-Caveat Lector- http://www.fayettevillenc.com/foto/news/content/1999/tx99nov/n26stop.htm Friday, November 26, 1999 One killed in MPs’ traffic stop By Lora Hines Staff writer A man was shot to death Thursday when he pointed a gun at military police during a traffic stop, said Cuyler Windham, chief deputy for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. The man has not been identified. He was a passenger in a car that MPs stopped on McArthur Road. The driver and two children in the car were not hurt. “We don’t know what happened to the passenger,” Windham said. “He just came out of there with a weapon.” The incident started about 12:30 p.m. on Fort Bragg and ended just past the post’s border minutes later. An MP operating radar on McArthur Road noticed that a car, a 1989 Buick Regal, was speeding. The MP followed the car until it pulled off the road about 900 feet off post, Windham said. The MP walked toward Joshua Spann’s car and saw a handgun on the dashboard, Windham said. “The driver said, ‘There’s a gun up here, but it’s legal,’” Windham said. The MP returned to his car and called for assistance because Spann was being uncooperative, said sheriff’s Capt. Freddy Johnson. “The situation still was under control,” Johnson said. Two other MPs arrived, and the three MPs stood behind Spann’s car, Windham said. Spann got out of his car to talk to the MPs and to see the radar reading that showed that he had been driving 78 mph in a 55-mph zone, Windham said. “They were starting to write a ticket to the driver when the passenger got out with a weapon,” Windham said. The passenger had grabbed the gun that had been on the dashboard, Windham said. Spann walked over to the passenger and the two fought until the passenger fired one or two shots, Windham said. “The driver goes around to the front of the car, maybe to check on his children,” Windham said. “The passenger points the gun at the driver, supposedly to shoot at him. Then he turns and points directly with a gun on the MPs. They told him to drop the weapon.” At least one MP fired a shot at the passenger, killing him. Windham declined to identify the MPs. “From what we know, it doesn’t appear that the MP overreacted,” Windham said. About a dozen detectives, including all five homicide investigators from the Sheriff’s Office, spent hours collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses. Residents who live off McArthur Road got as close as they could to try to see anything. Anna Trescastro was at her brother’s home for Thanksgiving dinner when she heard a shot fired. “We were all in the kitchen getting ready to sit down,” she said. Heather Henderson, who lives at the home, said she heard two shots and told everyone it wouldn’t take long for MPs to arrive and look for a shooter. Then she heard three more shots, she said. Henderson looked across the field surrounding the back of her home and saw MPs. “They had the (driver) on the ground,” Henderson said. “They told him to stay down.” Trescastro, who is a nurse, ran over to help the man who had been shot, but it was too late. “He was nonresponsive,” she said. “We turned him over and found out where the shots were. He had no pulse.” Trescastro said she and rescue workers performed CPR for about 10 minutes. “I didn’t even realize there were other people there, I was so concentrated on what I was doing to help him,” she said. Windham said Spann and the passenger had been living together a few months, but Spann told investigators that he only knew the passenger’s first name. Deputies took Spann to his home on Ray Road near Spring Lake to try to find identification for the passenger. Drugs, rifle found A Harnett County sheriff’s deputy charged Spann with marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession after finding marijuana at the home, said Maj. Steve West of Harnett County. The deputy also confiscated a Ruger semiautomatic rifle that was found at the home, West said. A relative arrived and took Spann’s children, Johnson said. Master Sgt. Ron Gardiner, a post spokesman, said the shooting death could be the first involving an MP and a civilian off post. The three MPs and a post dog handler who arrived around the time of the shooting have been placed on administrative duty during the investigation, Gardiner said. Sheriff’s detectives are investigating the shooting. Detectives from the post’s Criminal Investigation Command will investigate the actions of the MPs. Local material copyright (c) 1999 The Fayetteville (N.C.) 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