Police cadet, security guard are heroes of Wal-Mart shootout
Associated Press
UKIAH, Calif. - A 16-year-old police cadet and an unarmed Wal-Mart employee were hailed as quick-thinking heroes after they intervened in a bloody parking lot gunfight and helped a wounded police officer who was able to shoot and kill his attacker as the man searched for more weapons.
Had the cadet and the store employee failed to act, the officer might have been killed, perhaps along with other people in the crowded parking lot, Ukiah police Sgt. John McCutcheon said Sunday in providing more details of the Friday night shootout.
"We were very, very lucky that nobody else got shot," McCutcheon said.
Painting a picture of calm bravery by the teen-age cadet and the store employee, neither of whose names were released, McCutcheon provided the following account of the gunfight in this small town 100 miles north of San Francisco.
The incident began about 9 p.m. Friday after police Sgt. Marcus Young arrested a woman for allegedly attempting to return stolen merchandise at the Wal-Mart.
Young had placed the woman in his patrol car when he was approached by her boyfriend, Neal Allen Beckman, 35, who has a long arrest history and was wanted for an outstanding felony warrant.
Beckman drew a knife and gun and began shooting at Young, emptying his five-shot revolver and hitting the officer several times, including in the face and neck.
The Wal-Mart employee, a plain-clothes security guard assigned to prevent shoplifting, saw the attack and rushed up to grab Beckman, who stabbed him. Although he had time to flee, Beckman then entered the patrol car in an apparent attempt to get Young's shotgun and rifle.
Shot in the shoulder and knocked to the ground, Young was unable to move his right arm to pull his handgun. But the police cadet, who was accompanying Young on his shift, was able to pull the weapon from its holster and hand it to the wounded officer.
Lying on the ground, Young then shot Beckman, who later died at a local hospital.
Young, 40, and the stabbed Wal-Mart employee are both expected to recover from their injuries, McCutcheon said. Neither the cadet nor the arrested woman were injured.
The cadet, a student at Ukiah High School, was the police department's Cadet of the Year last year, McCutcheon said.
"Certainly this will put him in the running again," he said.
Associated Press
UKIAH, Calif. - A 16-year-old police cadet and an unarmed Wal-Mart employee were hailed as quick-thinking heroes after they intervened in a bloody parking lot gunfight and helped a wounded police officer who was able to shoot and kill his attacker as the man searched for more weapons.
Had the cadet and the store employee failed to act, the officer might have been killed, perhaps along with other people in the crowded parking lot, Ukiah police Sgt. John McCutcheon said Sunday in providing more details of the Friday night shootout.
"We were very, very lucky that nobody else got shot," McCutcheon said.
Painting a picture of calm bravery by the teen-age cadet and the store employee, neither of whose names were released, McCutcheon provided the following account of the gunfight in this small town 100 miles north of San Francisco.
The incident began about 9 p.m. Friday after police Sgt. Marcus Young arrested a woman for allegedly attempting to return stolen merchandise at the Wal-Mart.
Young had placed the woman in his patrol car when he was approached by her boyfriend, Neal Allen Beckman, 35, who has a long arrest history and was wanted for an outstanding felony warrant.
Beckman drew a knife and gun and began shooting at Young, emptying his five-shot revolver and hitting the officer several times, including in the face and neck.
The Wal-Mart employee, a plain-clothes security guard assigned to prevent shoplifting, saw the attack and rushed up to grab Beckman, who stabbed him. Although he had time to flee, Beckman then entered the patrol car in an apparent attempt to get Young's shotgun and rifle.
Shot in the shoulder and knocked to the ground, Young was unable to move his right arm to pull his handgun. But the police cadet, who was accompanying Young on his shift, was able to pull the weapon from its holster and hand it to the wounded officer.
Lying on the ground, Young then shot Beckman, who later died at a local hospital.
Young, 40, and the stabbed Wal-Mart employee are both expected to recover from their injuries, McCutcheon said. Neither the cadet nor the arrested woman were injured.
The cadet, a student at Ukiah High School, was the police department's Cadet of the Year last year, McCutcheon said.
"Certainly this will put him in the running again," he said.
