Month: January 2022

An off-duty police officer in Vancouver, Washington was shot and killed while at his home while sheriff’s deputy pursued an armed suspect early Sunday morning.

In a statement on Sunday, Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnery-Ogle identified the officer as Donald Sahota and confirmed he had been with the Vancouver Police Department since 2014.  Said Mayor McEnery-Ogle: “The sudden death of Officer Sahota is devastating and we don’t have all the details of what occurred. This will be investigated by the Lower Columbia Major Crimes Team. It will likely be days before we know more.”

In a statement, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office said that deputies were dispatched to a Chevron gas station and convenience store at 8:14 p.m. Saturday night after a suspect of a robbery was described as having a handgun, fleeing the area in a stolen vehicle. Deputies located the suspect “a short time later” and pursued him, after which he eventually abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot. The suspect then contacted a homeowner in a nearby residence and police contacted all parties, during which the officer discharged his weapon, police said. The sheriff’s office said the individual who was shot was pronounced dead at the scene after medical aid was provided but did not include further information about the person’s identity.

The sheriff’s office said the incident is being treated as an officer-involved shooting and confirmed it will be subject to investigation.

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Thirteen people were hospitalized for exposure to carbon monoxide at a Hampton Inn, shortly after a 2-year-old girl lost consciousness in the pool of the hotel.

Police Chief Tony Brooks confirmed that dispatchers in Marysville. Ohio received 911 calls that the girl had fallen into the pool or was found unconscious in the pool at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Dispatchers soon received more calls reporting people unconscious. Two of the patients were listed as being in critical condition after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning, but have since stabilized, hospital officials confirmed. Five patients are in serious condition and at least four other patients have since been released from the hospital. Six of the patients were children; it was not immediately clear what caused the high carbon monoxide levels. Officials stated that the hotel was evacuated, and hotel management booked guests at other hotels nearby.

Marysville Fire Chief Jay Riley said: “We did have life-threatening levels of carbon monoxide in the pool area of the hotel, and we transported several people to local hospitals. We continue the investigation into the source and glad that no one died as a result of their exposure.”

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Houston police took a man suspected of shooting three officers into custody, after an hours-long standoff ended Thursday evening.  Houston Police Department Chief Troy Finner confirmed that the suspect, who police have not identified, came out at 7:45 p.m. CT with his hands raised and surrendered.  Houston police tweeted that the officers who were shot are being treated at Memorial Hermann Hospital, and all are in stable condition.

After fleeing the shooting scene in a Mercedes he carjacked, the suspect barricaded himself in a home for hours. Chief Finner said: “Officers surrounded that house. The suspect fired multiple times. Thank God he did not strike any of the officers. Officers returned fire. Again, we don’t know if that suspect is injured.” Finner said at a later press conference that authorities believe the man lived at the house and he fired multiple times at a SWAT team.

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The Michigan school shooting suspect who is accused of killing four people in a shooting at Oxford High School last November is planning on using an insanity defense at trial. The defense attorneys for the alleged shooter, Ethan Crumbley, filed a notice on Thursday saying that they plan to “assert the defense of insanity at the time of the alleged offense.”  Oakland County Chief Assistant Prosecutor David Williams released  a statement that Crumbley would be evaluated by a doctor from the Center for Forensic Psychiatry, saying:  “As expected, Ethan Crumbley’s attorney has requested an evaluation of his criminal responsibility. This is standard procedure.” At Crumbley’s arraignment last month, the judge entered a plea of not guilty at the request of Crumbley’s attorney.

Crumbley faces 24 charges, in connection with the shooting at Oxford High School, including one count of terrorism causing death and four counts of first-degree murder. Crumbley was 15-years-old at the time of the shooting, and is being charged as an adult.  Additionally, Crumbley’s parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, were arrested days after the shooting and charged with four counts each of involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors allege that the parents disregarded signs their son was a threat, and gave him easy access to the gun used in the shooting. At a hearing earlier this month, prosecutor Mark Keast alleged Crumbley’s parents were negligent in addressing issues with their son, who allegedly texted his mother while his parents were not home, saying he saw demons or ghosts, or that he believed someone was inside the house. Crumbley’s parents have pleaded not guilty.

Authorities say that teachers at the high school had reported concerning behavior from Crumbley. Hours before the killings, Crumbley was found with a drawing that essentially depicted a shooting.  The teen’s notebooks also included concerning content including entries about how he wanted to shoot guns, shoot up a school and other dark thoughts. Crumbley searched online for information about guns and school shootings so much that he started to get spam advertisements regarding guns and mental health, the prosecutor said.

Four students — Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17 — were killed at Oxford High School, located 40 miles north of downtown Detroit. Another six students and one teacher were wounded in the attack, making it the deadliest school shooting since 2018 in the United States.

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