Even for stone-faced, seen-it-all-before officers, the act that took place at a police lieutenant’s Las Vegas-area home Monday was deeply distressing.
The 52-year-old lawman, police said, killed his wife and child, called 911 to say he was burning his house down and warned he would take the life of anyone who tried to stop him.
Then he waited.
When a SWAT team arrived at the lieutenant’s Boulder City home, they found him outside with what looked like a handgun.
Officers asked him to drop the weapon — commands the lieutenant must have screamed many times before in his 20-year career. He ignored them and ducked back into the blazing home.
It was then, police believe, that he killed himself.
Once firefighters put out the blaze that tore through the home, they found his body, his 46-year-old wife’s, and their elementary-school-aged son’s.
CNN is withholding their names because the coroner’s office has not finished notifying family members.
The lieutenant worked for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, where he supervised patrol officers, CNN affiliate KVVU reported.
The station had interviewed him before about other crimes.
The wife worked for some time as a Las Vegas police officer, the Las Vegas Review-Journal said.
She won a community service award and a lifesaving award before leaving the department in 2005.
“Anyone involved with law enforcement for any amount of time is usually prepared for any scenario, but nobody can prepare for something like this,” Las Vegas Metro Sheriff Doug Gillespie told reporters.
Last year, 126 police officers killed themselves, according to the National Study of Police Suicides by the nonprofit The Badge of Life.
It’s a steep drop from the other two years the survey was conducted: 143 in 2009 and 141 in 2008.
Yet, it’s cause for concern.
“In spite of this encouraging news, the fact is that police suicides continue at a rate much higher than the number of police officers killed by felons,” the group said.
Folks who knew the lieutenant in Monday’s incident were also trying to make sense of it. The soul-searching was agonizing for some.
Retired Las Vegas lieutenant Randy Sutton told KVVU he had worked alongside the lieutenant for years.
“There’s no rhyme or reason,” Sutton said, saying the lieutenant was hard-working and seemed well-adjusted.
This is “the most unconscionable, dishonorable thing to do I can ever imagine,” he added.
“The memories I have of him, they mean nothing to me anymore.”
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/22/justice/nevada-police-murder-suicide/index.html
Great news! That’s one less despicable cop I have to deal with when the time comes. However, I’m saddened that he had to take his wife and child with him. Coward!
At least he eliminated his defective cop DNA from the gene pool.
is this another ambush of a good cop and his family made to look like a murder suicided by the criminal elements in law enforcement?
whats this guys history? did he stand alone like a man has to sometimes?
That’s was the first thing to cross my mind!
Hmm… You have a point. Anything’s possible.
GOOD COP??? Nope dead cop.
Haha!! Digs, you always know how to put it so nice and plainly.
Do anti-depressants play a role in this tragedy? Like they would ever divulge that info.
No mystery here. She was about to file for divorce, take his son and clean him out financially. I’d say she was just about to cross that 10 year finish line where ex wives can collect alimony for life. He as cop knew good and well what goes on in the kangaroo family court system. Poor guy was going to lose it all anyway.
While it is sad to hear about him taking the life of others especially his kid……it is nice to hear that cops are killing themselves. 2 cops down thousands more to go….wish he would’ve taken out more cops and less of the innocent. Hopefully America wakes up and takes a stand to all these crooked cops instead of letting them and the gov’t tread on us.
A good argument to disarm all cops!
Now if he wasn’t allowed any guns in his possession, then this wouldn’t have happened!
TAKE THE GUNS FROM ALL COPS!
If we are armed & they are disarmed,then they will be very polite with the public!
Now if the cops would only start committing suicide at the rate our military currently is.