2 Dekalb cops murdered

[Bones11b]

Just heard about this while at work.

http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=109621

Seems two off duty officers were killed today in Georgia.

 

[highfive]

Sad real sad. I really hope they get the SOB's...

 

[Polishrifleman]

Here is another link and the story. A lot of questions on this one. First off, we need to realize there are places where gunfire in public is the norm therefore no one will care if shots are fired. "Off Duty" means that they weren't working in direct capacity of the agency at the time but hired for security at an event or something and went to investigate something suspicious. And then you have Mr. Bolton missing a major point in that People are killing People with no sense of reprucussions.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22680938/

MSNBC.com


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 police officers slain in Ga.
Officers apparently ‘gunned down without a chance’ at DeKalb complex
The Associated Press
updated 5:34 a.m. PT, Wed., Jan. 16, 2008
DECATUR, Ga. - Two off-duty DeKalb County police officers were shot and killed in what appeared to be an ambush at an apartment complex early Wednesday, police said.

The two officers were investigating a suspicious person at the complex when shots rang out, DeKalb County Police Chief Terrell Bolton told The Associated Press.

Authorities were searching for two males seen running from the scene. Police set up a mobile crime unit and were using dogs and a helicopter to search for the suspects.

"We've got every able body looking for them," Bolton said.

Police were called to the scene around 12:40 a.m. and the arriving officers found the two officers down, Bolton said. One officer was dead at the scene. The other was later pronounced dead at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Bolton said.

Bolton said the shooting looked like an ambush.

"It just appeared that they were gunned down without a chance," he said.

‘We always hear shooting,’ resident says
Patreka Anderson, a resident of the complex, said she was awakened by the gunshots but did not think anything of it because it is a high-crime area with a lot of drug activity and prostitution.

"We always hear shooting," she said. "I didn't think that was any big deal."

Police closed off a mile-long section of the street in front of the complex and much of it was cordoned off with yellow tape as a crime scene investigators gathered evidence.

About a dozen school children from the complex and their parents waited to see if police would allow a school bus past the cordon in to pick them up.

The slain officers' names were not immediately released. Bolton said one was a two-year veteran and the other had been on the force for four years.

"It's a challenging day for us," Bolton said. "However, today's act of senseless violence is a display of what we're seeing around the country where people will shoot down a police officer without regard to any repercussions."


Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22680938/


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MSN Privacy . Legal
© 2008 MSNBC.com

 

[Travis McGee]

God bless the guys who, when there is bad trouble, have to go straight toward it.

Soldiers, cops, paramedics, firefighters.....

God bless em.

 

[Flyboy]

Y'know, I don't mean to trivialize their deaths, but I'm a little bit bothered by the Chief's reaction. No, murder shouldn't go unpunished, but these officers didn't lose their lives in the line of duty; they were acting as private security guards, on their own time.

I guess my disappointment is that I've never heard a chief say anything like "The sun's coming up. Before sundown, we're gonna find you." after a mere private citizen was murdered. And--true to his word--a suspect has already been arrested. How often do we see that kind of action when it's not an officer?

(And yes, as a pilot, it also pisses me off to see huge S&R efforts after people like JFK Jr. crash, but not when it's just a commoner. Guess I'm just crotchety that way.)

 

[Mikebnice]

One Arrested In Police Officer Murders

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/15059600/detail.html

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. -- Officials have arrested a 32-year-old man in the murders of two DeKalb County police officers. Police continue to look for other suspects.

Authorities have charged Herbie Deshawn Durham with two counts of murder. He was arrested Wednesday night.

Police launched a wide dragnet for at least two gunmen who shot and killed two DeKalb County police officers early Wednesday morning at a Glenwood Road apartment complex.

DeKalb Police Chief Terrell Bolton identified the officers as Eric Barker, 33, and 26-year-old Ricky Bryant Jr. Bryant was a two-year veteran of the department, and Barker worked there for four years.

A reward for information on the killings was announced by DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones. By Wednesday afternoon the fund had climbed to $55,000.

"We're gonna hunt 'em down," said Bolton during an afternoon news conference. "Of all the avenues I've gone down as police chief this one was the darkest and the toughest hour I've ever had."

The officers reportedly were off-duty, but in uniform working as security guards at the Glenwood Garden Apartments at 4371 Glenwood Road. Police said it appears they were checking out reports of a suspicious person at the apartments just after 12:30 a.m. when they were shot. Neither officer drew their weapon, according to investigators.

Police think at least two gunmen attacked the officers.

"They were ambushed," Bolton said during a news conference near the scene of the shootings. "I have never seen such brutality."

A tow truck driver called police to the scene around 12:40 a.m. and the arriving officers found the two officers down, according to Bolton


Officer Ricky Bryant Jr.


One of the officers died at the scene, the other on the way to the hospital and was declared dead at Grady Memorial Hospital, according to police officials.

Bolton said they were in their late 20s to early 30s and said they both were like sons to him.

He said one had two years experience and the other had four years.

Officers at the scene told WSB-TV Channel 2's Tiffani Reynolds that one of the officers has four children under 12-years-old.

"These police officers were heros," said DeKalb CEO Jones. "What happened to them was an outright cowardly act."

"We will not rest until the persons responsible for this are apprehended," added Jones.


Officer Eric Barker


Bolton is urging the suspects to turn themselves in.

"We're hurting right now," Bolton said. "But we'll get through this. We'll deal with it and we'll apprehend them."

More than 50 officers, including the DeKalb County SWAT team responded to the area.

A command center has been set up at a shopping center in the 4,000 block of Glenwood Road.

Commuters are advised to stay out of the area as police searching for the gunmen shut down some roads.

Schools in the area were on lockdown all day Wednesday during the police search. Those schools included: Columbia High, Towers High, Snapfinger Elementary, Atherton Elementary, Wadsworth Elementary and Glenhaven Elementary. Exterior doors at the schools were locked and movement in and out of the buildings was closely monitored.

Some school buses were rerouted during the search for the suspects.

Police have scheduled a 1:00 p.m. news conference at the scene of the shootings.

Bolton advised the men who shot the officers to turn themselves in. He said during a pre-dawn news conference, "The sun's coming up. Before sundown, we're gonna find you."