Posted on 01/04/2004 5:03:45 AM PST by MrSpencer
Farron Barksdale was smiling Friday as a photographer snapped his picture just moments after Barksdale gunned down two Athens police officers with an assault rifle.
His smile served only to thicken the aura of mystery surrounding his actions that balmy afternoon and offered no answers to the question on everyone's lips: Why?
Why did Barksdale call 911 from his mother's home and request police assistance? Why did he lie in wait for officers, shooting them so many times he had to change the clip in the rifle?
Why was the mentally ill Barksdale able to buy an assault rifle for about $100?
What was going through his mind that day?
Family, friends and co-workers of two slain officers, Sgt. Larry Russell and Officer Tony Mims, may never know the answers to those questions.
But Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely, heading the investigation, said Barksdale is a paranoid schizophrenic who has been committed to mental hospitals in the past and has also abused drugs.
Barksdale told authorities he had begun drinking vodka Thursday night and continued drinking through the morning Friday.
Once in custody, Barksdale admitted he was suicidal, Blakely said.
"He indicated he knew he messed up," the sheriff said. "He said he'd been suicidal. I asked if he just didn't have enough courage to kill himself and thought maybe an officer would shoot him and he said the thought had crossed his mind."
Blakely said Barksdale also claimed he fired "a couple of rounds" outside a window of his mother's Horton Street home before the officers arrived, perhaps hoping a neighbor would hear and report him before he could complete his plan.
Police Capt. Marty Bruce said some officers on the force knew of Barksdale, who had a minor criminal record. But Bruce does not feel Barksdale had a grudge against police.
"I just don't think that was the case," he said. Barksdale's previous arrests were in 2000 for third-degree assault and resisting arrest and in 2002 for disorderly conduct.
'They never had a chance'
Law officers agree that Russell and Mims could not have anticipated what awaited them and no amount of training could have saved their lives.
But Blakely said their deaths could have been avoided if Barksdale never had the rifle to begin with.
"Too many people have guns who shouldn't have," he said.
Blakely said Barksdale's family, into whose care he was released during his illness, knew Barksdale kept the rifle. The rifle fired 7.62-mm rounds -- the kind that bullet-proof vests don't stop, the sheriff said.
Perhaps the outcome would have been different "if he never had that gun, if his family had taken the gun from him, or if we had something where a person like that couldn't get guns. That's the cheapest assault rifle made. It's made for killing people, period."
Barksdale, 28, who sometimes lives on Horton Street with his mother and sometimes lives in Decatur, was charged with six counts of capital murder.
"We basically charged him with everything we could charge him with to ensure he gets the death penalty," the sheriff said. The charges include one count for killing each police officer; one count each for shooting into an occupied vehicle and one count each for killing more than one person at a time, he said.
Mims was the first officer to arrive at the home at 304 Horton Street.
His mother, Julia Mims, said she was told his patrol car was not in park and his seatbelt was still buckled. His wife, Linda Mims, was told her husband was shot three times in the chest -- through his vest --and in the neck and head.
Blakely said the shots that killed Mims went through the windshield of the patrol car. Eleven rounds were fired at Mims and his patrol car, Blakely said. Barksdale's rifle had only 10 shots per clip.
Russell pulled up to the residence within a minute of Mims, the sheriff said, and had just stepped from his car when he was also shot. Blakely said he was not sure how many times Russell was shot. He was awaiting autopsy results Saturday afternoon.
Marty Bruce said Russell and Mims did not lack experience.
"No amount of training could have stopped this," he said Friday night. "They both knew how to answer calls. They were defenseless.
"They had no reason to suspect anything like that. They were very good officers. We lost a lot of experience today."
Investigation nearly complete
The Limestone County Sheriff's Department was asked by Police Chief Wayne Harper to head the investigation because of his department's emotional ties to the case.
"It's normal in a situation like this to have an outside agency investigate," the sheriff said.
Five Sheriff's Department investigators, as well as support staff, were on the scene Friday gathering forensic evidence.
Blakely said with the accused shooter in custody, the case should be closed in a matter of days.
"We're making sure we crossed our T's and dotted our I's so the district attorney has the ability to successfully prosecute and see he gets the death penalty," the sheriff said.
Despite rumors that people have threatened to kill Barksdale, Blakely said the suspect is expected to remain incarcerated at Limestone County Jail until he is tried.
"It's our duty to protect him as we would anyone else," he said. "He'll be as safe and secure here as he will anywhere. He's in a secure area on suicide watch."
The sheriff said he does not believe Barksdale has a good chance of claiming mental incapacity in this case.
"Alabama law makes it tough for a person to claim mental incapacity," he said. "Basically, you have to know right from wrong. The questions he answered for me indicates he knew right from wrong."
Blakely said he and his fellow law officers want to extend sympathy to the families of the slain officers.
"Our heart goes out to them," he said. "Athens and Limestone County is a close-knit community. Almost everyone has a friend or family member who knows someone in law enforcement."
Blakely said people don't realize that, even in a small town, officers put their lives on the line daily.
"There's the potential for this to happen almost on a daily basis," he said. "The real sad thing is what we pay these officers to go out on these calls. We pay them what we pay the garbage truck drivers."
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Full magazine with one in the chamber. No reload needed.
Does the "journalist" mean "clip" as in stripper clip or "clip" as in magazine? "Journalist" doesn't know the difference or say what kind of rifle it was, so who knows.
Prayers to the officer's families.
Of course, just about any rifle bullet will penetrate body armor, as body armor is designed to stop less powerful handgun bullets. The story implies that there is something magical about a bullet fired from an "assault rifle," whatever that is.
One story you will never read is about how the "liberals" shut down many mental hospitals and so for years violent mentally ill people (and not every mentally ill person is violent) have been allowed to roam our streets with little or no help or supervision. Evidentally being a homocidal maniac is a civil right, which the maniac is entitled to act out on in any violent way he wants to.
It is interesting how some people want to "liberate" violent criminals and the criminally insane, while they want to impose all sorts of restrictions on sane, non-criminals.
It is really horrible how the two police officers were killed by that lunatic. I don't know what can be done about a nut who wants to kill and isn't afraid to die -- such a person has a terrorist's mindset and will not be deterred by a fear of getting caught or even fear of being killed.
A big part of the problem is the politically-correct mindest that considers ordinary people criminals, considers criminals to be victims, and considers terrorists to be ordinary criminals.
Beaurocratic solutions to one loony incident:
1- ban them
2- make sure they cost $10,000
Two murdered lawmen segues into a speculation of the type of weapon used.
And is the suspect lawyered up yet? I suspect he is--I just hope the "crazy" defense isn't successful.
As far as how he supported himself, I'd bet if you ask around, you'll find out that we taxpayers were supporting him via SSI or SSD.
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