Officer Killed While Trying to Serve Papers

[northzax]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A New Orleans police officer, one of three people killed by gunfire at a home where she had gone to serve commitment papers, leaves behind a 10-year-old daughter, police chief Eddie Compass said Tuesday.

The police woman was Latoya Johnson, 27. Her assailant, killed by police, was identified as Chester Solomon, 38, whose family had said he was in need of psychiatric evaluation. Also dead was Sammy Sharrat, 55, a man police identified as Solomon's half brother. Police said they found Sharrat in a hallway with multiple gunshot wounds. It was unclear how or when he was shot.

"It's a sad, sad day, not just for the police department, but a 10-year-old will never know her mother," Compass said. The child's father is also deceased, he said

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1092140069135460.xml

god, if only she'd had a gun, she could have saved herself and the two other people before the police came.

[frankly_fedup2]

1. Possibly, but no one knows for sure. I live in a small town in the south

and one of our County Deputies went to serve truancy papers on a 14-year-old boy's parents. For some reason, when the kid saw who was at the door, he ran and got a gun and opened the door and shot the cop right in the chest.

The man did not even have time to think about pulling his gun. A senseless killing that ruined two families.

[ParanoidPat]

2. Ummm, did you forget the </sarcasm> tag......

.....or did you just not read the story you posted? :shrug:

Your comment makes no sense in the context of the story. You commented, "god, if only she'd had a gun, she could have saved herself and the two other people before the police came."

The story states that 3 people were "killed by gunfire", her (She was the POLICE OFFICER there to serve papers who I would think HAD a gun!) her assailant (shot by backup officers called by her partner AFTER she was killed.) and his half brother who was shot before police arrived.

The story also states that "two high-caliber weapons" were recovered at the scene. It would seem by the story that having high-caliber weapons in a home with a mentally unstable person might not be a good idea. But that's just my take on it. :(

[FeebMaster]

3. Actually

with regard to the half brother it says "Police said they found Sharrat in a hallway with multiple gunshot wounds. It was unclear how or when he was shot."

[ParanoidPat]

4. I read the WHOLE article and it goes on to say....

.....and I quote, "Some time before police arrived, Sharrat had been shot. Johnson was shot after she entered the house. She stumbled into the kitchen and was shot several more times.

Johnson's partner called for backup and officers who responded confronted Solomon in a bedroom and shot him, department spokesman Marlon Defillo said.

Did I misunderstand that sentence? :shrug: :evilgrin:

[FeebMaster]

5. I don't know.

I took it to mean he was shot after Johnson and her partner arrived but before the other police did. I guess it's somewhat unclear.

[iverglas]

7. maybe you forgot your sarcasm detector ;)

The "she" in

"god, if only she'd had a gun, she could have saved herself
and the two other people before the police came"

referred to the 10-year-old girl (not the police officer). Now, with the (not unreasonable) confusion sorted out: was it sarcastic? My bet is on "yes".

It would seem by the story that having high-caliber weapons in a home with a mentally unstable person might not be a good idea. But that's just my take on it.

I'd say it's any reasonable and decent person's take on it.

Unfortunately, no ten-year-old girl has much say over who gets to have such weapons in her home. Nor does the great USAmerican public seem to have much say in it, even though reasonable and decent persons might think the public could and should take some measures that could be expected to prevent some ten-year-old girls and cops from suffering such tragedies.

But down here in the dung heap, such reasonableness and decency often seem to be in short supply. And some do respond to their absence with sarcasm from time to time.

[Lefty48197]

6. Another mentally ill person with a gun in their hands

welcome to America

[CO Liberal]

8. Just Like Ted Nugent

A mentally ill person with a gun in his hands.

[TX-RAT]

9. I watched him on a hunt at the Y,O ranch last weekend.

What a fruit loop

[praxiz]

10. Poor girl.

Ten years old. No parents. You think she has a shot at Yale? Or running for president in 40 years?