Category: Cops

I can’t believe it.  After all this time, it’s actually finally happened.  You have no idea how much I hate like hell to say this, but I really do have no choice.

The gun grabbers were right!

You have no idea how disgusted I am with myself right now.

Every time some jurisdiction down in the US loosened its gun control laws, organizations like the Brady Campaign fought those reforms tooth and nail.  And I ridiculed them.

They warned us over and over and over again that ONLY SOLDIERS AND COPS CAN BE TRUSTED WITH GUNS and putting guns in the hands of the average citizen would lead to mayhem — violence in the streets, shootings over the most insignificant perceived slight, gunfights over fender benders.

Yes, they warned us.  They did everything they could.  And we …  I … didn’t listen.  Now it’s happened.  Many of you have doubtless heard of the historic “Heller decision” of the US Supreme Court that struck down the District of Columbia’s wise and well-thought-out gun ban that had stood for more than 30 years, making sure DC stayed as safe as it was.  I remember it quite well.  I, fool that I was, rejoiced at it. (more…)

Well now, isn’t this ironic? According to two recent articles on CKNX’s website (CKNX is the local station in Wingham for you folks that are “from away”), the OPP are starting to get their panties in a bunch over local folks deciding to tote around some firepower to keep themselves safe until that murdering sack of maggot shit, Jesse Imeson, is safely in either the hoosegow or the boneyard.

Now, I don’t blame cops for trying to be the level heads in a damned difficult situation but they’re going so far as to suggest that decent, otherwise law-abiding country folk could end up in the pokey for nothing more than exercising what seems to me to be simple, old-fashioned common sense:

[The first article; emphasis is mine]

News
Farm

OPP Say Don’t Carry That Gun

As tensions continue to run high through not only South Huron but many other rural communities, police say its not a good idea to arm yourself.

Ever since the Regiers were found dead in their Mount Carmel area farmhouse, residents have been locking doors and keeping kids close.

And as wheat comes off, some are even arming themselves in combines as they go through secluded areas alone – sometimes late at night.

Sergeant Dave Rektor says that’s not a good idea — noting it is illegal.

He says many times — the person carrying the gun is the one hurt.

Rektor says police are doing everything humanly possible to try and find Jesse Imeson.

Some of that can be seen with officers combing fields and bush lots in various areas through Huron County.

[The second article; emphasis is mine]

News
Local

OPP Discourage Public Arms In Imeson Manhunt

The OPP continue the hunt for triple murder suspect Jesse Imeson and remind the public to be patient and let them do their job.

Many frightened residents namely in the rural community are reportedly “arming up” in the event Imeson should approach their farmhouse.

OPP Seargant Dave Rektor says its against the law and extremely dangerous for a citizen to arm themselves and those indivduals would be held criminally responsible for their actions.

He says police are doing everything they can to ensure the safety of the public while they search for the accused killer.

Rektor says in many cases the weapon ends up being used against them by an intruder.

Anyone with information on the location of Imeson or the 2006 GMC Sierra pick-up truck are asked to call 911, their local police agency or the new TIPS Line at 1-877-584-8477.

Everybody with two brain cells to rub together knows damned well that I respect and support the boys and girls in blue that make a living risking their asses for the rest of us but this is where I call bullshit! Decent folks are gonna arm themselves for their own safety until this asshole is caught and there ain’t a damned thing you can do about it. That’s right, Dave: they’re going to carry guns; JUST LIKE YOU DO!

Quit wasting time and resources threatening decent folks and get back to hunting down that scumbag! You want Farmer Bob to take the 12-gauge outta the combine? Simple: NAIL IMESON! Period.

Rektor is bang-on about one thing, though: if you’re going to arm yourself, MEAN BUSINESS and BE RESPONSIBLE! It really is true that homeowners who arm themselves often find their gun taken away from them. And for God’s sake, WATCH WHERE YOU AIM!! If you end up killing the neighbour’s kid, you’ll live with that until the day you die…

Okay, I know that London’s getting to be more and more like the ArseholeOf The Universeâ„¢ as the days and months go on but this is just a little too creepy, even by my admittedly somewhat cynical standards.

It seems like the whole damned tactical squad got called out about 11 o’clock last night and weren’t in the mood to take any shit.  I haven’t been able to get any real details on just what the hell happened yet, but judging by what the Freeps had to say this morning, those boys were definitely in full move-your-ass-we’re-not-screwing-around-here mode.

If anybody has any details, I’d be interested…

A flurry of police, including heavily armed tactical officers, swooped down on a London highrise late last night, catching some residents by surprise.

Residents said police arrived just before 11 p.m. and sealed off the 14th floor of one of the twin CityPlace towers, at 405 Waterloo St., near Dundas, and ordered no one be allowed up to that floor.

One resident said police were seen racing to the nearby Holiday Inn Express, and from there were visible in a stairwell window staring over at the highrise.

It wasn’t immediately clear what had triggered the heavy police response, and no one was available to comment.

A woman staying at the Holiday Inn said she went up the stairwell to see what was happening and came across two officers on the 10th-floor landing, wearing what she described as “big goggles.”

“I walked in and said, ‘Is everything OK? And they said, ‘Go downstairs,’ ” said hotel guest Ashley Morrison.

An officer was seen out on one of the 14th-floor balconies at the apartment building.

…that doing the right thing would ever be easy. London top cop Murray Faulkner has likely had that on his mind quite a bit lately.

To the surprise of no one, the parents of David Lucio have begun demanding a full inquest into how the case was handled (not that I blame them — if my son were killed, I’d want every damned detail gone over with an electron microscope) and Faulkner has likely spent some very self-critical time in front of the mirror lately. Now there’s a guy that I don’t envy…

The outraged parents of a former London police officer killed by another in a murder-suicide want an inquest into how police handled the case.

But while police Chief Murray Faulkner rejects that, yesterday — for the first time — he said he will ask an outside party to assess what happened and how police missed any signs of trouble brewing.

Just how formal such an outside examination would be, Faulkner couldn’t say. “I am not sure of the process yet.”

Now, before we all hop on the bullshit bandwagon and start pillorying Faulkner for “not knowing what to do,” let’s just pull the hell off the sanctimony superhighway, shall we? I don’t think there is any police chief anywhere on this continent, let alone in Canada, with any experience in a matter like this. The most senior female officer on the entire force — often referred to even now as a “rising star” — murders a former police superintendent, in what is looking more and more like a fit of jealousy, and then takes her own life, eliminating the possibility of a trial.

Contrary to what some arseholes will tell you, there’s one hell of a lot more to cops than going through life blindly following procedure and shining their badges in their off hours. These people have lives; wives, husbands, kids, bills, mortgages, hopes, dreams… you name it. Just like you.  And when they lose one of their own, it’s like a cold slap in the face that reminds them that every time they put on that uniform and walk out the door, they might not come back.  Their wives or husbands might have to carry on alone.  Their kids might have to grow up without a mom or dad.  Their parents might be left to endure the frustrations that torment David Lucio’s parents…

An angry Doug Lucio, father of the slain retired officer, contacted The Free Press to vent his frustrations. “She killed him. She murdered him — premeditated. Nobody’s saying that,” the father, 80, said.

Angry about the handling of the case, including what the public was told and when, the father insists discussion about the tragedy has been stifled.

“Out of discussion comes action plans. And out of action plans comes results,” he said.

“I will not tolerate this. (An inquest could) let people stop it from happening again.”

No, Doug, it wouldn’t.  I don’t blame you for being pissed; God knows you’re entitled (never thought I’d use that phrase).  But as much as we may wish otherwise, there are still some things in this life that we just can’t see coming, no matter how hard we try.  You’re absolutely right about one thing, though.  People aren’t being direct about what happened, so here it is:

That bitch murdered your son in cold blood.  Period.  She wasn’t any kind of a victim; she had no excuse. There was a victim here but it sure as hell wasn’t her. She was just as bad as some asshole that kills his wife because she’s leaving him.  In fact, she was worse.  Worse because she was in a position of authority and trust.

There you have it, for whatever it’s worth.  Getting back to Faulkner, though, the senior Lucio also has some other damned good questions that deserve to be answered:

Among other things, Lucio wants to know why Faulkner met with the family of Johnson — the shooter — but didn’t call he and his wife, the parents of her victim and a fellow although retired officer.

He also wants to know why police didn’t erase any public doubts about which of the two was the shooter — thus clearing Lucio’s name — when the truth was clear long before autopsy results were released five days after the shootings.

“They knew. So how come it just came out the day of his funeral (June 11)?” he asked.

Lucio described a dramatic confrontation with Faulkner at his son’s funeral Monday.

“I said to him, ‘You got a hold of (Johnson’s former) husband and you got a hold of her father.’ Then I said to him, ‘Why didn’t you call his mother and I?”

Face it, Murray.  No matter how you slice it, you owe that man some answers.

I guess this just goes to show you that sometimes, a thing really is just what it looks like. Police have now confirmed what just about everybody had already suspected ever since last Thursday: the deaths of Acting Insp. Kelly Johnson and retired superintendent David Lucio were in fact a murder-suicide.

Johnson first shot Lucio and then turned the gun on herself. At this point, no one knows why.

The truth of it is that we may never know…

LONDON, Ont. (CP) — Police in London, Ont., have determined that the deaths of a high-ranking female police officer and a retired officer last week were a murder-suicide.

Investigators have concluded that Acting Insp. Kelly Johnson, 40, shot and killed retired superintendent David Lucio, 57, then turned the gun on herself inside the vehicle Lucio was driving.

The regional coroner has determined that Lucio and Johnson both died from single gunshot wounds.

Police were called to the scene early Thursday morning by witnesses who saw a van crash into a building, and officers found the two bodies inside, along with Johnson’s service pistol.

Johnson and Lucio were ex-lovers, but the nature of their relationship was unclear at the time of their deaths.

Lucio’s funeral takes place today in London.

UPDATE

For all of those of you that have been wondering, speculating, and other things ending with “ing,” the answer may have come out:

London police officer Kelly Johnson learned two days before she killed David Lucio and herself that he was leaving her for his wife, Lucio’s best friend said yesterday.

Lucio, a retired superintendent, told acting inspector Johnson he was moving back home, retired RCMP officer Gord Brodie said yesterday.

The whole story from today’s Freeps is here.

Being somebody that follows politics, you’d think that I’d be used to some things not making any sense after all this time. But there are some things that will get into your head and just won’t let go of your brain.

If you live in London — or even near it, for that matter — you likely know by now about what happened to Kelly Johnson and David Lucio. Just after midnight last night, the van that Lucio was driving slammed into an apartment building on Picton St. Neighbours rushed to the scene to be confronted with a gruesome sight. Both Lucio and Johnson dead from gunshot wounds.

Johnson’s service weapon was on her lap.

Speculation is that it’s a case of murder/suicide but, as Chief Murray Faulkner pointed out: “we need to have proof, not just speculation, not just opinion.” Amen to that. The fact is that, right now, nobody’s sure of anything…

‘An irrational act’

Fri, June 8, 2007

Top-ranking female officer, retired superintendent found in scene of horror The service pistol used belonged to Kelly Johnson, a leader in fighting domestic violence.

By RANDY RICHMOND AND KELLY PEDRO, SUN MEDIA

Acting Insp. Kelly Johnso

Just before London police’s “rising female star” and her ex-lover, a retired officer, were killed in a murder- suicide, she made a mysterious stop at the police station. Then, Acting Insp. Kelly Johnson, the force’s highest- ranking female officer, jumped into a waiting van. Minutes later, two gunshots were fired inside a van before it crashed into a brick wall six blocks away from the station, outside Johnson’s apartment building at 7 Picton St. Stunned neighbours found Johnson, 40, dead, her face bloody, her 9 mm Glock service pistol — which she wasn’t authorized to have with her — on her lap. Beside her, the driver of the van and her ex-lover, retired superintendent David Lucio, 57, was slumped over with what witnesses called a bullet wound to the head.

I’m tempted, at first sight, to say that it must be just what it looks like. But that nagging little voice in the back of my head just won’t shut up. And the more I read, the louder it gets.