This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Crime

  • Kurt Myers dead in Herkimer

    So, Myers is dead finally, but he took out a dog in the process. My question is how Multicam was at all appropriate for police in this situation;

    To me, the only reason police would wear multicam military uniforms (by the way, Multicam camouflage patterned uniform is only used by US troops while they’re in Afghanistan – they are generally not authorized to wear it except immediately before or after the deployment) is for intimidation – those two snipers in the video are no more concealed as a result of their uniform than the officers standing in the street in their blue uniforms.

    I’ve been sensitive about this since I first moved to DC and saw Metro cops on patrol in OD or black jungle fatigues and it just seems out of place in this country – more appropriate in third world countries where law enforcement and military lines blur.

  • Standoff continues in Herkimer, NY

    According to local news, Herkimer law enforcement continues to engage with 64-year-old Kurt Myers on Main Street. Here’s some video of the action yesterday as Myers, who is barricaded in a building kept police away;

    Earlier in the night, a police robot was sent into the building, and later on tactical units could be seen entering and exiting the building. Police helicopters also were used throughout the day.

    Repeated attempts to reach Myers on a cell phone went unanswered, police said.

    It must be frustrating to have all of that electronic equipment, body armor, high-powered weapons, armored vehicles, the toughest gun laws in the country and still be subservient to the whims of a single 64-year-old with a shotgun.

    I can appreciate that they want to take him alive, but, ya know, ya reach a point where he’s made a decision how it’s going to end.

    According to police, Myers’ only arrest was for a drunk driving charge in 1973. Neighbors describe him as “an odd little man”, according to the Albany Times Union;

    Traci Randall said the only time she remembers speaking to her next-door neighbor was when he yelled at her son because he thought he had shot an air pellet at his Jeep.

    “He would walk by himself. He was kind of a loner. No wife,” she said.

    Neighbors said he never had visitors or friends. Gary Urich said Myers wouldn’t even say much as ‘Hi’ to him when walking by his porch.

  • Another Humpday feel good story

    Michael Oliva walked into a bank in Trimble, MO thinking that his toy gun would score him some big bucks, instead, he was shot in the face by a bank employee who happened to have a concealed carry permit, according to the Washington Times;

    Mr. Olivia pointed the “gun” at a bank employee and demanded she empty her teller drawer. Not knowing the gun was fake, she dropped to the floor and began crawling toward another bank employee shouting for help.

    The suspect pointed the fake gun toward the employee on the floor when another employee heard the cries. He retrieved his Smith & Wesson .357 revolver and fired two rounds at Mr. Olivia, hitting him once in the jaw.

    Oliva fled the scene trailing blood, jumped in his car and tried to flee, but he didn’t get far according to the Kansas City Star;

    After police used spike strips to stop the vehicle, a wounded Oliva emerged from the Dodge Stratus. His dispirited words to officers, recorded in the court papers, summed up the afternoon: “You guys going to let me die?”

    They shoulda.

  • Humpday feel good story

    WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather

    Let’s start Wednesday with a feel good story about Sue Johnson, a retired widow who opened her door to find 26-year-old Nathaniel Leatherwood, the man who had ransacked her home earlier standing there with a stick (WRBCTV);

    “So I just pulled my gun out of my pocket and said I’m calling the sheriff’s office,” Johnson explains. “They’re going to come pick you up. I’m not going to let this happen to an old, retired lady who lives alone.”

    Sheriff Keith Lovin arrived on scene, relieved Sue was not harmed.

    “I hugged her neck and told her she’s my hero,” says Sheriff Lovin.

    Just a few weeks earlier, the sheriff taught a gun safety course at Sue’s church.

    He says all citizens should be prepared.

    “A medical emergency or whether it’s a fire, whether it’s an intruder, whether it’s a natural disaster, I think sometimes citizens sometimes get complacent,” says Sheriff Lovin.

    “Especially if you are a widow and live alone, you need to be taught to shoot and have something in your house to protect yourself,” says Johnson.

    Apparently, young Leatherwood picked the wrong county to become a criminal in.

  • Karma stops burglar

    Chief Tango sends us a link to the story of Salem Oregon’s 19 year-old Genaro Hernandez Mendoza who burglarized a couple of homes, from the second one he stole a shotgun and what the news folks call an AR-15 rifle. He loaded his ill-gotten booty into a stolen vehicle and started to make his escape from the crime scene, when fate took a hand;

    Det. Williams with the Polk County Sheriff’s Department tells KOIN 6 News that they believe a piece of the shotgun was caught in the trigger area of the AR-15. While crossing the field the truck hit a bump causing the weapon to fire once striking and killing Mendoza.

    Farm workers found the truck and Mendoza Sunday morning with the engine still running and the truck in drive.

    So, I guess the Left was right, guns do kill people. If it wasn’t for those guns running around loose, Mendoza would still be alive enjoying the fruits of someone else’s labors. The shotgun and the rifle were probably engaged in some sort of horseplay and killed poor Genaro, the victim of someone’s carelessness.

  • Sunday morning feel good story

    In Hickory, NC, early Saturday morning, Paul Ohle was in a fight for his life when another man kicked in his front door. Ohle reached for his phone to call police, but the man knocked it from his hands. Next, Ohle reached for his shotgun, but the intruder wrenched it from his hands and began beating him with the long gun. Ohle had a revolver in his bedroom and finally got to it and ventilated the burglar;

    Ohle said he finally broke free and ran to his bedroom, where he grabbed a revolver and shot the man to death.

    “I hate I had to do it,” he said, “but I shot him.”

    Hickory Police have not released the alleged intruder’s name, saying they haven’t notified his family yet. They haven’t said whether charges could be filed in the case.

    Ohle said police took him to the hospital, and also searched his home and took his gun and cell phone as evidence.

    Neighbor Reggie Moore saw police at Ohle’s house, and heard what happened.

    “I hate it for the young man’s family,” he said, “but when you do something like that, you get what’s coming to you.”

    Thanks to Chief Tango for the link.

  • Feel good Thursday

    UpNorth sends us two links to make you make you feel good on this cold-ass day. The first from Lansing, MI in which a woman defends her family from a misled youth;

    It happened around midnight when an Ingham County woman opened fire on an intruder at her home on the 4200 block of West Holt Road, a few blocks from Cedar Street in Holt.

    The suspect was male and was shot multiple times. He had injuries to his stomach as well as his hands.

    Inside the home were a woman, man, and four children. At this time officials tell us that no one else in the home was hurt.

    In the second, an elderly Dallas man permanently ventilates an intruder and then has to defend himself again from the deceased man’s family;

    The homeowner, a repeat burglary victim, found 33-year-old Deyfon Pipkins attempting to climb in the house through the window and fired at least one shot at the criminal, hitting his target.

    Dallas police Sgt. Calvin Johnson told KDFW-TV that the homeowner is covered by the so-called “Castle Doctrine,” which provides legal protection to gun owners in Texas and other states who are forced to use deadly force against a home intruder.

    “It means they don’t actually have to retreat once someone comes in their home,” Johnson said. “You have the option of using deadly force if you believe your life is in danger.

    Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com

    Now, the last chapter of the 18-page criminal history of Deyfon Pipkins has been written thanks to a citzen who had been burglarized one too many times. Is my TV worth your life?

  • FBI thwarts school murders

    Amanda Bowden

    The Washington Times reports that the FBI stopped a woman whose intention was to fire bomb and shoot up a community college to wipe out a number of her classmates;

    Amanda Bowden, 19, was taken into custody and accused of threatening to go on a Newtown-style killing spree at Gateway Community College, NBC reported. The reference is to the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, during which 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six adults, before committing suicide.

    “As alleged, this defendant made a series of threats that described in great detail her intention to carry out a suicidal mass murder at a community college in New Havem” said U.S. Attorney David Fein, in the NBC report.

    According to NBC;

    Bowden claimed to have guns and claimed that she had constructed at least two napalm-based bombs at her home in East Haven, according to [U.S. Attorney David] Fein.

    The FBI and New Haven police chief Dean Esserman notified Gateway Community College President Dorsey Kendrick about the threats on Feb. 5, according to a school spokesperson.

    “Chief Esserman and GCC security had been contacted by the FBI, and were told that there was no imminent danger as a result of the post, but an investigation was underway,” said Evelyn Gard. “The chief requested that Dr. Kendrick and GCC security keep the matter confidential until the investigation was complete.”

    The photo at the NBC link shows her with a revolver – I guess we should get those out of the hands of women, too. Well, unless it’s a single action which is slower to load and fire.