2 police officers, 2 suspects killed in West Memphis, Arkansas

MSNBC ^ | updated 12 mins ago 20 MAY 10 15:40 EST | NBC News and news services

[DCBryan1]

May 20: Four police officers have been shot, and two have died after a traffic stop in Arkansas escalated. NBC's Jeff Rossen reports two suspects in the incident have also died.

WEST MEMPHIS, Arkansas - Two West Memphis police officers were fatally shot during a traffic stop on Thursday, and two men suspected in the shooting were killed after a manhunt, according to media reports.

[TLI]

Suspects in police shooting killed in West Memphis shootout
Posted: May 20, 2010 12:17 PM CDT
Updated: May 20, 2010 5:16 PM CDT


YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD: Crittenden CountyWEST MEMPHIS, AR (WMC-TV) -

Two West Memphis police officers were shot and killed Thursday during a traffic stop along a busy cross-country interstate highway. The local sheriff and his chief deputy were wounded in a later shootout that left a pair of suspects dead.

West Memphis Police Inspector Bert Shelton said officers Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans were "running drug interdiction" on Interstate 40 at Airport Road when they pulled over a white van with Ohio license plates.

Shelton said two men got out of the van and opened fire on the officers with AK-47s.

The slain officers were identified as Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans. Paudert's father, West Memphis Police Chief Bob Paudert, said both men were part of the department's drug interdiction unit.

http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=12515206>

[Redcloak]

Will Obama apologize to El Presidente for these cops “acting stupidly”?

[Tammy8]

I just love it when LEO tell it like it is. There was a shoot out in a park in Albquerque between police and a bad guy- bad guy lost. Reporters asked the police chief if shooting the suspect could have been avoided- Chief said: “What are you going to do if some SOB is behind a tree shooting at you and everyone in sight?” I laughed at that one, no PC beating around the bush at all.

[TLI]

Weard info...

"The van has been traced to a church in Ohio which we've learned has been linked to a white supremacist group.

A source tells us the church closed about 10-years ago after it was infiltrated by the FBI."

http://www.kfsm.com/news/wreg-west-memphis-shot,0,5575211.story

How can a "closed" church currently own a van?

[Uncle Ivan]

I've been to that Wal Mart, been past it many times. It's only an hour away from where I live.

People along the border deal with this crap all the time, now we in the heartland do too? WTF is it going to take to get DC to notice this invasion?

[DCBryan1]

Info earlier was a BOLO for Hispanic male seen running from the vicinity of the first shootout. Initially, it looks like the perps *race still unconmirmed) ambushed the 2 West Memphis Cops as traffic was going on I-40. People started calling in about dead cops and the ASP shut down I-40 and someone or several people mentioned a Hispanic male running into the woods next to the shootout scene.

[Candor7]

Good article on this incident:

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/may/20/west-memphis-police-officer-killed-another-injured/

[Arizona Carolyn]

Sure has changed...

[chooseascreennamepat]

You are waaaaaaay off.

Since 1925, the Phoenix Police Department has suffered a total of 34 deaths in the line of duty.[5]

Officer End of Watch Details
Officer Haze Burch Thursday, February 5, 1925 Gunfire

Officer Walter H. Stewart Tuesday, February 19, 1952 Vehicular Assault

Officer Dale C. Stone Monday, December 28, 1970 Motorcycle Accident

Officer Clay Quincy Haywood Monday, November 22, 1971 Motorcycle Accident

Officer Michael D. Hemschmeyer Friday, November 2, 1973 Automobile Accident

Officer Gilbert R. Chavez Monday, June 16, 1975 Gunfire

Police Guard John Franklin MacInnis Sunday, February 22, 1976 Heart Attack

Officer Arthur Del Gaudio Jr. Thursday, April 22, 1976 Vehicle Pursuit

Officer Ignacio Gonzales Conchos Thursday, July 1, 1982 Gunfire

Officer John R. Davis Sr. Friday, August 6, 1982 Gunfire

Officer Kenneth E. Campbell Sunday, January 29, 1984 Vehicle Pursuit

Officer Errol C. Hawkins Tuesday, April 24, 1984 Struck by Vehicle

Officer Robert L. Polmanteer Friday, May 4, 1984 Motorcycle Accident

Officer Kevin W. Forsythe Friday, September 7, 1984 Struck by Vehicle

Officer John A. Robertson Monday, November 19, 1984 Gunfire

Officer Robert T. Fike Wednesday, January 8, 1986 Gunfire

Officer Kenneth L. Collings Friday, May 27, 1988 Gunfire

Officer Patrick O. Briggs Wednesday, June 20, 1990 Vehicle Pursuit

Sergeant John Wayne Domblisky Thursday, July 26, 1990 Vehicular Assault

Sergeant Danny L. Tunney Thursday, July 26, 1990 Vehicular Assault

Officer Leonard Leon Kolodziej Wednesday, September 4, 1991 Gunfire

Sergeant David Martin Kieffer Wednesday, May 21, 1997 Vehicular Assault

Officer Marc Todd Atkinson Friday, March 26, 1999 Gunfire

Officer Goelet Alessandro Carlo Beuf Monday, November 1, 1999 Assault

Officer Beryl Wayne Scott Jr. Tuesday, September 10, 2002 Motorcycle Accident

Officer Donald Ralph Schultz Wednesday, May 12, 2004 Drowned

Officer Eric James White Saturday, August 28, 2004 Gunfire

Officer Jason Alan Wolfe Saturday, August 28, 2004 Gunfire

Officer David Christopher Uribe Tuesday, May 10, 2005 Gunfire

Officer Paul Robert Salmon Tuesday, November 29, 2005 Automobile Accident

Officer George Valentino Cortez Jr. Friday, July 27, 2007 Gunfire

Officer Nicki James (Nick) Erfle Tuesday, September 18, 2007 Gunfire

Officer Shane Figueroa Saturday, October 25, 2008 Automobile Accident

[mojitojoe]

I can’t believe it’s been this long and they still are not releasing the names. There has got to be a reason.

[Uncle Ivan]

Some in the Memphis media are working a white supremacist angle. Supposedly the van is from a church that allegedly had ties to the Aryan Nation. The mayor of that town in Ohio said that wasn't true. There's a lot we don't know yet.

The Commercial Appeal has a photo online of one of the perps lying dead in the parking lot. The ethnicity is hard to tell, but it does appear to be a kid.

[mojitojoe]

I saw that photo and hard to tell much other than the fact that he is not black. Some witnesses said Hispanic but could be true or not. The You Tube video comments say Hispanic but someone just put a video on You Tube blaming white supremists but that church has been closed 10 years. I’m thinking they can’t ID them. There has to be a reason they haven’t released the names. Minors, illegals, who knows, but it’s weird.

[mojitojoe]

Any news around your town as to who the suspects were?

[Uncle Ivan]

We don't know any more than you do. Some have jumped on the "they're white racists" angle, but the ASP is holding its cards very closely. They're waiting on the state crime lab to do their thing, and perhaps they'll release more info then.

I work in a criminal justice field with some people from that town, and today upon hearing it, the mood at work was, to put it lightly, very on edge.

[Cedar]

Update from the Commercial Appeal:

“The two suspects also were killed. Authorities declined to identify them, but The Commercial Appeal talked to three people late Thursday who said they recognized their relatives and the van from photos and videos. They said one of the suspects was a 16-year-old boy and the other was his father.”

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/may/20/west-memphis-police-officer-killed-another-injured/

[Ozarkie]

I was thinking the kid in the blue shirt lying on the ground looked underage.

[Terry Mross]

I don’t care either. I’m all for it. The point I was making is profiling takes place every day. When it’s reported a “tall white guy” robbed a bank every cop in town starts paying special attention to every “tall white guy”. It’s how they catch criminals. Or how they “used” to catch them.

[katyinhawaii]

this has been my thought for several years: shoot, shovel, shut up