http://www.mysanantonio.com/expressnews/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=180&xlc=911632
4 officers recovering after shooting spree
By Karisa King, Elaine Aradillas and Jesse Bogan
Express-News Staff Writers
Web Posted : 01/04/2003 12:00 AM
In one of the most vicious attacks on police in recent years, a burly ex-convict turned a romantic dispute at a North Side diner into a shooting rampage that left four officers wounded with their own guns.
The gunman, Jamie Lichtenwalter, a 26-year-old parolee who had become jealous after seeing his girlfriend with another man, was killed outside the Denny's restaurant on Northeast Loop 410 by a rookie officer who had been shot four times.
"He ambushed all the officers, who weren't quite prepared for somebody quite that violent," Police Chief Albert Ortiz said at a morning news conference. "You never know when an explosion is going to occur. It changes not just from call to call, but from second to second."
The four policemen wounded by Lichtenwalter — Officers David Evans, Michael Muñiz and Nathan Murray and Detective John Bocko — are recovering at two area hospitals.
The shootings faintly reawakened some of the same questions about police safety and training surrounding the slayings of two officers two years ago.
"We will review again to see if anything needs to change in terms of tactics and strategies," Ortiz said.
Evans and Bocko arrived separately at the restaurant about 3:30 a.m. after Lichtenwalter's girlfriend told a manager to call police.
Evans, a 51-year-old patrolman with 25 years of experience, and Bocko, an evidence detective who happened to be nearby when the call came, believed they had quickly defused the argument. Lichtenwalter had voluntarily handed over his girlfriend's car keys.
But as the officers allowed him to leave the restaurant, his girlfriend whispered to one of the officers that Lichtenwalter, a former bouncer at several area strip clubs, might have a gun, police said.
At that point and without warning, Lichtenwalter whirled and punched Bocko in the jaw, breaking it in several places.
Witnesses told police Bocko fell to the floor "like a sack of potatoes," Ortiz said at the news conference.
Lichtenwalter, described by police as having arms as thick as tree trunks, then turned on Evans, knocked him to the ground and wrested the veteran officer's .40-caliber Glock. As Evans lay on the ground without his bullet-proof vest, Lichtenwalter stood and shot him three times — in the chest, stomach and arm, police spokesman Gabriel Trevino said.
The dozen or so diners in the restaurant ducked underneath tables. As several called 911, the police switchboard flashed with green and red lights.
By that time, Bocko was back on his feet, but he was dazed and stumbled through the restaurant. The gunman then started firing at him, and he was grazed by a bullet across his back.
"Wherever Bocko was bleeding, you could see the trail of gunfire following him," Ortiz said.
When Lichtenwalter ran out of bullets, he kicked and pistol-whipped Bocko with the empty Glock, Ortiz said.
Meanwhile, Evans staggered out of the restaurant. But Lichtenwalter was close behind — and now armed with Bocko's gun.
A desk clerk at the adjacent Econo Lodge said he was in the hotel lobby when Evans began banging on the front glass window.
"I could hear him pounding, just 'Bam, bam, bam,'" said Eric Detloff, the clerk.
Trevino said they were unsure when Lichtenwalter grabbed Bocko's gun.
"We feel he had already unloaded Evans' gun by the time he got to Bocko's gun," Trevino said.
Muñiz, 22 and fresh out of the training academy five months ago, and Murray, a North Side patrolman with eight years on the force, were next to arrive.
They spotted Evans in the parking lot and began helping him when Lichtenwalter opened fire.
A bullet pierced Murray's cheek. Muñiz was shot in the neck and three times in the leg. He managed to exchange gunfire with Lichtenwalter at close range. Lichtenwalter, who was shot at least six times, collapsed on top of Muñiz and died, authorities said.
When a group of backup officers arrived, Muñiz , too weakened to move, was still lying underneath the gunman.
"It would have been understandable if (Muñiz ) had backed up and hesitated, but he didn't," Ortiz said. "I certainly have to admire that individual."
From start to finish, the shootout lasted about five minutes, with Lichtenwalter firing more than two dozen rounds.
It was not his first brush with violence.
In March 1993, Lichtenwalter, then 16, fired a semiautomatic pistol at a group of youths milling around an E-Z Food Mart in Universal City. Edward Lee Escobedo, 18, was left paralyzed from his neck down and died several years later.
Universal City police Lt. Charles Dewey called that act a "cold-blooded random act of violence" and said Lichtenwalter did not know any of the victims.
Prosecuted as an adult, Lichtenwalter pleaded no contest to attempted murder and received a 12-year prison term. He was paroled in July 2001 after serving seven years.
"He showed no remorse whatsoever," Dewey recalled.
He lashed out at the decision to parole him.
"It's shocking they would let someone like that out of prison," Dewey said.
Since his release from prison, Lichtenwalter had been meeting regularly with his parole officer and abiding by the terms of his parole, said Bryan Collier, director of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice parole division.
Police said Lichtenwalter met his girlfriend, a 20-year-old stripper police did not name, while he worked as a bouncer at a local club. The two started dating in March. Though trouble soon surfaced in the relationship and Lichtenwalter erupted with periodic bouts of jealousy, his girlfriend told police he had never been violent with her.
About an hour before the shootout, Lichtenwalter spotted his girlfriend leaving the Far West Rodeo dance club with a female friend and another man. He followed the three for a short time, but lost them and returned to his North Side home on Foster Road, where he lived with his parents.
Under the pretense of needing a house key, Lichtenwalter called his girlfriend on her cell phone and lured her to his home, where he confronted her with a shotgun.
He forced her at gunpoint to return to the Denny's restaurant, where he began arguing with the man.
At an afternoon news conference, police officials seemed to anticipate the scrutiny and second-guessing that might come.
Police trainers will scrutinize the video captured by a surveillance camera at Denny's, Ortiz said at the news conference.
"They did the best they could with what was presented to them, and we just thank God that they're alive," Sgt. Andy Hernandez added.
At the San Antonio Police Academy, cadets practice protecting their holstered firearm in training exercises.
"It's a pretty grueling course they put them through," said retired police union president Jerry Clancy. "They put another man on you, and you have to keep your gun on you for two minutes."
He described the drill as a drag-out fight.
Trevino said weapon retention is taught throughout the 27-week training course for cadets. Periodically, the topic is taught in annual refresher courses for all officers.
After the night shift roll call around 3 p.m. at the North Side substation, 20-year police veteran Frank San Miguel said there was a somber mood among the ranks. He said supervisors urged the officers to wear their bullet resistant vests and to stay alert.
"A lot of the officers do get complacent, but this brings them back to reality," he said. The incident, he said, will make him tell himself at routine calls, "Hey, this is not just another call."
The 2001 killings of SWAT Officer John "Rocky" Riojas and Police Officer Hector Garza, who were alone when they were shot, prompted union officials to claim that a staffing shortage was endangering officers. Friday's shootout returned police administrators and union leaders to the issue.
"Anybody who says backup assures the safety of the officer doesn't know street police work at all," Ortiz said.
But police union President Rene Rodriguez repeated the argument.
"I think you can always claim that there's going to be certain isolated incidents where it doesn't really matter how many individuals you have, bad things are going to happen," Rodriguez said. "I think as a general rule, there is safety in numbers."
Cynthia Murray, the wife of Nathan Murray, said officers drove her to University Hospital, where her husband was being treated for his injuries. She talked to reporters outside the hospital, wearing her husband's wedding ring and a miniature badge with his number, 1290, on a chain around her neck.
As of late Friday afternoon, Nathan Murray was not speaking, but he acknowledged the presence of his family by wiggling his feet and hands. At one point, Cynthia Murray said, Jo Ann Murray, the officer's mother, told her son she loved him. In response, he held up his fingers in the American Sign Language sign for "I love you."
To donate to a benefit fund for the four officers, send donations to City Employees Federal Credit Union, Account #751800-S1.
[email protected]
Staff Writers Elaine Aradillas, John Tedesco, Jesse Bogan, Lisa Sandberg and Rebeca Rodriguez contributed to this report.
01/04/2003
4 officers recovering after shooting spree
By Karisa King, Elaine Aradillas and Jesse Bogan
Express-News Staff Writers
Web Posted : 01/04/2003 12:00 AM
In one of the most vicious attacks on police in recent years, a burly ex-convict turned a romantic dispute at a North Side diner into a shooting rampage that left four officers wounded with their own guns.
The gunman, Jamie Lichtenwalter, a 26-year-old parolee who had become jealous after seeing his girlfriend with another man, was killed outside the Denny's restaurant on Northeast Loop 410 by a rookie officer who had been shot four times.
"He ambushed all the officers, who weren't quite prepared for somebody quite that violent," Police Chief Albert Ortiz said at a morning news conference. "You never know when an explosion is going to occur. It changes not just from call to call, but from second to second."
The four policemen wounded by Lichtenwalter — Officers David Evans, Michael Muñiz and Nathan Murray and Detective John Bocko — are recovering at two area hospitals.
The shootings faintly reawakened some of the same questions about police safety and training surrounding the slayings of two officers two years ago.
"We will review again to see if anything needs to change in terms of tactics and strategies," Ortiz said.
Evans and Bocko arrived separately at the restaurant about 3:30 a.m. after Lichtenwalter's girlfriend told a manager to call police.
Evans, a 51-year-old patrolman with 25 years of experience, and Bocko, an evidence detective who happened to be nearby when the call came, believed they had quickly defused the argument. Lichtenwalter had voluntarily handed over his girlfriend's car keys.
But as the officers allowed him to leave the restaurant, his girlfriend whispered to one of the officers that Lichtenwalter, a former bouncer at several area strip clubs, might have a gun, police said.
At that point and without warning, Lichtenwalter whirled and punched Bocko in the jaw, breaking it in several places.
Witnesses told police Bocko fell to the floor "like a sack of potatoes," Ortiz said at the news conference.
Lichtenwalter, described by police as having arms as thick as tree trunks, then turned on Evans, knocked him to the ground and wrested the veteran officer's .40-caliber Glock. As Evans lay on the ground without his bullet-proof vest, Lichtenwalter stood and shot him three times — in the chest, stomach and arm, police spokesman Gabriel Trevino said.
The dozen or so diners in the restaurant ducked underneath tables. As several called 911, the police switchboard flashed with green and red lights.
By that time, Bocko was back on his feet, but he was dazed and stumbled through the restaurant. The gunman then started firing at him, and he was grazed by a bullet across his back.
"Wherever Bocko was bleeding, you could see the trail of gunfire following him," Ortiz said.
When Lichtenwalter ran out of bullets, he kicked and pistol-whipped Bocko with the empty Glock, Ortiz said.
Meanwhile, Evans staggered out of the restaurant. But Lichtenwalter was close behind — and now armed with Bocko's gun.
A desk clerk at the adjacent Econo Lodge said he was in the hotel lobby when Evans began banging on the front glass window.
"I could hear him pounding, just 'Bam, bam, bam,'" said Eric Detloff, the clerk.
Trevino said they were unsure when Lichtenwalter grabbed Bocko's gun.
"We feel he had already unloaded Evans' gun by the time he got to Bocko's gun," Trevino said.
Muñiz, 22 and fresh out of the training academy five months ago, and Murray, a North Side patrolman with eight years on the force, were next to arrive.
They spotted Evans in the parking lot and began helping him when Lichtenwalter opened fire.
A bullet pierced Murray's cheek. Muñiz was shot in the neck and three times in the leg. He managed to exchange gunfire with Lichtenwalter at close range. Lichtenwalter, who was shot at least six times, collapsed on top of Muñiz and died, authorities said.
When a group of backup officers arrived, Muñiz , too weakened to move, was still lying underneath the gunman.
"It would have been understandable if (Muñiz ) had backed up and hesitated, but he didn't," Ortiz said. "I certainly have to admire that individual."
From start to finish, the shootout lasted about five minutes, with Lichtenwalter firing more than two dozen rounds.
It was not his first brush with violence.
In March 1993, Lichtenwalter, then 16, fired a semiautomatic pistol at a group of youths milling around an E-Z Food Mart in Universal City. Edward Lee Escobedo, 18, was left paralyzed from his neck down and died several years later.
Universal City police Lt. Charles Dewey called that act a "cold-blooded random act of violence" and said Lichtenwalter did not know any of the victims.
Prosecuted as an adult, Lichtenwalter pleaded no contest to attempted murder and received a 12-year prison term. He was paroled in July 2001 after serving seven years.
"He showed no remorse whatsoever," Dewey recalled.
He lashed out at the decision to parole him.
"It's shocking they would let someone like that out of prison," Dewey said.
Since his release from prison, Lichtenwalter had been meeting regularly with his parole officer and abiding by the terms of his parole, said Bryan Collier, director of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice parole division.
Police said Lichtenwalter met his girlfriend, a 20-year-old stripper police did not name, while he worked as a bouncer at a local club. The two started dating in March. Though trouble soon surfaced in the relationship and Lichtenwalter erupted with periodic bouts of jealousy, his girlfriend told police he had never been violent with her.
About an hour before the shootout, Lichtenwalter spotted his girlfriend leaving the Far West Rodeo dance club with a female friend and another man. He followed the three for a short time, but lost them and returned to his North Side home on Foster Road, where he lived with his parents.
Under the pretense of needing a house key, Lichtenwalter called his girlfriend on her cell phone and lured her to his home, where he confronted her with a shotgun.
He forced her at gunpoint to return to the Denny's restaurant, where he began arguing with the man.
At an afternoon news conference, police officials seemed to anticipate the scrutiny and second-guessing that might come.
Police trainers will scrutinize the video captured by a surveillance camera at Denny's, Ortiz said at the news conference.
"They did the best they could with what was presented to them, and we just thank God that they're alive," Sgt. Andy Hernandez added.
At the San Antonio Police Academy, cadets practice protecting their holstered firearm in training exercises.
"It's a pretty grueling course they put them through," said retired police union president Jerry Clancy. "They put another man on you, and you have to keep your gun on you for two minutes."
He described the drill as a drag-out fight.
Trevino said weapon retention is taught throughout the 27-week training course for cadets. Periodically, the topic is taught in annual refresher courses for all officers.
After the night shift roll call around 3 p.m. at the North Side substation, 20-year police veteran Frank San Miguel said there was a somber mood among the ranks. He said supervisors urged the officers to wear their bullet resistant vests and to stay alert.
"A lot of the officers do get complacent, but this brings them back to reality," he said. The incident, he said, will make him tell himself at routine calls, "Hey, this is not just another call."
The 2001 killings of SWAT Officer John "Rocky" Riojas and Police Officer Hector Garza, who were alone when they were shot, prompted union officials to claim that a staffing shortage was endangering officers. Friday's shootout returned police administrators and union leaders to the issue.
"Anybody who says backup assures the safety of the officer doesn't know street police work at all," Ortiz said.
But police union President Rene Rodriguez repeated the argument.
"I think you can always claim that there's going to be certain isolated incidents where it doesn't really matter how many individuals you have, bad things are going to happen," Rodriguez said. "I think as a general rule, there is safety in numbers."
Cynthia Murray, the wife of Nathan Murray, said officers drove her to University Hospital, where her husband was being treated for his injuries. She talked to reporters outside the hospital, wearing her husband's wedding ring and a miniature badge with his number, 1290, on a chain around her neck.
As of late Friday afternoon, Nathan Murray was not speaking, but he acknowledged the presence of his family by wiggling his feet and hands. At one point, Cynthia Murray said, Jo Ann Murray, the officer's mother, told her son she loved him. In response, he held up his fingers in the American Sign Language sign for "I love you."
To donate to a benefit fund for the four officers, send donations to City Employees Federal Credit Union, Account #751800-S1.
[email protected]
Staff Writers Elaine Aradillas, John Tedesco, Jesse Bogan, Lisa Sandberg and Rebeca Rodriguez contributed to this report.
01/04/2003
:banghead:
