2 police fatally shot in West Memphis, Arkansas

[alp227]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- Two police officers were fatally shot and another two were wounded Thursday in two separate shootings allegedly by the same suspects in West Memphis, Arkansas, police said.

The suspects, who were using an assault weapon, were themselves fatally shot.

The incident began around 11:40 a.m. (12:40 p.m. ET), when police made a traffic stop on a white minivan traveling eastbound on I-40 at Airport Road, said Inspector Bert Shelton, who is assigned to city hall for the West Memphis Police Department.

The occupant or occupants of the van shot two police officers and sped off, he said. One of the victims died at the scene; the other was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died, Shelton said. One of the two fatalities was the son of the city's chief of police, he added.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/20/arkansas.2.police.killed/index.html

---

Another double-sided cop killing...sorta mirrors the 2009 Oakland police shooting except there were two perps who both died, not just one.

[Taverner]

1. What exactly is an "assault weapon"?

[slackmaster]

2. Anything a gang-banger uses to shoot police officers

:shrug:

[RamboLiberal]

15. Or Wingnut uses to shoot police officers

Looks like this one was 2 Aryan Nation members or wannabees from early news reports with AK-47s.

[slackmaster]

20. I think that would qualify as a gang hit

White people can be gang-bangers too.

[SecularMotion]

3. From Wikipedia

"There are a variety of different statutory definitions of assault weapons in local, state, and federal laws in the United States that define them by a set of characteristics they possess."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_weapon

[Taverner]

5. Can you show me a pitcure?

This isn't exactly helping me...

[SecularMotion]

11. No, that's the point

There is no one definition or picture to define ALL assault weapons.

The term "assault weapon" has no real meaning out of the context of the legislation in which it is defined. NRA supporters use that fact in an attempt to portray legislation against "assault weapons" as meaningless.

[Pavulon]

12. Like "enemy combatant" or "subversive" orwell would be proud (nt)

[benEzra]

24. An "assault weapon" is a civilian rifle with a handgrip that sticks out. (n/t)

[slackmaster]

28. Some of them also have that shoulder thing that goes up

:hi:

[proteus_lives]

4. Lazy/agenda-thumping reporters and editors.

[rfranklin]

16. You're splitting hairs and riding your gun hobby horse...

The issue here is that some assholes murdered some policemen.

[Taverner]

32. No - I've posted elswhere that the White Supremacists were scum

But "Assault Weapons" is a canard. Always has been. It cheapens the reporting, it cheapens the sacrifices of the policemen and it cheapens you for defending it.

[Flaneur]

29. Relatives of the shooters say they had an AK-47.

http://m.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/may/21/relatives-id-west-memphis-suspects/

[Taverner]

33. Now THAT is a proper descriptor

AK 47 - I know what that gun is. I know what it looks like.

I also know that it can be easily converted to fully auto

But Assault Weapon doesn't exist as a classification. Go into a gun shop and ask for one. They'll have no idea what you're talking about.

And all this is coming from me, a man who owns NO guns and never wants to

[Pavulon]

6. Terrible loss for them and their families. here is a picture from the scene

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

linked local news.

[Taverner]

7. Jesus FUCK look at that picture!

Death

Yeah, Blaze of Glory muthafucka...

:eyes:

[Pavulon]

8. I am interested to see what the motive is for this trash

meth, whatever.

[Ava83]

10. This may mean nothing

It is from the local paper in Clinton County, Ohio.

Suspects in fatal shootouts linked to New Vienna
Suspects, two police officers killed

The Associated Press

Occupants of a van registered to the House of God's Prayer in New Vienna were involved in a shootout Thursday afternoon in West Memphis, Ark. Two police officers were killed.

According to The Associated Press, the police officers had pulled over the van along Interstate 40. After the officers were shot, the suspects fled the scene.

A short time later, the suspects were killed in a separate shootout with a county sheriff and a deputy, both of whom were wounded.

Names and addresses of the suspects have not yet been released.

Colonel Brian Prickett, chief deputy with the Clinton County Sheriff's Office, said the van is registered to a former white supremacist church in New Vienna that has been closed for many years.

http://www.wnewsj.com/main.asp?SectionID=49&SubSectionID=156&ArticleID=184160

[RamboLiberal]

22. Yeah it's closed cause the FBI brought them down

I thought they sounded familiar. I remembered reading a book about the informant. Searching the book on Amazon.com showed it was the church in New Vienna, OH. I believe this was also the AN's that had a plot to assasinate Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center back in the nineties.

Into the Devil's Den: How an FBI Informant Got Inside the Aryan Nations and a Special Agent Got Him Out Alive

From Publishers Weekly
In 1996, Dave Hall, an unemployed ex-biker, found himself facing a prison sentence for a minor marijuana charge. With biker friends who associated with the Ohio branch of the Aryan Nations—then considered the FBI's most dangerous domestic terrorist group—and its charismatic, bloodthirsty pastor, Harold Ray Redfeairn, Hall agreed to help the FBI infiltrate the AN. Hall encounters this quasi-Christian cult that interprets the Bible as a bizarre racist, anti-Semitic tract and advocates violent revolution to destroy non-Aryan races. Swallowing his disgust, he patiently wins Redfeairn's confidence, eventually becoming his right-hand man and designated successor. As presented here, the world of gun-obsessed, antigovernment fringe groups, whose weapon-worship becomes their ultimate undoing, horrifies and entertains. Hall's work led to several arrests and eventually crippled the AN, which has not recovered. Neither has Hall, who claims, When you dance with the devil, the devil doesn't change, the devil changes you. The book shifts between Hall's and FBI agent Burkey's perspectives, but the main voice belongs to crime writer Ramsland who knits these stories into a seamless drama filled with suspense, vivid characters and colorful events. (Apr. 15)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Product Description
In 1996, the Aryan Nations was considered to be the most dangerous white supremacist group in the United States. This brutally violent neo-Nazi organization dreamed of carving an isolated homeland out of the American northwest–a dream they would finance by robbery, intimidation, and murder. For years, the FBI had sought to infiltrate the Aryan Nations, only to be thwarted by the group’s extreme paranoia of new members.

Enter Dave Hall, a tattooed, 350-pound, six-foot-four former biker. A black belt in martial arts, he could fight, drink, and ride with the best–which is to say, the worst–of them. But Hall was no stereotypical biker. A thoughtful, articulate man blessed with a photographic memory and an unshakeable core of decency, Hall was looking for a new direction in life. After Hall was arrested for his minor involvement in a drug deal, FBI special agent Tym Burkey gave him a choice: go to jail or become an informant. Hall didn’t go to jail.

So began a most unlikely partnership, between a hell-raising former biker and a by-the-book FBI man. The oddest of odd couples, they would slowly forge a unique friendship based on trust and support–a friendship that Hall especially would come to value in the months and years ahead.

For what was supposed to be a short-term assignment grew to something much longer, and bigger in scope, as Hall became the Ohio Aryan Nations leader’s right hand man. And more and more, Hall suspected that a significant terrorist action was being planned, something on the order of the Oklahoma City bombing.

Yet with the clock ticking, Hall found his hold on reality crumbling as he was forced into behaviors and beliefs that repelled him. With the ever-present threat of discovery and death hanging over his head, he felt his psyche start to fragment, leading to estrangement from his family and friends, and vicious bouts of insomnia, night terrors, and panic attacks. But it was too late to back out. Together, Hall and Burkey would have to finish their dance with the Devil.

Harrowing and intense, this true-life thriller is a testament to bravery, dedication, and friendship–and a timely reminder that America’s homegrown terrorists can be just as deadly as those from overseas.

http://www.amazon.com/Into-Devils-Den-Informant-Nations/dp/0345496949/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274399058&sr=8-1#noop

[tinymontgomery]

9. I find the comments at the end

I find the comments at the end kind of interesting. One person wrote that they should hang them from a bridge so they can be pinatas. Didn't we destroy a city somewhere because some people hung some mercenaries from and bridge and did something like that?

Not supporting the killing just interesting how it's okay for us to do that but not some other country.

edited for spelling: duh

[AzNick]

18. They are calling them "illegal aliens"

While the other photo shows it's apparently a white guy and also the extra information we get from the other article is that they are apparently white supremacists, most likely militia type.

So it begins...

[slackmaster]

21. White guys can be illegal aliens too

In any case, they were assholes.

[tinymontgomery]

23. Huh aren't we illegal aliens in Iraq?

just asking.

[slackmaster]

27. No, we're an invading army

Not quite the same thing.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. Wasn't this the same plot behind that militia bust a few weeks ago?

Get pulled over...
Ambush cops...
????
Profit

[progressoid]

14. Hmmm, where are the "all cops are fascist, power hungry, thug, pigs" posts?

Rest in peace, Officers of the Peace.

[emilyg]

17. Those poor cops and

their families. Sad.

[MissDeeds]

19. +1000

My brother is a chief of police. Thank you for your post.

[Taverner]

31. Way to look at everything in a binary matter

nuance BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD! :eyes:

[progressoid]

34. No.

Just pointing out that we have people here that do make such statements. I'm not sure I see how my observation of some DUers position on one subject is looking at i]"everything in a binary way"{/i]. I suppose I am, however, accusing them of binary thinking about a particular group of people (cops).

[Supply Side Jesus]

25. Tragic

Two more names on the wall. Two more families destroyed.

These are sacrifices each Law Enforcement Officer knows they might have to make.

[maddezmom]

26. Van Driven By Gunmen Registered to "House of God's Prayer" in Ohio

Van Driven By Gunmen Registered to "House of God's Prayer" in Ohio
Reported by: Shelvia Dancy
Email: [e-mail]
Last Update: 5/20 10:27 pm


Print Story | ShareThis

Van driven by shooting suspects with Ohio license plate MEMPHIS, TN – We've learned the gunmen connected to the Walmart shootout that killed two West Memphis police Thursday drove a van that's registered to an alleged church in Ohio. According to records with the Ohio Department of Motor Vehicles, the plates on the gunmen’s van are registered to “House of God’s Prayer” in New Vienna, Ohio. That church was once affiliated with Harold Ray Redfeairn, a white supremacist preacher who died in 2003. Redfeairn was a leader of the Aryan Nation. He was also convicted of trying to kill a cop a 1979, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups across the country. The Center said Redfeairn was sentenced to four consecutive seven-year minimum terms for attempted aggravated murder, but was paroled in 1991.

more:http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story/Van-Driven-By-Gunmen-Registered-to-House-of-Gods/4cjuyB8tO0yIfb4xVBok8Q.cspx

[superconnected]

30. Post pulled. Hope they catch them.