[WICHITA, Kan] Subpeona:For Information On 6 People Who Posted Messages (my title)

WICHITA, Kan. -- The Wichita Eagle has agreed to turn over to investigators information on six people who posted messages on the newspaper's Internet message board about the BTK serial killings. At the request of Wichita police and assisting investigators, a court ordered Knight Ridder Digital, a subsidiary of the newspaper's parent company, to deliver the information. Eagle Managing Editor Sherry Chisenhall said terms of the discussion board advise users that Knight Ridder Digital reserves the right to disclose information "necessary to satisfy the law, regulation or government request."

Between 1974 and 1978, the killer known as BTK -- the name stands for "Bind, Torture, Kill" -- killed at least seven people. Last month, shortly after the 30th anniversary of the first murders, BTK sent a letter to The Eagle claiming responsibility for a 1986 killing. The newspaper started the BTK message board after it received the latest letter. The subpoena asks for all subscriber information on those six people, including profiles and credit card information. It also asks for copies of all posts as well as any information that would show the location of the computer from which they were sent. It was signed by Sedgwick County District Judge Gregory Waller. Police would not comment on the subpoena, or why they focused efforts on the six message posters. The Eagle's Thursday editions did not publicly identify the "screen names" of the six posters or the content of their messages; Chisenhall said doing so might hinder the investigation or falsely identify someone as a suspect. Hundreds of messages have been posted to the board concerning a wide range of topics related to the case, including speculation on whether a psychologist might be in the best position to catch BTK, news on an unrelated serial killer case in Kansas City, and even invitations to parties hosted by and for message board posters. The newspaper received an average of 40,000 hits per day on the message board during the first three weeks after the reports surfaced of the BTK letter to the newspaper. The board gets an average of more than 300 posts a day.

WPD Chief Norm Williams [called Chief Wiggums behind his back by his cops after the donught munching chief from The Simpsons cartoon show] applied for a new position, was concerned that he wouldn't be viewed as professional/aggressive as some of the alternative choices [he's black, and comes from a town of under a half million population] and gave orders to the boys to push harder. Accordingly, 3 officer shootings in 3 months. Only one of the "perps" is in a ditch now, but time will tell on this last one. Four rounds into his chest as far as I've heard. And of course those are the shootings that have been officially reported, there's been WPD locker room talk about a couple others off the books. Shoot, shovel and shut up, and don't embarras Chief Wiggums, and maybe we'll be rid of him.... That seems to be the WPD motto lately.

Neither does it help Wiggums chances to flee Wichita that federal investigators are now seriously considering the possibility that the BTK serial killer murdering prostitutes is a cop who's decided to clean out some of the local and other ho's, tired of the one's who are paid off and protected sassing cops, who they're now genuinely afraid of- they now may not only bust a hooker who'll be back on the streets out on bond in less than 8 hours to have her lawyer get her case dismissed, but they may kill her and have a little fun beforehand that won't be any fun at all for her: More on the BTK serial killer/s here.

BTW, some of the feds working on the case think that maybe one BTK is doing the killings, with another doing the body dumpings, with maybe one being a cop, or possibly both.

And of course, there's one other possibility. And if Chief Wiggums gets the Chief's job in Dallas, and the BTK murders shift location to there, we'll have a better idea of both how come BTK got away with it so long, and why the vacation spell from killing for a while.

Mr. Dawson Grimsley, Davis Moore Inc., presents Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams and Officer Kelly Mar with a $5,000 donation to the Police Department’s Ident-a-Kid program.

You get just one guess which one is Chief Wiggums.

Fri, Mar. 19, 2004

Officer fatally shoots man

It's the third incident in recent weeks in which someone has died or been seriously hurt and Wichita police were involved.

BY TIM POTTER

The Wichita Eagle

A Wichita police officer responding to a report of a burglary in progress Thursday shot and killed a resident who threatened another officer with a hunting knife, police said.

The officer shot the man multiple times after the man kept advancing toward a fellow officer who used pepper spray against the man, Police Chief Norman Williams said. The one officer fired because the other officer had to retreat toward a wall in a basement stairwell, Williams said.

It was the third time in the recent weeks that someone has died or been seriously injured in an incident involving Wichita police.

On Thursday, the man received repeated warnings before he was shot, Williams said.

Asked to reflect on the incidents, Williams said: "You're always concerned when you have the number of incidents we've had.

"Why are they not listening to police... when clear commands are given?"

In the latest incident, police would not provide the man's name, and his family could not be reached for comment. He was in his 40s, police said, and lived in Apartment 102 of Kingston Cove Apartments, 2806 S. Osage.

The man, shot in the torso, was pronounced dead at Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Francis Campus at 12:03 p.m., less than an hour after the shooting, police said.

Part of the investigation will focus on whether police had contact with the man before, Williams said.

So far, Williams said, police have determined that:

At 11:07 a.m., the 911 emergency dispatch system received a call from a man in Apartment 102 reporting someone in his home. Four minutes later, police officers approached the apartment.

One officer somehow knew the resident's name and called it out. The resident came to the door with a knife in hand. Police told the man repeatedly to put the knife down, but the man -- still holding the knife --"aggressively advanced" toward an officer, Williams said.

The officer sprayed Mace toward the man and found himself having to back up toward a wall in the basement stairwell.

Another officer "felt that his fellow officer's life was being threatened" and shot the man, who ended up just outside his apartment, Williams said.

Initially, police said two officers had fired weapons, but later it was determined only one officer shot the man, Williams said.

As unfortunate as the man's death was, Williams said, if the officer had not fired, "we may have had an officer cut severely."

Wichita police Detective Danny Farlow, who trains police on how to defend against what he calls "edged weapons," said someone with a knife can rapidly advance on an officer.

Farlow, who would not comment on Thursday's shooting, said generally an officer needs at least 21 feet between himself and an assailant with an edged weapon to be able to safely draw a gun and fire two rounds in time.

Police are trained that it can be appropriate to use a handgun against someone with a knife because a knife can be a deadly weapon, Farlow said.

He also tells officers to "create distance between you and the weapon" if possible.

Meanwhile, as part of the standard response, the officers involved in Thursday's shooting are being put on administrative leave. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation will investigate the shooting and present its findings to the Sedgwick County district attorney's office.

Bob Martin, a retiree who lives near the apartment where the officer shot the man, said he heard three gunshots in quick succession, "loud and clear." Some neighbors said they heard more than three shots.

Martin stepped outside and saw a police officer who seemed upset. "It's got to be pretty horrendous to have to shoot somebody," Martin said.

He saw paramedics giving CPR to a man on a stretcher being taken from the apartment building. Martin recognized the man as a neighbor, though he didn't know the man's name.

"I was really shocked when I saw him," Martin said.

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