed robber fired his weapon at him.  The 20-year-old robber moved the handgun away from the officer’s head, the officer announced that he was a police officer, retrieved his weapon, and fired at the offenders.  The officer and the 20-year-old assailant exchanged gunfire at close range.  The officer fired eight rounds, all of which struck the offenders, who were standing near each other.  The armed assailant fired four rounds, one of which grazed the officer’s rear below the waist and one that struck him fatally in the center of his torso, above his abdomen.  As this was happening, the retired officer retrieved a handgun from his residence.  He saw a vehicle on the scene and saw the 19-year-old offender attempting to help the 20-year-old offender into the car.  The retired officer then walked toward the street and saw two additional males in the car, one of whom had a handgun.  The retired officer saw the two offenders at the side of the vehicle and saw one raise a handgun, at which point the retired officer fired on the men.  The men in the vehicle backed it away from the scene, appearing to leave the two offenders behind.  Apparently, the victim officer was struck and dragged by the vehicle and then was dislodged when the driver put the car in reverse to pick up the offenders.  The retired officer then went to assist the victim officer, and all of the offenders fled. The victim officer was taken to a local hospital where he died the next day.  The 20-year-old suspect, who was known to possess drugs and had a prior criminal record involving violent crime and drug and weapons violations, was killed by the victim officer’s gunfire.  The other three men—the 19-year-old, a 20-year-old male passenger, and a 29-year-old male passenger—also had prior criminal records.  All three suspects were arrested on June 12 and charged with two counts of First-Degree Murder and Armed Robbery.

A 43-year-old patrol officer with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) was shot and killed in an ambush in the parking lot of the CPD’s Tactical Response Unit around 3:45 p.m. on July 7.  The patrol officer, who had nearly 12 years of law enforcement experience, was standing at the back of his personal vehicle removing his gear at the end of his shift when a man approached and attacked him.  The offender gained control of the veteran patrol officer’s 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and shot the patrol officer several times.  The patrol officer suffered gunshot wounds to the neck, chest, and a fatal wound to the front of his head.  Another officer wounded the 24-year-old man, who was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder and 4 counts of Attempted Murder.  The offender was a known drug user who had a prior criminal record that included violent crime, police assault, and drug and weapons violations.  Further investigation revealed that individuals had heard him say earlier in the day that he was going to kill the police.

An off-duty police officer with the Chicago Police Department was shot and killed during a robbery attempt shortly after 6 a.m. on July 18.  The 60-year-old officer, a 20-year veteran of law enforcement, was returning home from his shift and was still in his uniform, with an oversized shirt covering his uniform shirt.  He arrived at his home, exited his vehicle, and prepared to wipe it down.  Then, investigators believe he was approached by someone and a struggle ensued.  The officer was able to fire several shots from his service weapon, but the assailant fatally shot the officer in the chest and the abdomen with a revolver.  The offender then fled the scene, and at the time of this publication, he remains at large.

A 46-year-old police officer with the Chicago Police Department was shot and killed in an ambush around 1:40 p.m. on November 26.  The officer, who had nearly 20 years of law enforcement experience, was processing the scene of an earlier burglary at a local garage.  After taking photographs of the scene and dusting for fingerprints, the officer was standing at the back of his police vehicle wearing his protective vest when a man apparently approached him from behind and fatally shot him in the side of the head with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.  The offender then allegedly shot the owner of the garage in the head and attempted to move evidence regarding the earlier burglary of the garage.  He left the scene, but later returned and reportedly shot both the officer and the garage owner one more time in the face to make sure they were dead.  Later that day, witnesses told detectives that a man confessed to them that he had committed the murders.  On November 27, detectives arrested a 19-year-old man and charged him with First-Degree Murder.  His prior criminal record included charges of violent crime, and drug and weapons violations; he was on parole at the time of the incident.  Detectives also recovered a fingerprint from the burglary scene that matched the alleged offender.   

Louisiana

On March 4, at 6:18 p.m., a 33-year-old corporal with the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office was shot after responding to a call to assist a deputy with an arrest.  The veteran corporal, who had more than 8 years of law enforcement experience, arrived at the residence in West Monroe where the suspect in an investigation of an Aggravated Battery with a Motor Vehicle had been located.  The man was standing in the front yard of the residence, and after a brief interview by the officers, the man was advised that he was going to be taken into custody.  As the officers attempted to arrest him, the man began backing away from them and said, “Uh-uh.”  The corporal drew his taser; and the suspect reached into the back waistband of his pants, produced a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and started firing at the officers.  The victim corporal was struck once in the back of his right shoulder, just outside his protective ballistic vest, as he was moving for cover.  The bullet exited his shoulder area and reentered his body in the back of his neck, lodging at the base of his skull.  The deputy returned gunfire, striking the shooter in the face, killing him.  The deputy called for assistance and administered first aid to the victim corporal.  Emergency medical personnel transported the corporal to a local medical center where he was placed on life support.  On March 6, the victim corporal died from the bullet wound to the back of his head.  The 26-year-old offender, who had a prior criminal record and conviction, also had a history of violent crime and drugs and weapons violations.  He was a known drug user and was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident.

A 57-year-old sergeant with the Rayville Police Department was shot and killed while investigating a burglary in progress around 9:15 p.m. on September 11.  Just after 9 p.m., the 20-year veteran of law enforcement responded to a call for assistance from a deputy with the Richland Parish Sheriff’s Office (RPSO), who was en route to the home of a woman who reported a window of her house had been broken.  At 9:12 p.m., the sergeant arrived at the residence and met the woman outside of her home.  They walked into the home together and heard noises.  The sergeant continued to search the house.  At the same time, two deputies arrived at the scene and heard shots fired from inside the home.  In the house, the sergeant told the woman to run, and he shielded her as she ran to the other end of the house.  The deputies ran toward the home and saw the woman running to them.  One of the deputies assisted her to a safe distance from the home.  The other deputy entered the home and found the sergeant lying on the floor with multiple gunshot wounds.  The deputy reported an officer down, and a medical helicopter was dispatched.  The victim sergeant suffered gunshot wounds to his stomach, the front below his waist, and a fatal injury to his chest from a .38-caliber revolver.  The sheriff arrived at the scene and, along with the deputy, continued to search the home.  The deputy located a 52-year-old man hiding under a bed and arrested him.  The deputy took the suspect, who knew the victim sergeant through a previous law enforcement relationship and was on probation at the time, to the RPSO, where he was interrogated.  Investigators began looking for two additional suspects, a 33-year-old man believed to be the shooter who escaped from the scene, and a 20-year-old man who had planned to drive the get-away car after the burglary.  Through their investigation, officers arrested the suspected driver, also on probation at the time of the incident, in a nearby town on September 12.  Also that day, deputies with the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested the alleged shooter, who had a prior criminal record that included violent crimes (such as murder and police assault) and drug and weapons violations.  All three suspects, who were known drug dealers, were charged with First-Degree Murder, Aggravated Burglary, Conspiracy to Commit First-Degree Murder, and Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Burglary.  On September 13, deputies with the RPSO located the weapon used to kill the sergeant.

Shortly after 3:30 a.m. on October 24, a sergeant with the Shreveport Police Department was killed during an unprovoked attack.  The 43-year-old sergeant, with 19 years of law enforcement experience, was checking on a clerk at a local establishment and stood at the front of his patrol car as the two were talking.  A car pulled into a parking space three spaces down from the sergeant’s vehicle.  A male exited the car and immediately began firing a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun at the sergeant.  The sergeant attempted to take cover but was struck several times below his protective vest, sustaining a fatal wound in his back below his waist.  He was able to return fire but did not hit the suspect, who fled the scene.  Another officer in the area heard the gunshots and found the victim sergeant.  The veteran sergeant was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.  The store clerk gave a description of the suspect and his vehicle.  A short time later the 24‑year‑old suspect, who had a prior criminal record, was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder and Attempted Second-Degree Murder.

Maryland

A 24-year-old trooper with the Maryland State Police, Forestville, was killed on June 11 while working off-duty as a part-time security officer at a restaurant in Forestville.  The trooper, who had more than 3½ years of law enforcement experience, was working with an off-duty Maryland parole and probation officer late on the evening of June 10.  When a patron became disruptive, the pair asked the patron to leave the restaurant.  The patron became argumentative, pushed past the parole officer, and left the restaurant on foot.  Shortly after 12:30 a.m., on June 11, the trooper went outside to take a cellular telephone call.  Minutes later the parole officer went outside to check on the trooper.  As the parole officer got to the front of the restaurant, he heard gunshots in the parking lot and saw the glass front door shatter.  The trooper turned toward the door to try to enter the restaurant, and the parole officer saw that the trooper had been struck by gunfire.  An unknown number of rounds from a handgun injured the trooper in the front below the waist and additional rounds also penetrated through the side panels of the trooper’s protective vest, fatally wounding him in the upper chest.  The victim trooper was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.  A subsequent law enforcement investigation of the incident led to the arrest of two people on June 13.  One was a 27-year-old male, who had a previous law enforcement relationship with the victim trooper, as well as a prior criminal record for drug and weapons violations.  The other was a 28-year-old male with a prior criminal record for drug violations.  Both were charged with First-Degree Murder.

Massachusetts

A 60-year-old patrol officer with the Woburn Police Department (WPD) died from a gunshot wound sustained while pursuing a robbery suspect around 8:50 p.m. on December 26.  Minutes earlier, the WPD received several 911 calls about a robbery in progress at a local department store.  The first officer to arrive at the scene observed a man leaving the store carrying a handgun and a black canvas bag.  When he saw the suspect fleeing across the parking lot on foot, the officer exited his cruiser and pursued him.  As the suspect approached one of the exits of the parking lot, a second officer, who was operating a marked police cruiser, encountered the suspect.  The veteran patrol officer, who had nearly 35 years of law enforcement experience, exited his vehicle; immediately he and the suspect exchanged gunfire.  At least four shots from the .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun used by the offender hit the victim officer, injuring him in the chest, in the front below the waist, on his arms and hands, and fatally in the stomach area.  Although paramedics took the victim officer to a clinic, he died as a result of his injuries.  Three of the officer’s rounds hit the 57-year-old offender, who died at the scene.  The offender, who was on parole at the time of the incident, had a prior criminal record including violent crimes and weapons violations.

Michigan

A 42-year-old police officer with the Detroit Police Department was shot and killed on May 3 while responding to a burglary in progress.  At 2:45 a.m., three two-person squad units responded to the call.  As the 12-year veteran officer approached the front door, another officer went to the rear of the location to secure the perimeter, and the remaining four officers fanned out across the front yard.  The officer at the front door found it open and announced clearly, “Detroit Police.”  He pushed the front door open further, and entered the dwelling.  A man immediately began firing from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, striking the officer in the front of his head and fatally in his neck/throat above his protective vest.  As the suspect exited the home through the front door, he continued firing at the officers in the front yard.  They returned fire while trying to find cover.  When the officer in the backyard heard gunshots, he came toward the corner of the house and encountered the suspect, who shot him in the leg.  The suspect, who suffered a gunshot wound to his back in the exchange of gunfire with the officers in the front yard, climbed over a gate in the driveway.  He then collapsed and was arrested.  The 25-year-old suspect had an extensive prior criminal history that included police assault, was a known drug dealer, and was on conditional release at the time of the incident.  He was charged with Felony Murder, Assault with Intent To Murder, Felony Firearm, Possess with Intent To Deliver, Fourth-Degree Habitual Offender, Home Invasion, and Felon in Possession.  Three of the officers in the front yard and the officer securing the back of the house, all of whom were wearing body armor, received gunshot wounds during the exchange of gunfire.  They included a 48-year old police officer with more than 16 years of law enforcement experience shot in the front below the waist, a 25-year-old police officer with nearly 2 years of law enforcement experience shot in the arms/hands, a 31-year-old police officer with nearly 2 years of law enforcement experience shot in the front below the waist, and a 29-year-old police officer with more than 1 year of law enforcement experience shot in the front below the waist.  At the time of this publication, the three wounded officers had not returned to duty.   

At 12:12 a.m. on March 9, a 26-year-old patrol officer with the Jackson Police Department (JPD) was killed and a 22-year-old officer with the Blackman Department of Public Safety (DPS) (now the Blackman and Leoni Township DPS) was injured during the investigation of a domestic situation.  The DPS officer, who had 3½ years of law enforcement experience, had been dispatched to investigate a complaint of a man who had been beating on the door of his estranged wife’s apartment and threatening her with bodily harm.  When the officer arrived at the woman’s apartment, the man had left.  After gathering more information, including the fact that the man was possibly in possession of a firearm, the officer went to the man’s residence and requested a backup unit to assist.  At the suspect’s residence, the DPS officer was invited in by the suspect, who was intoxicated and somewhat agitated.  The officer asked the man to sit on the couch and keep his hands in sight on his lap.  When the JPD patrol officer with nearly 2½ years of law enforcement experience arrived as backup and entered the room, the suspect became more agitated and jumped to his feet.  The officers ordered him back onto the couch, but he refused.  The DPS officer advised him that he was being placed into custody.  The man struggled with the officers, but the DPS officer was able to place a cuff on the man’s right wrist.  The man placed his left hand under his mid section and refused to show it to the officers.  The JPD officer tried to gain control of the suspect’s left hand as the man bent over the couch, face down.  Suddenly, a shot was fired unexpectedly.  Both officers checked to ensure their service weapons were still holstered.  Then, the suspect swung his left hand toward the DPS officer and fired a .357-caliber revolver that had been hidden in the couch, striking the officer in the upper right thigh.  The man then spun back to his left and shot the JPD patrol officer through the armhole of this body armor, striking him in the upper torso/chest.  The JPD officer fell to the floor immediately.  The shooter switched the handgun into his right hand and swung back around toward the DPS officer, who also was wearing body armor.  While still falling backward from the shot fired into his thigh, the DPS officer drew his service weapon and shot the suspect in the back of the head and neck area, fatally wounding him before he could fire another round.  The JPD officer died from the bullet wound to his chest.  The DPS officer underwent immediate surgery for his injury; he made a full recovery and returned to duty 5 months later.  The 63-year-old offender had a prior criminal history that included a previous murder and weapons violations.  He was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident.

A 31-year-old corporal with the Taylor Police Department was shot and killed during a burglary in progress around 5:45 a.m. on July 23.  The corporal, who had 6½ years of law enforcement experience, and his partner responded to a reported break-in at an apartment.  When they arrived at the scene, the officers observed a screen that had been removed from a window of the apartment and a man leaning against a mini-van in a parking lot near the apartment.  The corporal exited the passenger side of the patrol car, and the man began walking towards the patrol car.  The man, who was carrying a small bag, told the corporal that he and his wife had an argument and she had thrown him out of the apartment.  The corporal stayed with the man in the parking lot as his partner walked toward the apartment.  The partner heard gunshots behind him.  He turned and saw the man holding a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun and shooting the corporal.  The partner shot and wounded the man.  The corporal, who was wearing a protective vest, was injured in his stomach and suffered a fatal wound to the front of his head.  The 36-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record that included violent crime (murder) and drug and weapons violations, was arrested and charged with Murder.           

Minnesota

On August 9, a deputy sheriff from the Mahnomen County Sheriff’s Office succumbed to gunshot wounds he received on February 18, 2009, while investigating suspicious circumstances.  At the time of the incident, the 26-year-old deputy, who had more than 5 years of law enforcement experience, responded to a call at 7:10 a.m. reporting that shots had been fired in the city of Mahnomen.  Upon his arrival at the scene, the deputy encountered two men in a driveway.  The deputy exited his vehicle and approached the two individuals, at which time a physical altercation ensued.  During the struggle, the deputy, who was wearing body armor, was shot twice in the abdomen and once in the back of his head with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.  A second deputy arrived on scene and returned fire on the suspects, hitting one suspect in the abdomen.  The assisting deputy called for an ambulance for the wounded deputy.  The two suspects fled to a residence across the street and a standoff ensued.  Nine hours later, both suspects surrendered peacefully and were arrested.  One suspect, a 32-year-old man, was initially charged with Attempted Murder.  The other suspect, a 27-year-old man, was charged with a Felon Convicted of a Crime of Violence, Possession of a Weapon, First-Degree Assault, Use of Deadly Force Against a Law Enforcement Officer, Attempted Theft of a Motor Vehicle Without Consent, Failure to Render Aid/Assistance, and Contempt of Court.  It was determined that both individuals were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the shooting.  Both suspects also had prior criminal records that included violent crimes and weapons violations.  When the victim deputy eventually died as the result of the gunshot wound to the back of his head, the suspect’s Attempted Murder charge was increased to Second-Degree Murder.

A 49-year-old sergeant with the Maplewood Police Department was shot and killed while investigating suspicious persons at 6:45 a.m. on May 1.  Minutes earlier, police were summoned to a residential area where a man reported that he had just escaped from a carjacking incident.  He said that two suspects were last seen fleeing on foot near a walking trail.  The veteran sergeant, with more than 25 years of law enforcement experience, was asked to check the trail and radioed that he would be out with two people at the trail.  Moments later, a citizen, who had been jogging on the trail and witnessed the shooting, came on the radio and broadcast that an officer had been shot.  The victim sergeant, who was wearing body armor, was fatally shot in the front of his head with a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  A large perimeter was set up and a search initiated.  A 21-year-old male approached an officer who was covering the perimeter; in the process of being frisked, the suspect began to strike the officer with a large bolt that had been wrapped in some type of material.  The offender, who had a prior criminal record and was on parole at the time of the incident, was justifiably shot and killed by the officer during the attack.  A second suspect, also 21 years old, with a prior criminal record and on probation at the time of the incident, was located in a nearby apartment and taken into custody.  He was arrested and charged with Second-Degree Murder.

Mississippi

A 63-year-old sheriff serving with the George County Sheriff’s Department was killed when he was struck by a truck crashing through a roadblock in Lucedale at 2:45 p.m. on July 21.  The veteran sheriff had nearly 37 years of law enforcement experience.  Earlier, a deputy with the same agency attempted a traffic stop of a truck driven by a female.  Although the deputy turned on his blue lights and siren, the driver increased her speed in an attempt to flee.  Out of concern for the safety of the public, the deputy backed off from the pursuit, which had reached speeds in excess of 100 mph.  During the pursuit, a male passenger in the truck took control of the vehicle.  The deputy kept the truck in sight and witnessed the male throwing what was later discovered to be methamphetamine out of the vehicle’s window.  During this time, the sheriff and several other deputies set up a roadblock in an attempt to stop the vehicle and arrest the man, who had been recognized as a subject who had failed to appear in court to face a previous narcotics conviction.  Upon encountering the roadblock, the man drove through it, striking the sheriff and causing extensive and fatal injuries to the victim sheriff.  The man fled the scene; however, the next day, the 24-year-old male suspect and the 18-year-old female suspect were arrested and charged with Capital Murder.  They were both known drug users who had prior criminal records that included drug violations.  The male suspect’s record also included a prior police assault.

At 8:35 p.m. on August 6, a patrol officer with the Jackson Police Department was killed with his service weapon while transporting a prisoner.  The 31-year-old patrol officer, who had 10 years of law enforcement experience, and another officer were transporting a suspect to a detention center; a third officer was in a vehicle following them.  During the transport, the suspect was handcuffed but was able to escape from the vehicle and flee on foot.  The veteran patrol officer, who was wearing body armor, pursued the individual on foot, while his partner and the third officer tried to cut off the man using their patrol vehicles.  Shortly after losing sight of the patrol officer and suspect, the other two officers heard a gunshot but were unable to make contact with the patrol officer.  The two officers contacted their command center and began a search.  The victim officer was found submerged in a creek; his service weapon, a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, was missing.  The victim officer, who had been fatally shot once at close range in the front of the head, was taken by helicopter to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.  When the 24-year-old suspect was found later, he was still wearing handcuffs.  He was arrested and charged with Capital Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer, Escape, and Convicted Felon in Possession of a Firearm.  The suspect was a known drug user who was on probation at the time of the incident.  He had a prior criminal record for violent crime, police assault, and drug and weapons violations.

A 62-year-old deputy sheriff with the Tippah County Sheriff’s Department, was shot and killed in Ripley around 4:30 in the morning on December 3.  He and another deputy were responding to a domestic disturbance call.  When they arrived on the scene, the deputies encountered an uncooperative suspect in the driveway of the residence.  The first deputy was attempting to restrain the man when the suspect gained control of the deputy’s service weapon, .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and shot the other deputy twice.  The victim deputy, a 7-year veteran of law enforcement, was struck in the front lower torso/stomach area and fatally in the front upper chest.  He died at the scene.  The weapon jammed after the assailant had fired the two shots, so the other deputy was able to subdue the suspect until responders arrived to assist with the arrest.  The 26-year-old suspect, who was on parole at the time of the incident, was charged with Capital Murder.              

Montana

A 23-year-old trooper with the Montana Highway Patrol, Bozeman, was shot and killed on December 1 around 4:20 in the afternoon while investigating a suspicious person or circumstance in Three Forks.  The trooper, who had a little more than 2 years of law enforcement experience, was patrolling the area when he saw a man with a shotgun in a field.  The trooper believed the locale to be an area where hunting was not allowed, and he radioed the Three Forks Marshal’s Office and requested marshal assistance in contacting the individual.  However, before assistance could arrive, the man got into his vehicle and started to leave the vicinity, and the trooper attempted to stop him.  Apparently, the man exited his automobile and after a brief encounter with the trooper, he returned to his vehicle, retrieved a 12-gauge shotgun, and shot the trooper in the abdomen.  The trooper, who was wearing body armor, managed to shoot his attacker once.  The assailant reloaded his shotgun and fired at the victim trooper again, striking him in the front upper torso/chest, in the front of the head, and fatally in the throat.  The shooter then fled the scene.  The marshal arrived and found the trooper, who appeared to be deceased, and immediately requested assistance.  The 56‑year‑old suspect, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, drove approximately 35 miles from the scene of the shooting, where he stopped and committed suicide.

On February 12, a sergeant from the Missoula Police Department succumbed to complications from a gunshot wound he sustained more than 11 years earlier while investigating a suspicious person.  On October 21, 1998, at 5:30 p.m., the sergeant responded to a call from a bank concerning a man who was possibly involved in forgery.  When the sergeant, who was 35 years old at the time, first saw the suspect, the man was standing at the drive-thru window of the bank without a vehicle.  The sergeant parked in an alley and exited his patrol car about a half-block from the bank.  When the suspect saw the sergeant, he fled on foot.  The veteran sergeant, who had nearly 8 years of law enforcement experience, chased the suspect across a four-lane road and into a parking lot.  The man drew a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun and fired two shots.  The first shot hit a cargo truck, and the second shot entered the armhole of the sergeant’s protective vest, striking him in the upper torso.  The shooter ran to the sergeant, took his service firearm, and fled the scene.  Deputies with the Missoula County Sheriff’s Department later found the man two blocks away, hiding in a crawl space.  The suspect fired at one of the deputies who found him, and the deputy fired back, but neither was hit.  The shooter surrendered and was taken into custody.  The victim sergeant lived the rest of his life as a quadriplegic because the bullet that entered through the armhole of his protective vest traveled through his shoulder and into his spine.  The suspect, 20 years old at the time of the incident, was a known drug dealer and was charged with Deliberate Homicide, Burglary, Aggravated Assault, Escape, Felony Forgery , and two counts of Felony Theft.  He was found guilty of Murder and received a life sentence.

Nevada

A 27-year-old deputy sheriff with the Nye County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed in an ambush around 3:40 p.m. on April 26 in Pahrump.  The deputy, who was a 6 year veteran of law enforcement, had recently returned from a military tour of duty in Afghanistan and was in Field Training status.  He responded with his training officer to a domestic dispute involving shots fired at a local casino.  When they arrived at the scene, the male subject involved in the domestic dispute positioned his vehicle in front of the deputy’s patrol vehicle.  The deputy, the training officer, and the subject exited their vehicles at approximately the same time.  A third officer arrived at the scene and pulled in behind the suspect’s vehicle, when the suspect pulled out a semiautomatic rifle and opened fire on the deputy.  The third officer shot the suspect.  The victim deputy, who suffered gunshot wounds to the back, the front below the waist, and the chest, was taken by helicopter to a hospital.  Although the deputy sheriff was wearing a protective vest, the bullets penetrated the armor, and he died later that day from the wounds to his chest.  The 30-year-old suspect, who had a prior criminal record, died at the scene.

North Carolina

On July 28, just after 7:30 p.m., a 31-year-old deputy sheriff with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office was killed during an unprovoked attack.  The veteran deputy, who had 10 years of law enforcement experience, responded to a domestic call between a mother and her son in Snow Hill.  The call included a code to alert the deputy that a weapon was present in the home.  When the deputy arrived at the scene, the mother allowed him into the house, and he walked to the den in the back of the house and asked the son to come out of his bedroom so they could talk.  The son opened the bedroom door and began firing at the deputy at close range with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, hitting the deputy in the nose, the hand, and twice in the upper chest, fatally wounding him.  The assailant then took the deputy’s .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and used it to shoot the deputy again, this time behind the ear.  The man fired more rounds from the service weapon inside the home before going into his mother’s room and shooting himself in the head.  In all, the 22-year-old offender shot 15 rounds during the attack.  When the investigating officer arrived, he found the victim deputy lying in the floor of the den, deceased.  He found the attacker, who was still alive but barely breathing, in the mother’s bedroom.  When emergency medical personnel arrived, they attempted to save the man, but he died a few minutes later.  It was later determined that the assailant was under the influence of alcohol during the shooting.  He had a prior criminal record, including violent crime and weapons violations, and was on probation at the time of the incident.            

Ohio

A patrol officer with the Elyria Police Department was fatally shot on March 15 shortly before 10 p.m. when he responded to a disturbance call.  The officer, who was an 18-year veteran of law enforcement, arrived on the scene, made contact with the man who was the subject of the call, and then went inside the residence with the man.  While they were in the dwelling, the man fired at the 43-year-old officer with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, striking the officer in the front and side of his head, in his neck and chest, and in his stomach below his protective vest.  The victim officer radioed that he had been shot and asked for back up.  The alleged shooter, who had exited the residence, was confronted by assisting officers who had arrived on the scene, and an altercation ensued.  The alleged offender was shot and killed by the backup officers.  The victim officer was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival from the gunshot wound to the side of his head.  The 58-year-old alleged shooter had a prior law enforcement relationship with the victim officer and a prior criminal record that included violent crime.

Pennsylvania

A trooper with the Pennsylvania State Police, Franklin, was ambushed in an unprovoked attack shortly before noon on January 13 while responding to a domestic disturbance involving a husband and wife at their home in Cranberry Township, Venango County.  The 40-year-old trooper, with more than 16½ years of law enforcement experience, arrived on the scene with another officer.  As they exited their vehicles, someone inside the residence told the officers to return to their vehicles and leave.  The troopers ordered the subject to show himself.  The individual then fired a single shot from a .30-30 lever-action rifle from a second-story bedroom window.  The fatal round struck the victim trooper, who was wearing body armor, in the neck.  Other troopers arrived and fired 26 shots from a .223-caliber automatic rifle and 12 shots from a .45-caliber handgun into the residence to provide cover while evacuating the victim trooper.  A Special Emergency Response Team eventually entered the home and found both the suspect and his wife dead in a second-story bedroom.  The wife died of a single gunshot wound to the head, and the suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.  The suspect’s rifle was found in his lap; autopsies revealed that neither individual had been shot by police.  The 44-year-old suspect, who had a prior law enforcement relationship with the victim trooper, had a prior criminal record including police assault and weapons violations, and a history of mental disorders.

Approximately 10:30 p.m., on November 11, a conservation officer with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Huntingdon, was shot and killed while investigating reports of illegal poaching of deer near Freedom Township.  Upon hearing gunfire in the vicinity, the 31-year-old conservation officer traveled toward the source of the gunfire, where he encountered a pickup with at least two individuals in it.  The officer, who had 4 years of law enforcement experience, called dispatch with the license plate of the pickup and requested backup.  Before backup officers could arrive, the driver allegedly exited the pickup and approached the officer, who was wearing body armor.  When the officer attempted to handcuff the man, a struggle ensued, and there was an exchange of gunfire.  The suspect shot the officer in the back of his legs and, fatally, in the back of his neck with a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun.  Two of the victim officer’s rounds hit the suspect; another shot was deflected by a knife worn by the man.  Apparently, the suspect fled the scene with a handcuff on his right wrist, but he managed to shoot off the handcuff.  Shortly after the shooter left the scene, he and a passenger in the pickup went separate ways.  When law enforcement personnel later interviewed the passenger, he said that the suspect had illegally shot a deer shortly before the officer arrived, and that the suspect stated that he was “not going back to prison” for possessing a handgun.  The 27-year-old offender, who had a prior criminal record including violent crime and weapons violations, was apprehended the next day at a hunting cabin in Adams County.  He was charged with First-Degree Murder, Possession/Use/Transfer of a Firearm, Flight to Avoid Appeals Trial, Firearm Carried Without a License, Possession of Instrument of Crime, and Violation of Game Laws.

Puerto Rico

The Puerto Rico Department of Environment and Natural Resources lost two of its rangers on March 23 at 12:30 a.m. while they were on guard duty at the agency’s facility in San Juan.  Each of the rangers was 30 years old and each had nearly 6 years of law enforcement experience.  Both rangers, who were wearing body armor, were going about their normal duties, unaware that two men who intended to steal their service weapons were watching them.  The two men had maintained their surveillance for more than an hour when one of the rangers left the guard station to go on his rounds within the property, leaving the other ranger alone in the small building.  The would-be robbers then climbed over the fence surrounding the property and entered the guard shack.  One of the perpetrators, a 23-year-old man, pointed a .45-caliber handgun at the ranger.  The ranger fell to the ground in surprise, and the attacker attempted to take the ranger’s 9 mm semiautomatic service handgun.  A short struggle ensued as the ranger fought to keep possession of his weapon, but the attacker gained control and shot the victim ranger with the service weapon, striking him in the arms and hands.  The shooter handed one of the handguns to the second perpetrator, a 35-year-old man.  Meanwhile, the second ranger, who had detected the intruders, moved to a position in front of the guard station near a large rock where he opened fire on the two assailants with his service weapon, also a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.  The 23-year-old attacker was shot in the left calf.  After a few more shots were exchanged, the second ranger fell to the ground, mortally wounded when a bullet from his partner’s stolen 9 mm service handgun struck him in the side of his head.  The 23-year-old attacker went to the body to steal the fallen ranger’s service handgun, but he could not find the weapon.  He returned to the guard station and saw that the first ranger was still moving.  He shot the ranger fatally in the side of the head.  Because of the attacker’s calf wound, he was unable to jump over the fence that they had scaled to enter the property.  The pair then stole a truck that was parked next to the guard shack and drove it through the gate that was locked with a chain.  They joined a third man, a 21-year-old, who was part of the original robbery plan, and fled to the home of the 23-year-old man.  Later that morning, the 21-year-old and the 35-year-old suspects were detained in an unrelated traffic stop.  When police searched the vehicle, they found the 9 mm service weapon belonging to the first victim ranger.  All three men, who were known to use drugs and who were under the influence of narcotics, were subsequently arrested.  The 23-year-old man was charged with Carjacking and Murder.  The 35-year old man was charged with Carjacking, Murder, Stolen Weapon, and Interstate Commerce.  The 21-year-old man was charged with Possession of a Stolen Firearm and Accessory After the Fact.

On October 26, a 52-year-old lieutenant with the Police of Puerto Rico in Hato Rey was shot and killed while interrupting a robbery in progress in San Lorenzo.  Around 8:15 p.m., two masked gunmen entered a convenience store/bar and announced a robbery to the store owner and customers inside.  While one gunman hid by the side of the door, the other proceeded to the bar area where the cash register was located.  Outside the bar, the off-duty lieutenant, who had 31 years’ law enforcement experience, was socializing with friends when he realized there was a robbery in progress.  As the veteran lieutenant entered the bar, he announced that he was a police officer and attempted to draw his weapon from the holster in the small of his back.  The gunman beside the door then pointed his weapon at the lieutenant.  The lieutenant attempted to grab the weapon from the gunman with his other hand and a brief struggle ensued.  The gunman shot the lieutenant three times in the front upper torso/chest area, wounding him with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.  The gunmen stole cash from the register, took the lieutenant’s service weapon, and then fled the store on foot.  The victim lieutenant was transported to a local emergency room where he died of his wounds shortly after the shooting incident.  The two subjects and a third individual, who had been waiting with a getaway vehicle some distance from the store, were subsequently arrested in connection with the murder.  A 22-year-old man, a known drug user with a prior criminal record including violent crime and weapons violations, was charged with First-Degree Murder, Robbery, and Firearms Law Violation.  A 26-year-old man, a known drug user with a prior criminal record including violent crime, was also charged with First-Degree Murder, Robbery, and Firearms Law Violation.  No information was available on the third arrestee at the time of this publication.  

Texas

A police officer with the Lancaster Police Department was shot and killed at 6 p.m. on June 20 while responding to a disturbance call involving a man with a gun at an apartment complex.  The 37-year-old officer, who had more than 5 years of law enforcement experience and who was wearing body armor, arrived at the complex and saw the individual attempting to leave in a vehicle.  When the officer stopped and exited his patrol vehicle, the individual shot at him with a 7.62x39 mm semiautomatic rifle.  The officer returned fire with his .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle.  However, as the officer ran for cover behind his patrol vehicle, the gunman continued firing at him.  One of the offender’s rounds fatally struck the victim officer in the side of the head.  Responding officers then justifiably killed the 27-year-old offender, who had a prior criminal record that included drug violations and was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the incident.

Utah

A 41-year-old deputy sheriff with the Kane County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) was shot and killed at 3:20 p.m., August 26, during an ambush in Fredonia as he and other law enforcement officers were searching for a suspected armed burglar.  Earlier that afternoon, a man had broken into a local grade school.  When he was discovered by the school janitor, the man shot at the janitor, missed, then fled on foot.  Responding to a call about a man with a gun, KCSO deputies and Fredonia marshals organized a search team and began pursuing the suspect, who authorities believed had stolen a rifle from a residence the night before.  The deputies and the marshals went over a hill where the suspect was in position to ambush them.  The suspect fired one shot from a .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle that struck one of the deputies in the front of the head.  The victim deputy, who had 13 years’ law enforcement experience and was wearing body armor, died at the scene.  Law enforcement officers then exchanged gunfire with the suspect, and he shot a second deputy in the leg.  Additional officers from the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies responded and tracked the suspect to a cliff and set up a perimeter; however, the next morning a witness saw the suspect fleeing on foot with his weapon just north of the cliff.  In the early morning hours of August 30, members of the Salt Lake SWAT Team and deputies from the U.S. Marshals Service responded to a call about a potential burglar with a rifle outside a residence in Kanab.  Once the law enforcement authorities surrounded the suspect and identified themselves, the 23-year-old alleged shooter, a known drug user with a prior criminal record including violent crime, surrendered without further incident.  He was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder, two counts of Aggravated Assault, Burglary, and Theft.

Around 1 a.m. on January 5, a 37-year-old deputy sheriff with the Millard County Sheriff’s Department (MCSD) was killed during a felony traffic stop near Delta.  Minutes earlier, a sergeant with the MCSD had witnessed an illegal drug deal involving two men.  The sergeant pursued one of the men and requested that the veteran deputy sheriff, who had more than 5 years of law enforcement experience, follow the other man.  She pursued the individual and requested backup.  When the backup officers arrived about 3 minutes later, they found that the deputy had been shot twice with a 7.62x39 mm semiautomatic rifle.  Although the victim officer was wearing body armor, the ammunition exceeded the vest’s capabilities.  One of the rounds fatally penetrated the right chest area and stopped at the back panel of her body armor; the other shot was to her neck.  A third round missed the deputy.  Law enforcement agencies including the Salt Lake City Police SWAT Team, the Utah County Sheriff’s Department, the MCSD, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation provided tactical and investigative assistance.  In the early morning hours of January 6, a resident at a trailer park in Beaver, about 90 miles from the incident, saw the suspect sleeping in a shed and notified the Beaver County Sheriff’s Department.  Officers arrested the suspect without incident.  After his arrest, the suspect provided a full confession and furnished details about the incident.  The 37-year-old suspect said that he shot the victim deputy without warning as she approached his vehicle.  He then fled, disposing of his car near and the weapon, which law enforcement later recovered.  He traveled with an acquaintance to Salt Lake City, Provo, and Payson before stopping in Beaver.  The suspect, a known drug dealer with a prior criminal record including drug and weapons violations, was charged with Aggravated Murder.

 

ut incident.  After his arrest, the suspect provided a full confession and furnished details about the incident.  The 37-year-old suspect said that he shot the victim deputy without warning as she approached his vehicle.  He then fled, disposing of his car near and the weapon, which law enforcement later recovered.  He traveled with an acquaintance to Salt Lake City, Provo, and Payson before stopping in Beaver.  The suspect, a known drug dealer with a prior criminal record including drug and weapons violations, was charged with Aggravated Murder.