I just heard from WCNC that a suspect by the name of Demeatrius Montgomery has been charged in the shooting deaths of Charlotte-Mecklenburg officers Sean Clark and Jeffrey Shelton.
I’ll post more as soon as details become available.
UPDATE: News link here.
Two police officers killed; No arrests made yet:
It’s no secret that I live in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. It’s also no secret that I’m a big supporter of the police since I come from a family of decorated police officers. So it broke my heart when I read the local paper this morning that two officers from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department were killed in the line of duty overnight.
Officers Sean Clark and Jeffrey Shelton responded to a disturbance call at the Timber Ridge Apartments on Barrington Drive near Milton Road and East W.T. Harris Boulevard. Both officers were shot while struggling with a suspect. Neither officer had fired their weapons. Both died later at Carolinas Medical center.
CMPD says that no one has been charged in the slayings, but they are interviewing people of interest. Also, they are looking for two men, but descriptions have not been released. CMPD will be holding a press conference at 5pm EDT.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the friends, families, and colleagues of Officers Shelton and Clark.
Keyes’ organ donation legacy gets signed into law:
The governor of Colorado signed a bill into law yesterday that extended the state’s organ donation project for another 10 years.
The law also named the program the Emily Keyes Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Fund after the only fatal victim in the Platte Canyon High School shooting. According to the article, her donated corneas restored the sight of a man in my own state of North Carolina.
At least something good was able to come out of a pointless tragedy.
New Amish school to open after shooting:
On Monday, a new school for the Amish children of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania will open.
The new school replaces the one where Charles Carl Roberts barricaded himself inside and shot many of the students inside, killing several before turning the gun on himself.
The new school has been aptly named The New Hope Amish School.
Teacher due in court still using MySpace site:
A teacher from Rialto High School in San Bernardino, California is still using his MySpace to communicate with students even though he’s facing criminal charges.
31-year-old Matthew Cepican was found with a 16-year-old student from Rialto High in his car in what the article describes as a remote area. He’s been charged with suspicion of committing lewd or lascivious acts with a minor. The age of consent in California is 18.
Meanwhile, Cepican has continued to post on MySpace.com, a popular online networking site, and former and current students have sent him messages of support.
On March 3, an 18-year-old man from Rialto who said he didn’t care what was said about his teacher posted this message: “sup mr.C & you still the downest teacher i had & .”
High school students said that Cepican was popular, laid back, young and hip and that they could use slang with him.
In a blog dated March 20, Cepican wrote, “I miss you all more than I can say. You got me through the toughest years of my life and owe all my dreams and success to you.
“My greatest reward ain’t some stupid recognition from my peers. My greatest reward is your love and respect. I will never forget you … .”
Thank God he’s not the English teacher.
Man Arrested For Nude Pics Of Girls On MySpace:
Another creep arrested for MySpace misdeeds. The subject in question is one Kevin Dale Pierce from the City of Angels. The 33-year-old Pierce was arrested for convincing teenage girls to send him nude pictures of themselves. Several external hard drives were found when police searched his house. How many girls did he contact top have that many hard drives? Pierce claimed to be a 19-year-old art student from UCLA.
The investigation started in January, when a Temecula resident reported that her 14-year-old daughter was swapping notes with someone who claimed to be a 19-year-old art student at UCLA, DeLuna said.
The two started an online relationship last November and, after several weeks, established a bond of trust, according to the sergeant. The suspect persuaded the girl to send photos of herself in various stages of undress, purportedly for an art project, DeLuna said.
The girl’s mother noticed her daughter’s computer screen and read messages from the suspect asking for additional pictures in varied poses, DeLuna said.
The woman told a deputy that the e-mail she spotted was from someone who called himself “kev pie” and thanked the girl for pictures she had sent him, according to an affidavit for a search warrant.
The e-mailer then requested that the girl send some more snapshots and wrote, “Is there any way you can also take the exact same angles, straight from behind and from the 45 degree side … but on the floor instead of standing? so I can draw the legs and the body bent in shape,” the affidavit states.
The mother did not know what the e-mail referred to and asked her daughter about it.
The girl later told investigators that she informed the person she was corresponding with that she was 14 years old. She told detectives that she and the suspect began chatting on “I Chat” after meeting on MySpace.com, according to the affidavit.
Investigators tracked down Pierce’s ISP address, accessed his MySpace account and determined he was actually 33 and that he had been communicating with at least 10 other girls, persuading them to send nude photos of themselves, police allege.
The best part is Pierce’s explanation.
“He seemed pretty eager to try to clear his name,” DeLuna said, adding that Pierce told them he did not believe he was breaking the law as long as he did not meet the girls in person.
I would love to have seen the cops’ faces when he told them that.
I could not find a definitive MySpace for Pierce.
Do you remember last year when I posted about this dumbass from Hilton Head who got into hot water for calling in threats to a local high school? Well, the dumbass has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year served.
Michael Hatcher Cochrane, 24, formerly of Hilton Head Island, was sentenced to one year in prison. Because he already had served 13 months in the Beaufort County jail awaiting trial, he has been released. He will be on probation for the next five years.
Cochrane had been held in the county jail on a $1.22 million bond since his arrest Feb. 14, 2006. In October, an inmate stabbed a pen through his nose, according to his court-appointed attorney Dudley Ruffalo. His attacker was charged with high-and-aggravated assault and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Cochrane now is staying with his family at their new home in Jasper County and must meet regularly with a mental health counselor. As a condition of his sentence, Cochrane will serve 10 years in state prison if he violates probation.
The charges stem from eight phone calls Cochrane made to Hilton Head Middle School and 911 between Jan. 5 and Jan. 20, 2006.
Cochrane claimed to have planted bombs that would kill or injure teachers at the school and threatened to shoot all of the school’s students, arrest warrants stated.
Most of the calls were made from a courtesy phone on the 17th hole of the Sea Marsh Course in Sea Pines, where Cochrane lived.
Sheriff P.J. Tanner said the calls were detailed, graphic and reminiscent of the Columbine basement tapes, videotapes in which the two students involved in the April 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., discussed their plans.
Tanner said Cochrane made the calls to try to improve his relationship with his then 14-year-old brother, who was a student at the middle school. Investigators said Michael Cochrane thought his younger brother would be impressed and glad that he didn’t have to go to school.
I bet his brother is really impressed now that he’s an ex-con.
Principal says ‘extra step’ not taken before stabbing:
Yesterday, the principal of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School and the superintendent said at a school board meeting that the school psychologist who confiscated a knife from John Odgren then gave it back at the end of the day should have reported it to authorities. You don’t say.
John M. Ritchie told the school board in a meeting last night that he didn’t think that there was “flagrant neglect, disregard for the welfare of the school, or irresponsible ignoring of school policy.”
Still, he said, “Some additional effort had to be made that wasn’t made to determine whether this was a pattern, to call it to someone’s attention, to determine whether it was completely innocent.”
“That was where people did not execute reasonable expectation on my part,” Ritchie said. “I think that in a school setting with safety being of paramount concern to us, an extra step had to be taken.”
Ritchie did not single out any school staff, and he declined to say whether disciplinary action would be taken, citing confidentiality.
If that school employee doesn’t lose his or her job, then there’s seriously something wrong with that school system.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s report on the Platte Canyon High School hostage crisis and shooting can be viewed or downloaded here. (.pdf file)
It’s just basically a more detailed description of what we already knew. That this was a random act of destruction carried out by a sick individual.
Keyes family statement regarding CBI report on the Platte Canyon High School shooting:
The parents of Emily Keyes, the lone victim fatality in the Platte-Canyon High School siege, have released a statement about the CBI’s report on how the police handled the situation. Normally, I don’t like to post whole articles, but this is something that needs to be read and if the Rocky Mountain News page expires, I’d think it should be out in the public longer.
For some it may be difficult to accept. The right actions at the right time by the right people may not have the right outcome. When what we hoped for didn’t happen, some may want to find fault. But there is no fault to be found in the command decisions made given the information and behavior presented. There is no fault to be found in the courage and speed of their response.
From our family, there is only respect. Our review of the CBI report confirms this belief.
Tonight our family met with Sheriff Fred Wegner, agents of the CBI and other officials to review the summary report, being released tomorrow, March 27th, regarding the events of September 27th.
Our family read the summary and viewed other materials being released.
A tough read: but still reaffirming.
Law enforcement and school administration did all of the right things.
Law enforcement response, not just to the school but to the classroom was around 3 minutes from the first 911 call.
The kids at the school were on top of things also. Several were on their way to the office to report a stranger in their midst, before the first shot was fired.
There were seven heroes in that room. And a coward with a gun. The Awesome Six are still with us. Please respect their grace, beauty and privacy as these young women continue with their lives. It is OK to let some details of that day fade.
In the months since Emily was killed, some extraordinary good has occurred. And that is Emily’s legacy. Random and Deliberate Acts of Kindness continue to occur. The community of Bailey is a little more tight knit. And sometimes it feels like our town lines extend shore to shore.
When we remember September 27th, it’s the text message Emily sent: “I love u guys.” It is our hope that’s the message you remember as well.
We ask the Press that, if possible, during the upcoming coverage of this report you don’t highlight the actions of a deranged gunman. His name doesn’t need to be mentioned; it is there enough in the report.
The best people did the best of things. The outcome could have been far more grave. We as a family know this and appreciate this.
Real life doesn’t always have a happy ending.
John-Michael, Ellen and Casey Keyes
The CBI report should be out later today.