TENNESSEE A 48-year-old, 20-year veteran officer with the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department was shot and killed at approximately 9:30 a.m. on May 17 while attempting to serve warrants on a man and a woman. The officer was responding to an anonymous tip that two wanted suspects, a 23-year-old male and his 20-year-old female companion, both with outstanding warrants, were about to flee town to avoid arrest. The victim officer arrived at the apartment complex where the couple lived and waited for backup. After the officer repeatedly knocked at the door of the residence with no response, he attempted to open the door with a passkey provided by the maintenance manager, but the door was bolted from inside. A few moments later, the female answered the door and allegedly asked the officer and the detectives to wait outside while she dressed. When she let them enter, they placed her under arrest and proceeded to search the house. The two policemen found broken shelves and loose insulation in a bedroom closet. A trap door in the ceiling of the closet was discovered, leading to an attic where the male was hiding. After attempts to persuade him to come down failed, the victim officer, along with an additional uniformed officer, climbed into the attic and found a man armed with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun. The victim officer told him to lay down his weapon, and after some discussion, the man opened fire, striking both officers. One officer was struck in the knee and dove from the attic through the trap door. The victim officer was shot several times in the arms and hands, front upper torso, front lower torso, and back of the head. The male, who had exited the attic, continued to fire at the officers outside even though he had communicated that he wanted to surrender. Several officers, in an attempt to rescue the victim, entered the apartment to find the gunman in a bedroom reloading his weapon. After failing to disarm the assailant, the officers shot and killed him. The victim officer was
subsequently rescued from the attic and taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. On July 26 at approximately 3:15 a.m., the body of a 38-year-old patrol officer with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office was found near Memphis in her wrecked patrol vehicle. Earlier that morning, the victim officer, with 4 years’ law enforcement experience, had stopped a male and his female companion for a misdemeanor traffic violation. When a computer check indicated that the man was wanted on a violation of probation warrant, the victim officer, who was wearing body armor, along with an assisting deputy arrested him. Due to his large size, the man was placed in two sets of handcuffs before being searched. The prisoner was then placed in the victim officer’s patrol vehicle to be transported to the county jail. During the trip, he allegedly managed to produce a .38-caliber revolver and fire one shot to the back of the officer’s head. The vehicle veered off the roadway, struck a sign, and came to rest. After shooting through the rear passenger glass, the suspect exited the vehicle and then reportedly fired another round through the right front window, this time striking the left side of the victim’s face. Leaving the murder weapon in the vehicle, the assailant fled the scene with the officer’s service weapon and the key to his handcuffs. A 25-year-old suspect was apprehended later that day and charged with First-Degree Murder. TEXAS A senior agent with the United States Border Patrol assigned to the Eagle Pass station was fatally wounded on January 19 at approximately 10:40 p.m. The agent, with 8 years’ law enforcement service, was shot while attempting to arrest four illegal aliens who were allegedly smuggling drugs into the United States. During the arrest attempt, a physical confrontation allegedly between the
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