4 dead, including gunman, in Aurora, Colorado

Police: 4 dead, including gunman, in Aurora, Colo., hostage situation
By NBC News staff
Updated at 12:45 p.m. ET:

Three people were found dead inside a home in Aurora, Colo., after a gunman took them hostage early Saturday morning, police told NBC affiliate KUSA. The gunman was also shot and killed by police after hours of failed negotiation attempts.

Another person who had been inside the house was able to escape and alert authorities, KUSA reported.

Officers were called to a town home around 3 a.m. after reports of shots fired. Several nearby homes were evacuated for safety reasons and police sent out emergency notifications for the other residents in the area.
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UPDATE

Four dead in hostage-taking in Aurora, Colorado
By Keith Coffman
AURORA, Colo.
Sat Jan 5, 2013

(Reuters) - Four people, including the gunman, were dead following a hostage-taking incident on Saturday in Aurora, Colorado, the same town where a man shot dead 12 people and wounded 58 more in a movie theater last July, police told reporters.

After nearly six hours of failed negotiations, police killed the gunman as he opened fire on them through a second-story window of a townhouse where he had barricaded himself, said Aurora police spokeswoman Cassidee Carlson.

It was unclear from police and media reports whether officers entered the home or shot the man through the window. KUSA television reported that he was killed after police fired tear gas and entered the home, where they found three more bodies.

The victims were believed to be related to the gunman, Carlson said.
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Latest UPDATE

Four dead in townhouse shooting in Aurora, Colorado
Sat Jan 5, 2013 5:26pm

About an hour later, the gunman began firing at police again from a second-floor window, and police returned fire, killing the suspect, according to a police statement following the incident. No police were wounded.

Brevard event will recognize those lost in, following 9/11 attack

Brevard event will recognize those lost in, following 9/11 attack
Sep 10, 2012
Written by
Andrew Ford
FLORIDA TODAY

Those who lost their lives responding to the World Trade Center on 9/11 and in the resulting wars will be remembered Tuesday with an event in Wickham Park — a centralized effort by several groups in Brevard County.

“We feel that these cops and firemen and military people who gave their lives in the rescue attempts should be honored and remembered just like Pearl Harbor,” said Patrick Moynihan, organizer of the memorial.

He is a past president of the 10-13 Club of Brevard County, an organization of law enforcement officers that is sponsoring the event.

The memorial will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a flag ceremony, including color guards from Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, 10-13 Club, Sea Cadets and Brevard retirees of the Fire Department of the City of New York. Brevard Police and Fire Pipes and Drums also will perform.

Attendees will hear from four speakers representing the police officers, firefighters, military personnel and civilians who lost their lives.
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Phoenix police officer fatally shot

Phoenix police officer fatally shot
By BOB CHRISTIE (AP) – 6 hours ago

PHOENIX — A Phoenix police officer shot and killed early Wednesday while investigating a suspicious vehicle was a 29-year-old married father of two young children, authorities said.

Officer Travis Murphy's wife had given birth just two weeks ago to the couple's second child, police spokesman Sgt. Trent Crump said.

Murphy and his partner were first on the scene of a call where neighbors reported someone hit a parked car and was trying to hide a Ford Mustang in the carport of a vacant home. The officers got out of their patrol vehicle and split up in search of a suspect.

Moments later, shots were fired and Murphy's partner found him mortally wounded. Fellow officers put him in a police vehicle and sped him to a nearby hospital, but he was pronounced dead.
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Phoenix police officer fatally shot

Ian Deutch survived a recent tour of duty in Afghanistan but killed as a cop in Nevada

National guard commander sees tragic irony in Nevada deputy's slaying after Afghanistan tour


KEN RITTER

Associated Press Writer

April 27, 2010 5:35 p.m.


LAS VEGAS (AP) — Ian Deutch survived a recent tour of duty in Afghanistan, identifying Taliban targets for artillery strikes. But he didn't make it through his second day back on the job as a rural Nevada sheriff's deputy.

Deutch was gunned down Monday by a man wielding an assault rifle in a casino parking lot about 60 miles west of Las Vegas. The death of the decorated Nevada Army National Guardsman and law enforcement veteran left those who knew him stunned Tuesday.

"The irony of spending a year overseas in a combat zone and then to come back and have this happen is, you know, tragic," said Lt. Col. Scott Cunningham, a Las Vegas resident and commanding officer of Deutch's guard unit.

Deutch, 27, a staff sergeant, and his older brother, Richard Deutch, a master sergeant, were among 752 soldiers with the 1st Squadron, 221st Calvary who returned home in March. Some members of the Wildhorse squadron suffered casualties but none was killed during their assignment in Afghanistan's Laghman province.



Ian Deutch was a meritorious service medal winner, a squad leader and a forward artillery observer who identified Taliban targets for artillery strikes outside combat outpost Nagil, Cunningham said.

"He's one of those guys, his full-time job is a police officer and his part-time job is a soldier," Cunningham told The Associated Press. "He's always been out there trying to help people and make a contribution to society.
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National guard commander sees tragic irony

PTSD I Grieve

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 11, 2009

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Officer shot in head at point-blank range

Officer shot in head at point-blank range
Houston Chronicle - United States
By BRIAN ROGERS and JENNIFER LATSON
Dec. 9, 2008, 11:14PM


People shivered under umbrellas in a dark parking lot Tuesday night to pay respects to Houston police officer Timothy Abernethy, whose death was described in a courtoom earlier in the day as a cold-blooded killing.

Abernethy was shot Sunday morning after a traffic stop led to a chase on foot through a troubled northwest Houston apartment complex. Prosecutors allege that 28-year-old Mabry Joseph Landor III, out of prison on parole, shot the policeman three times, knocking him to the ground, and then walked over and shot the officer once more in the head from point-blank range.

Tuesday night, church leaders arranged a flashlight vigil at the complex, Luxor Park, in Abernethy's honor. More than 100 people attended, including about 20 police officers, despite blustery wind and rain. Most of the others were Luxor Park residents, among them the handful who tried to help Abernethy in his final moments. They hoped the vigil would help improve relations between complex residents and the Houston Police Department, which they said was marred by mistrust on both sides.

In a court hearing Tuesday morning, Harris County Assistant District Attorney Craig Goodhart told a judge that Landor led Abernethy on a chase through the complex, then turned and fired three shots that wounded the officer, knocking him down near the apartment playground.

Goodhart said witnesses saw Landor walk up to the stricken officer and shoot him in the head while he lay on the ground.

When Landor was questioned Sunday, he told police that his gun had fired accidentally after he tripped and fell, the prosecutor added. Landor made his brief court appearance Tuesday in handcuffs, clad in a yellow jumpsuit that signifies high-risk prisoners in the Harris County Jail, where he is being held without bail.

State District Judge Michael McSpadden appointed attorneys Chuck Hinton and Kenneth Goode to represent Landor. He then granted their request that he prohibit police from trying to question Landor further about the incident. Hinton declined to comment on the case.

A spokesman for the Harris County Medical Examiner's office said Abernethy died from gunshot wounds to the head and neck. Chief Investigator Beverly Begay said there was no indication that Abernethy had been wounded in the torso, arms or legs.

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Houston Police Officer Killed After Traffic Stop

Suspect held in HPD death

RICHARD STEWART and MIKE GLENN
Dec. 7, 2008, 7:02PM
A Houston Police Department officer died this morning after being shot during a traffic stop in northwest Houston.

Police have taken a "person of interest" into custody.

"We believe we have our man," said HPD Captain Bruce Williams.

The shooting occurred about 8:40 a.m. at an apartment complex in the 6000 block of West Sunforest at West Tidwell. The officer was taken to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center.

Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said the officer was an 11-year veteran.

The officer stopped the man in a routine traffic stop. The suspect jumped out and ran into a nearby apartment complex, the Luxor Apartments, Hurtt said. When the officer pursued, the man turned around and shot him several times, said Hurtt.

The fire department took the officer to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

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also



Officers mourn loss of colleague

Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt makes a statement at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center after an HPD officer was killed Sunday.


Officer fatally shot during traffic stop in NW Houston —During a routine traffic stop, the suspect jumped out and ran into an apartment complex, HPD Chief Harold Hurtt said. When the officer pursued, the man turned around and shot him, Hurtt said