Posted on 11/22/2006 8:16:37 PM PST by AdamSelene235
ATLANTA -- Three Atlanta police officers were shot and wounded and an elderly woman killed at a house in northwest Atlanta Tuesday night.
The woman, identified by relatives as 92-year old Kathryn Johnston, opened fire on the officers from the narcotics division at a house at 933 Neal Street, according to officials.
Atlanta Police Asst. Chief Alan Dreher said at a news conference Wednesday that an undercover officer made a drug purchase at Johnston’s address late Tuesday afternoon from a male suspect. Officers were able to obtain a search warrant after that.
Asst. Chief Dreher said as they were executing the search warrant, the officers announced themselves and then forced open the door. Officials say the warrant was a “No Knock” warrant – meaning that the officers did not knock before forcing open the door, but they did announce themselves.
Dreher said as soon as the officers forced open the door, Johnston shot at the officers and the officers returned fire to protect themselves. One officer was shot 3 times – once in the leg, on the side of the face and once in his bulletproof vest. One officer was hit in the leg and another hit in their arm. All officers are on paid administrative leave pending an investigation – as is common.
Officials say they have not made any arrests in the case and they have not located the male suspect. Dreher said suspected narcotics were recovered from the home but they are awaiting lab results to confirm the items are drugs.
Dreher said a marked patrol vehicle was parked in front of the residence and the word “Police” was written across the front and back of the narcotics team’s vests. He also said only a matter of minutes passed between when officers arrived on the scene and when they forced open the door.
Asst. Chief Dreher referred to the incident as a, “tragic and unfortunate incident.”
The woman's niece, Sarah Dozier, says that she bought her aunt a gun to protect herself. Relatives believe Johnston was frightened by the officers and opened fire.
Her relatives say Johnston had lived in the house for about 17 years.
"They kicked her door down talking about drugs, there's no drugs in that house. And they realize now, they've got the wrong house," Dozier said. "I'm mad as hell." Officials say they had the correct house and that the warrant they had was legal.
She says the officers "shot her down like a dog."
Police say the investigation is continuing.
She's already said she's getting an attorney. No doubt to file a wrongful death lawsuit. IF it turns out that the LEO's acted improperly, then I don't blame this woman for suing. I'm usually a pro LEO person, but I'm not so sure they were right in this one. Hopefully, they did everything by the book and can end this painful saga for her loved ones.
Keeping the warrant secret is not helping their situation. As a matter of public record it should have already been released. If they did nothing wrong, and the house is the house specified in the warrant and it's all properly signed and everything, then why do they feel a need to hide it?
Two white, one black, according to an earlier account.
They were in civilan clothes but were wearing bullet-proof vests with "police" in white letters across the front according to an earlier article.
THESE WERE NOT BAD COPS!!!!! THEY WERE NOT YAHOO SHOOOT FIRST ASK QUESTIONS LATER!!!! THEY DO THESE RAIDS EVERY DAY!!!! My gosh, lets crucify these guys, put them in jail and lock them away. It's so easy to second guess what they did. But then we don't deal with people who kill eachother daily for a smoke, or sell their own kids to get a rock. There is not enough space in the paper to print all of the disgusting stuff that goes down in Atlanta or other cities where the crime is high. Besides, most people don't really care unless it gets into their neighborhoods. I guarentee you they will find Sam. As the poor womans relatives said, she lived alone and didn't have many visitors. The perfect mark for a dealer. He probably befriended her and was dealing right under her nose without her knowledge. I also doubt that Sam was just some guy selling joints. My brother worked narcotics, they don't even bother with the lower guys. We really don't know what Sam was doing. And I said before THERE IS NOT ONE SINGLE OFFICER THAT IS PLEASED WITH WHAT WENT DOWN. THEY ARE JUST AS SICKENED BY IT.
No-knock raids should be so rare that that very fact makes them newsworthy.
As long as no-knock raids are routine Americans,both guilty and innocent will die needlessly.
If 103 shots were fired from four weapons,somebody reloaded!
17 round magazines used to be part of some police weapons issue but 103 divided by 4 equals 26,26,26,and 25.Now was there any reason to belive the 92 yr. old...wait,they said she fired five times so then the 3 police would have fired a total of NINETY-EIGHT shots?
Something is very wrong there in Atlanta!
I'm not crucifying them, just wondering what life might be like for them in the near future. Only because I heard from a friend affiliated with the Atlanta force that the officers could have a hard time.
My neighbor 4 doors down is an ex undercover narcotics officer, he's as nice a person as anyone would care to meet.
It does worry me that commando type police raids seem to have become routine procedure across the country.
Baked cookies???? We're talking about Atlanta here.
Hard time, these guys will be crucified. If the house had 1000 rocks of crack in the house, they will be crucified. If it turned out that the poor woman was running the biggest drug ring in country, they will be crucified. If the woman opened up with and AK47 and killed two of them the remaining one would be crucified. Like I said we are dealing with Atlanta.
I'll be sure to ask my brother when he gets over here why they are keeping the warrant secret. He does raids everyday. He's not in Narcotics anymore, he does fugitive apprehension, basically he goes after murder suspects. Atlanta is not quite like other cities when it comes to law enforcement.
Yeah, that's about what I heard. A lot of posters seem to think that cops can act with impunity, but apparently that is not the case, at least in this instance. Sad all around.
OK true, maybe she would have boiled them some peanuts.
It truly is sad all the way around. I am so sad for this poor woman. Yet I have never seen this much outrage when a cop gets killed in the line of duty, or when a innocent child is killed by stray bullets from the thugs shooting at eachother. I know for a fact, my brother doesn't do his job itching to shoot someone. Chances are if it is necessary for him to draw his gun he is not dealing with a jaywalker. It's always after the fact. What if Sam was in there and killed the officers? The people these men deal with are not the same that you or I would come into contact with.
Clueless
It's simple really. We have the cops there to protect us from criminals who would do violence on us. But who is there to protect us when the police do violence on us? So there's extra concern when those chosen to protect us, armed with extreme firepower, and acting in our name take an innocent life.
Racist.
Sorry but anyone who smashes the door down and rushes in gun drawn is primed to shoot and high on adrenaline. I think no-knock raids are ROUTINELY done by BAD COPS who have little respect for the freedom and rights of Americans.ANY GROUP smashing down a door without warning ought to expect,and be met with lethal force.The person or persons inside has no way to know without warning ,and can only asume the intruders mean him no good.Hesitating to fire will only mean the bad guys win. Cincinnati Ohio has had several home invasions ,and having seen the undercover officers ,how would you distinguish them in a split second?
Naturally to work undercover they must be difficult to distinguisher from the real dealers.
Anyone could toss on a vest in a few seconds but fully uniformed officers appear quite different.
Now if the police had arived uniformed in a couple of plainly marked cars ,jumped out ,body armor and all, accompanied by the cars flashing lights and siren bursts,a clear anouncement on the public address of the police car or bullhorn,smacked the door open whilst keeping their bodies to the sides and then quickly viewed the interior via handheld mirror ,camera or quick peek before entering after clearly and loudly announcing "Atlanta Police,we have a warrant to search this place."
All the forgoing need not add but a minute to entry time.
It is the "cute" sneak up to the door,very quietly (or not) say "police",smash the door,and rush in with guns drawn that leads to un-needed deaths,usually of the citizen at the hands of the police officer. These tactics do not belong as routine tools of the police in a free country.
I had a feeling that there was more to this story than first reported.
I remind you that any undercover officer must be a very good actor;his life depends on it.His critics can be real killers.
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