Georgia LEO officer killed in cold blood this afternoon

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Georgia LEO officer killed in cold blood this afternoon

Posted: 8/11/2005 6:35:57 PM EDT

www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=67641

Pine Lake Officer Shot and Killed

A man shot a police officer to death, ran inside a post office and then apparently killed himself following a traffic stop gone bad Thursday, authorities said. A witness said the gunman was holding the officer hostage when he shot him point-blank in front of the building.

Gunfire was exchanged between the shooter and another officer before the gunman fled into the post office and it was surrounded by police. All four postal employees had managed to escape through the back and it was not immediately known if any customers were inside at the time, said Paul Krenn, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

The post office had been open when the shooting occurred around 5 p.m. A dozen or more police cars could be seen in television helicopter footage in the streets outside the post office.

The slain officer worked for the Pine Lake Police Department, DeKalb County Police Chief Louis Graham said. The officer was identified by DeKalb County Police spokesman Corey Hughes as Francis Ortega. Hughes said Ortega was a part-time officer but did not know his age nor how long he had been with the department.

The gunman had died of a gunshot wound, Krenn said. “It appears to be self-inflicted,” he said.

“I was terrified. I was afraid the perpetrator was going to see me and come hijack my car and try to take me. I just put my head down,” said Susan Boozer, who witnessed the shooting as she pulled up to the building after getting off work at a nearby hardware store to check her personal post office box.

Boozer, 53, said she saw blue lights and “thought it was just somebody getting stopped for a speeding ticket.”

Then, she said she saw two Pine Lake police officers near a parked blue SUV, one with his gun drawn. Then, she saw the man with his arm around the chest of one of the officers and shouting at the other “’Go on and shoot. Go on and shoot.”’

The man then shot at the officer who was pointing the gun at him, and then he shot the one he was holding, she said.

“He was holding him when he shot him. He was a very angry man or hyped up on something,” Boozer said.

Gunfire then ensued between the man and the other officer. Boozer guessed that about 10 shots were fired before the man entered the post office.

The gunman then fled into the post office. The post office was closed for the day, but the front door was open so that customers could check their post office boxes.

“We heard shots coming inside, hitting metal and stuff and I looked out and I saw the guy shooting out the door and everything and he was moving back and forth, banging on the doors and stuff to try and get in there with us, but everything was locked up,” said postal employee John Strock.

Then the shooting ended.

“He shot himself. After I saw him lying on the floor there, I saw there was a big pool of blood down there around his head, and I went and opened the other door, and I looked out there, and I saw him lying on his back, saw where the bullet went in his head,” Strock said.

Krenn confirmed that the incident had stemmed from a traffic stop, but no other details were immediately available.

“It hits very, very close to home. Crime does not really hit Pine Lake, crime does not hit a mile from my house, it’s very scary and it makes me a little bit nervous to know that those are the kind of people that are now in our area,” Laura Spikes, a Pine Lake resident, said.

The Associated Press contributed this report.

From what I heard on the radio tonight, it sounded as if the gunman had managed to somehow gain control over Officer Ortega. He was holding him with the gun to his head, taunting the other officer to shoot. He then shot Officer Ortega in the head execution style.

RIP Officer Ortega

Posted: 8/11/2005 6:41:22 PM EDT

[#1]

Damn it...

Godspeed, Brother.

Posted: 8/11/2005 6:41:39 PM EDT

[#2]

Wow, that's insane! And he was just doing that part time too. Sad. I wonder what they had on that crazy idiot in order for him to flip like that.

Posted: 8/11/2005 6:45:03 PM EDT

[#3]

I saw that on the news too.

RIP brother

Posted: 8/11/2005 6:46:34 PM EDT

[#4]

Posted: 8/11/2005 6:51:52 PM EDT

[#5]

Damn, it's getting to where I always seem to have a mourning band on my badge.

Posted: 8/11/2005 6:52:11 PM EDT

[#6]

The POS couldn't have just killed himself ?

Justice, extra crispy has more meaning than just the electric chair, tell your BS sob story to St Peter and see how impressed he is.....

RIP, yet one more fallen oficer and family we will keep in our family prayers.

Posted: 8/11/2005 6:52:27 PM EDT

[#7]

Posted: 8/11/2005 7:16:45 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
The POS couldn't have just killed himself ?

Justice, extra crispy has more meaning than just the electric chair, tell your BS sob story to St Peter and see how impressed he is.....

RIP, yet one more fallen oficer and family we will keep in our family prayers.

He did kill himself. About 5 minutes too late, but he did. Too bad he didn't do himself first. He took the officer out first. Then the chickenshit popped himself in the egg.

Posted: 8/11/2005 7:29:47 PM EDT

[#9]

Sad.

RIP

Posted: 8/11/2005 7:39:34 PM EDT

[#10]

Posted: 8/11/2005 7:42:53 PM EDT

[#11]

RIP

Posted: 8/11/2005 7:45:23 PM EDT

[#12]

RIP, brother.

Posted: 8/11/2005 7:50:49 PM EDT

[#13]

Damn

Posted: 8/11/2005 7:53:05 PM EDT

[#14]

RIP

Posted: 8/12/2005 6:56:18 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
Quoted:
The POS couldn't have just killed himself ?

Justice, extra crispy has more meaning than just the electric chair, tell your BS sob story to St Peter and see how impressed he is.....

RIP, yet one more fallen oficer and family we will keep in our family prayers.

He did kill himself. About 5 minutes too late, but he did. Too bad he didn't do himself first. He took the officer out first. Then the chickenshit popped himself in the egg.

Why do these fuckers always do it out of order ?!?!?!

Posted: 8/12/2005 7:36:17 AM EDT

[#16]

RIP Brother, and as for this fucking scumbag that is adding to the numbers of ambushed officers. Fucking cocksucker, why take a good man hostage and then kill him for no good fucking reason just to run into a public building and blow your brains out? Why not just eat the fucking gun and save everyone some time and heartache?

Come on, do we need to start doing felony traffic stops to keep officers safe form the flood of dumbass criminals killing us today? Damn it!!!

Posted: 8/12/2005 7:37:22 AM EDT

[#17]

RIP Officer Ortega.

Prayer sent for him and his family

Posted: 8/12/2005 7:39:41 AM EDT

[#18]

Jesus.... what is the deal here lately.

Posted: 8/12/2005 7:39:55 AM EDT

[#19]

RIP officer.

What I can't figure out from the news reports was whether or not the scumbag had his own gun or he took the officer's gun.

He had the officer in a headlock and then shot him in the top of the head. Damn! What a raging maniac.

Posted: 8/12/2005 7:49:56 AM EDT

[#20]

RIP officer Ortega

Posted: 8/12/2005 7:54:28 AM EDT

[#21]

RIP. I'm also unclear on whose gun was used. I'll do a little research on the police boards.

Just for thought, compare this incident to the discussion going on over in the "get out of the car" thread.

Posted: 8/12/2005 8:33:21 AM EDT

[#22]

RIP officer.

Pine Lakes is a nice little community in a not so great part of town. Their cops are well-known in the area for keeping out the thugs, etc. They are notorious for pulling over cars w/ expired tags, dealer tags, speeding, running stop signs, etc. I suspect they catch a lot of bad folks by doing these routine stops. It was bound to happen that one of them would get hurt.

God Bless him and his family.

Edited to add:

City of Pine Lake

Today, Pine Lake is the safest city in the Metropolitan Atlanta area. There were no violent crimes reported last year and property crimes are 1/5 that of the rest of Georgia. Pine Lake boasts a strong neighborhood association with a neighborhood watch program, an increasingly professional and accountable government.
http://www.pinelakega.com/police.htm

Posted: 8/12/2005 10:38:49 AM EDT

[#23]

Prayers sent for Officer Ortega's family.

I know where that scum bag shooter is going to spend eternity.

Posted: 8/13/2005 9:14:21 AM EDT

[#24]

The POS shit that killed Officer Ortega was from my hometown.

May he rot in hell.

Posted: 8/13/2005 9:21:55 AM EDT

[#25]

An attempted suicide by cop gone terribly wrong. I hate it.

Posted: 8/13/2005 9:40:23 AM EDT

[#26]

Prayers for his family and friends.

Posted: 8/13/2005 9:55:59 AM EDT

[#27]

More senseless death......... Prolly over a DUI/fail to appear warrant....

fvcking waste.

Posted: 8/13/2005 10:10:22 AM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:
More senseless death......... Prolly over a DUI/fail to appear warrant....

fvcking waste.

He was convicted as a fellon in possesion of a gun, in june of 1999, they dropped the possession of an SBR/SBS charge, my guess is it was plea bargened away. And he had two pending Misd. charges against him for which it looks like he had warrents. Criminal Trespass to Dwelling,
Disorderly Conduct are what they were for.

This is public info just make that clear.

They should ahve went after his ass for the SBR/SBS charges so his ass would have still been in prison, this wouldn't have ever happened then. We always bitch about them not enforcing the gun laws on the books, looks like doing just that would have saved the life of an LEO.

Posted: 8/13/2005 6:58:52 PM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:
Quoted:
More senseless death......... Prolly over a DUI/fail to appear warrant....

fvcking waste.

He was convicted as a fellon in possesion of a gun, in june of 1999, they dropped the possession of an SBR/SBS charge, my guess is it was plea bargened away. And he had two pending Misd. charges against him for which it looks like he had warrents. Criminal Trespass to Dwelling,
Disorderly Conduct are what they were for.

This is public info just make that clear.

They should ahve went after his ass for the SBR/SBS charges so his ass would have still been in prison, this wouldn't have ever happened then. We always bitch about them not enforcing the gun laws on the books, looks like doing just that would have saved the life of an LEO.

He also had a record dating back 15 years or so.........armed robbery, assault, etc.