Suzan Manuel Mandy M. Goodnight Carita Jordan
Posted on February 21, 2003
In one of the "worst days" in Alexandria history, two city police officers were killed, three more were wounded by gunfire and several others were injured Thursday in a three-hour shootout with a gunman.
The gunman, wanted by probation and parole officers, also was slain in the incident on Wise Street.
Killed in the shootout were veteran Alexandria Police Officers David Ezernack and Jay Carruth, The Town Talk has confirmed. Police didn't give the gunman's name, but sources told The Town Talk that he was Shawn Molette, believed to be in his mid-20s.
Three Special Response Team police officers were injured by gunfire as the gunman fired a fully automatic weapon as they tried entering the house he had holed up in on Wise Street in the Sonia Quarters. Several other officers received injuries too.
Residents in the area took cover as periodic bursts of gunfire rang out during the tense situation, which began shortly after noon and ended about 3:30 p.m. A large crowd gathered to watch from a distance, and some of the crowd members yelled obscenities at the police.
The shootout is believed to have been connected with a Wednesday morning shooting where an officer was ambushed but suffered only minor injuries.
The gunman in both incidents is believed to be the same person, but it is unknown what sparked the siege on the police department.
At one point it was believed there might be two gunmen, but police later determined that there was only one.
A candlelight vigil is set for 6 p.m. today at Alexandria City Hall. The ceremony is to bring the community together in the aftermath of the "awful disaster we face," said Mayor Ned Randolph.
"It's important for our city, as a whole, to heal. This is a horrible day for Alexandria and the whole community."
Prior to Thursday, the Alexandria Police Department had lost four officers in the line of duty since 1904.
"It's one of the worst days that our community has seen," Randolph said.
"We're all just mortified. We saw our officers become extremely brave individuals, ... and I can't say enough about their heroism."
A tearful Police Chief Tommy Cicardo said, "We have suffered and have lost."
Alexandria Police Capt. Frank Dawson, who checked on his fallen friends in the hospital, said, "It's depressing. It's nerve-wrenching."
Dawson added, "We never had anything of this magnitude in this city in my 27 years working on this force."
The shootout received national news coverage. Police patrols in the Wise Street area remained heavy Thursday night.
Cicardo said, "No one expected a fully automatic weapon when they went inside the house."
Officers did have information that the suspect would not be taken in without incident. However, Cicardo said he thought "we were prepared."
Cicardo said about 300 rounds were fired in the first shooting exchange between officers and the gunman.
He would not say how many exchanges there were, but he did say police had to send for more ammunition.
In a 4:30 p.m. media briefing, Cicardo confirmed one officer was dead and six had been injured in the gunfire.
About 6 p.m., he reported that one of the six wounded officers had died. In a broken voice, he said he had held out hope that the officer would make it.
Both fatally wounded officers were taken to CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini Hospital. One was dead upon arrival.
Cicardo said he was not releasing the names of the officers or the gunman killed in the shootout. He said the department was continuing to notify family members of those involved. The Town Talk did confirm their names.
The injured officers were in fair condition at local hospitals late Thursday night. One was taken to a Baton Rouge hospital to remove a glass-type material from his eyes.
The incident began shortly after noon when officers blocked off Wise Street and moved into a home to serve an arrest warrant.
The warrant was in connection with the Wednesday morning ambush on Overton Street, police said.
In that incident, an officer answered a 911 call of a reported robbery in the Overton and Lee streets area, several blocks from the shootout site. The officer could not find a victim and was pulling out with his vehicle when a shooter opened fire.
The officer was able to dive into the passenger side and drive away. His patrol car was riddled with bullets.
Cicardo called the attack deliberate and deployed his SRT team to protect detectives as they gathered evidence.
In the Thursday incident, the SRT team, which has about 20 members, entered the Wise Street house and were met by gunfire.
Houses in the neighborhood were cleared as Alexandria police officers, Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office SWAT team members, sheriff's detectives and the Louisiana State Police SWAT team surrounded the house.
Tear gas was deployed at one point during the standoff. However, the incident did not end until the shooter was killed.
About 12:50 p.m., under misty skies, police officers scrambled to try to rescue three wounded officers from the scene while still facing the threat of the gunman.
Acadian Ambulance crews were on the scene, waiting to take the downed officers to local hospitals.
Alexandria City Councilman Charles F. Smith Jr. arrived on the scene about 1:15 p.m. and said, "My main concern is the officers."
Shots continued to ring out periodically.
Meanwhile, a State Police helicopter circled the area as police radioed information to other officers. Two armored cars moved into the area and parked at Second Evergreen Baptist Church near the house where the gunman was inside.
Just after 2 p.m., in the middle of the standoff, a yellow haze of tear gas began enveloping areas near the scene. The tear gas left those gathered at the Super Saver at Overton and Warshauer streets sneezing and coughing, with watery eyes and burning throats.
"It's a tragedy," one onlooker there said of the shootout. He did not want to give his name, saying he feared reprisal.
He said the gunman had a lot of ammunition, quipping, "They should have sent him to shoot bin Laden."
As more shots rang out about 2:20 p.m., police screamed, "Get down, get down!" to onlookers gathered at Wise and Vance streets.
Police officers near the church parking lot also scrambled to the ground as the gunman continued to shoot.
About 2:26 p.m., police screamed that another officer was down. In all, seven officers were shot.
When the gunfire ceased, more police vehicles pulled in behind the church.
The scent of tear gas was in the air while police attempted to push the crowd farther back.
The standoff continued for nearly another hour before police were sure that the gunman was down.
About 3:30 p.m., a busload of pupils leaving the Rapides Motivational Center was a sign that the standoff had ended.
Cicardo said the house on Wise Street is being treated as a crime scene, with investigators gathering evidence. He said it would take some time to process the scene.
All the officers involved in the incident were debriefed later Thursday at the police department.
Cicardo said he called in an extra shift of officers to handle patrols during the day.
He said his office handled lots of calls from the community and officers' family members. Family members gathered at the police station on Bolton Avenue late Thursday and were briefed of the situation by Cicardo.
He said he spoke with them and tried to offer as much support as possible.
The 161-member department "is going to have to pull together in the coming days," Cicardo said.
He asked for the community to pray for the officers and their families.
LifeShare Blood Center in Alexandria remained open late as residents and law enforcement officers from throughout Cenla gave blood.
Lines were long with some people waiting as long as 40 minutes to roll up their sleeves.
Randolph had gone to Baton Rouge on Thursday to work with House Speaker Charlie DeWitt and to attend a bond committee hearing.
Randolph was eating lunch when he received a telephone call informing him of the shootout that erupted in the city's Sonia Quarters. He immediately headed to Alexandria where his first stop was CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini Hospital to visit with the officers' family members.
"They're taking it as well as can be expected, but taking it bravely, too," he said of the families. "I can't tell you how much those folks are genuine heroes for us."
Capt. Dawson said that ever since the ambush early Wednesday morning, officers remained uneasy and tense around the Police Department.
"Our officers didn't know what to think, but at least now we know that shooting was an isolated event."
Cpl. Troy Skeesick, rangemaster at the Shreveport Police Department Training Academy, helped train the original Alexandria Police Department SWAT team about five years ago. He heard about the Alexandria tragedy from friends in the Alexandria Police Department.
"Obviously, I'm concerned about my boys," Skeesick said.
"There's no way to train for an ambush,' he said. "The best thing to do is get out. You try to minimize losses, seek cover and reorganize.'
John Allen, area resident and former City Council member, was among those at the Overton-Warshauer intersection when tear gas drifted into the area.
"There is a deep, psychological problem based on abuse of young black males and young females," Allen said.
Others near the store said police mishandled the situation and felt the police had probably harassed the suspect.
"This is a culmination of events prior to the Gregory Hunter incident," Allen said.
Hunter is a black man who was beaten by off-duty white police officers in the 1999 "Lee Street incident."
"There's no excuse to take anyone's life at all. You did not give it, you cannot take it.
"What the boys did is inexcusable," Allen said, "but it is a symbol of what has been happening to black youth and women."
Allen said "race sensitivity training" for police and City Council members is necessary.
Shortly after police began to clear the area, one vehicle was stopped, and three men were handcuffed.
Other pedestrians and motorists were stopped and questioned.
"This is far from over," said one police officer. ---------
Sonia Quarters residents voice anger at Alexandria police
Carita Jordan Eugene Sutherland
Posted on February 21, 2003
Just a half block away from where "all hell" was breaking loose Thursday, Cassandra Ambush and her mother, Linda Ausmer, sat on their Harris Street porch, glued to their phone.
As they sat on the porch, rapid-fire gunshots rang out near them and a cloud of thick yellow smoke was visible behind them.
They were in contact with Ausmer's cousin who owns a police scanner. She was keeping them abreast of the situation.
"At first, I thought it was firecrackers," Ambush said. "He's crazy for shooting back at the police. If he does get out of there, he ain't ever going to be free. I'd surrender, myself. I'd say, 'Come and get me, I'm putting my weapons down.'
"He's going to get out of there, but it'll be in a funeral."
The two women appeared relatively calm despite the whirlwind around them.
That serenity wasn't a trait shared by the 30 or so onlookers who gathered outside their houses near the corner of Warshauer and Harris streets.
Many in the crowd agreed that Thursday's incident is one of several long-term battles between police and local residents. Struggles between police and some blacks in the area were heightened nearly four years ago when off-duty police officers were accused of battering a black man who allegedly tried to steal their truck.
The all-black crowd appeared universally disdainful and untrusting of the law enforcement officers who had responded to the scene.
Some yelled profanities at officers - regardless of their race - who were clearly within earshot range and just across the street. Others threatened to leave and return with weapons of their own. After a verbal confrontation with a plain-clothed officer, one woman was taken away in handcuffs.
Marquis Scott, 20, who lives across the street from Ambush and Ausmer, questioned officers' motives after the arrest.
"It sounds like they're in a war, a straight up war," Scott said. "With the children and the older folks in the neighborhood, that makes no sense. If it was a white neighborhood, they'd evacuate the whole white neighborhood first."
Moments later, Scott appeared to be trying to incite the crowd when he yelled out to others, "We ought to start a riot." He then added an obscenity.
Similar incidents happened elsewhere in the Sonia Quarters among residents angered with police.
At the corners of Overton and Huffman streets, another man, who asked not to be identified, yelled: "This isn't over. This has just begun."
On Wise Street, when police told onlookers to take refuge in a house, several began screaming obscenities: "F--- you. You can't tell me what to do."
"It's all (the police's) fault," said a woman who joined the crowd on Wise Street. "They started this. This is so sad, but it won't end today."
The woman was among many in the crowd who claimed an Alexandria police officer instigated Thursday's incident when he opened fire on the suspect the day before. The suspect returned fire, causing the police officer to dive into his patrol car and speed off.
Delisha Horn, 36, was visiting her cousin on Harris Street when Thursday's standoff began. Horn said she personally knew the suspect.
"This boy was trying to change his life, and they wouldn't stop harassing him," Horn said. "He had started going to church. They never gave him a chance.
"I'm sorry about what happened to the officers, but this could have all been avoided instead of just opening up gun shots. ... They could have at least gotten the elderly people out of their homes first. ... We need prayer."
Alexandria resident Joe Dixon said he heard residents talk about how the gunman was walking around with an assault rifle on Thursday, waiting for police.
"I heard that he said '(the police) are going to have to take me out in a black body bag,'" Dixon said.
"I wish those children weren't in there," he said of the lock down that kept pupils out of harm's way at the Rapides Motivational Center and Alma Redwine Elementary School. "This doesn't make any sense."
Johnny Atkins said officers ignore recurring drug dealing in the neighborhood and instead repeatedly harass blacks living there.
"They ought to keep off of us," Atkins said. "They think just because we're black, we're all bad. This has been building for a long time. They see drug dealing going on and do nothing about it. But they want to harass everybody for no reason. That builds up in people after awhile."
Houston Street resident Terry Davis is angry that gunplay was happening and apparently no other options were used.
"I've never seen nothing like this before," he said. "I just think the police should be able to go in with tear gas and get him that way. There are people in this neighborhood. There's got to be a better solution."
When police entered the house, they were met with gunfire. Police had used tear gas because they thought a second shooter was in the house.
"I'd rather see them try to talk him out of it," Davis said. "This is bad publicity the way the cops are doing this neighborhood. But you keep harassing people and this is what you get."
Robert Jones, 40, lives on City Park Avenue but said he spends a great deal of time in the Sonia Quarters. He, too, accused police of repeated harassment of residents there.
"They're always harassing people around here," he said. "If a black man and a white man are in a car together, they stop them because they must be dealing drugs. These people might work together. They harass you from one end of town to the other.
"I've even been stopped by them. I've seen a lot of the dirt."
More links about the community's feelings toward police and about the shoot-out:
Photo Gallery: "Cops Killed"
Photos of "The Day After"
Residents say Molette was pushed too far
Cicardo: Officers walked into ambush
Link: http://www.thetowntalk.com/deadlyencounter/
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/02/24/4880946
