Suspect and victim dead following shooting at Canton coin laundry

8-11-2014 Mississippi:

CANTON, MS (Mississippi News Now) - Two shooting investigations are underway in Canton. According to the Madison County Coroner, the victims in both instances died and the shootings are connected.

Officials say that 52-year-old Torrez Harris shot his 29-year-old step-daughter Melissa Primer after an argument.

It began just before 10 a.m. Monday at a home on Peace Street. Police say the suspect shot his step daughter several times in a car.

Witness Maggie Anthony said,

"By the time he finished shooting, he came out of the car, like a 2-3 year old child came out the back side on the drivers side," said Maggie Anthony, who witnessed the shooting. "He (Harris) walked around to the other side of the car. He opened the door and got her out and started kicking the victim."

The suspect made his way to the Peace Street Coin Laundry where police say he told patrons to leave. A Canton police officer and a Madison deputy arrived and tried to get him to surrender.

Sheriff Tucker and Chief Brown confirm that Harris was shot and killed by officers at the Peace Street Coin Laundry after refusing to drop his weapon.

Pinellas Jail inmate chose death over prison

5-6-2014 Florida:

Just a few weeks before he was to be sentenced in a solicitation-to-commit murder case, a convicted sex offender was found dead over the weekend at the Pinellas County Jail, his defense attorney confirmed.

Attorney Deb Moss said Tuesday morning she was notified Saturday that David Tyler, 56, was found dead and that he appeared to have killed himself.

Tyler was convicted last month of solicitation to commit murder. Prosecutors claimed he enlisted a fellow inmate at the jail to find someone to kill his aunt after his aunt told a judge her nephew should not be released on bond during a pending case in which he was accused of stalking a 13-year-old boy.

Tyler was scheduled to be sentenced May 23 in the solicitation-to-commit murder case. Because of his criminal history, he faced a sentence of 15 years to life.

3 dead, 1 injured

Posted in Related Deaths

3-26-2012 Georgia:

MOULTRIE — A Colquitt County man was one of three people fatally shot early Monday morning at a residence near the Colquitt-Tift County line in what is believed a murder/suicide.

The Observer has learned that Darrell Dewayne Ward, 42, one of those who died at the Innis Road residence, lived a short distance from the location where the shootings took place.

Tift County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Bobby Brannen confirmed earlier Monday that three people were dead at the residence, located off U.S. Highway 319 South near Omega.

Tift County’s 911 center received a call shortly before 6:30 a.m. about a person being shot, Brannen said.

A fourth person was transported by air for emergency medical treatment.

Brannen did not release any additional information, and the other fatalities have not been identified. It is believed, but not confirmed, that two of the dead are related to the woman who was air lifted, possibly mother and father.

Ward had moved back and forth between Colquitt and Tift counties since his release in April 2007 after he served nearly 10 years at Autry State Prison in Pelham, authorities said. He pleaded guilty Oct. 31, 1997, to the rape of a Lowndes County woman and began serving his sentence in state prison in December of that year.

On Jan. 15, Ward changed his sex-offender registration to Colquitt County from Tift County, after having moved from here to Tift County in 2010.

In a plea arrangement on the rape charge in Lowndes County, counts of false imprisonment, aggravated stalking and burglary were dismissed at the time he pleaded to the rape charge, District Attorney David Miller said.

The Georgia State Patrol charged Ward in July 2010 in Colquitt County with driving under the influence, failure to maintain lane, failure to provide assistance and driving without a license on his person. It was not immediately known whether those charges had been disposed of. ..Source.. by Alan Mauldin

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GBI: Ward was shooter in murder-suicide

3-27-2012:

TIFTON — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation Sylvester Office and the Tift County Sheriff’s Office began a joint investigation at 7:30 a.m. Monday into a murder/suicide that occurred in Tift County, the GBI reported.

Kim Baker, special agent in charge, provided a press release Tuesday stating that two adults discovered deceased inside the residence located at 103 Iniss Road in Tifton have been identified as James Williams Peters Sr., approximately 57 years of age, and Shirley Ann Peters, approximately 53 years of age. Both had sustained what appeared to be gunshot wounds.

A third person also found deceased at the residence was identified as Darrell Dewayne Ward, approximately 43 years of age, who had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest.

So far, the crime scene examination and interviews conducted by the GBI and the Tift County authorities indicate that sometime after 10 p.m. Sunday, Ward drove to the Peters’ residence, armed with a handgun, and mortally wounded James and Shirley Peters, shot their daughter and then fatally shot himself. The daughter is expected to recover from the injuries that she sustained during the attack.

The bodies of the deceased are being transported to the GBI Crime Lab for autopsies.

The investigation by the GBI, TCSO and the Tift County Coroner’s Office continues.

Ward had moved back and forth between Colquitt and Tift counties since his release in April 2007 after he served nearly 10 years at Autry State Prison in Pelham, authorities said. He pleaded guilty Oct. 31, 1997 to the rape of a Lowndes County woman and began serving his sentence in state prison in December of that year.

On Jan. 15, Ward changed his sex-offender registration to Colquitt County from Tift County, after having moved from Colquitt County to Tift County in 2010.

In a plea arrangement on the rape charge in Lowndes County, counts of false imprisonment, aggravated stalking and burglary were dismissed at the time he pleaded to the rape charge, District Attorney David Miller said.

The GSP charged Ward in July 2010 in Colquitt County with driving under the influence, failure to maintain lane, failure to provide assistance and driving without a license on his person. It was not immediately known whether those charges had been disposed of. ..Source.. by The Tifton Gazette CNHI

Autopsy: Man who killed former girlfriend at Duke clinic committed suicide

Posted in Related Deaths

5-10-2010 North Carolina:

The Durham man who exchanged gunfire with police in May after fatally shooting his former girlfriend at a Duke clinic died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Burnett Taylor, 51, died of a contact gunshot wound to the right side of his head, the autopsy report states.

Taylor was confronted by police about two blocks from the clinic at 3116 N. Duke St. where 40 minutes earlier he had fatally shot 49-year-old Charlene King six times.

When police confronted Taylor, the autopsy states, he was holding a gun to his head.

Shots were also fired by police, the autopsy report states. The autopsy describes a second gunshot wound to the left hip. ..Source.. by Staff Reports

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Man shoots, kills girlfriend at Duke health clinic

5-6-2010 North Carolina:

DURHAM (WTVD) -- A Duke Medicine employee was shot and killed by a gunman who came to her workplace in Durham Tuesday afternoon.

The shooting at the Duke Health Center at North Duke Street happened just before 3 p.m. at the corner of N. Duke Street and Frasier Street. That's north of I-85 near the Durham Regional Hospital.

Panicked 911 calls immediately began flooding into emergency operators.

"We're all hiding in a room here," a doctor told a 911 operator.

Click here to listen to the calls

"The guy with the gun came in and somebody fell through the door," said another caller. "A man came in behind her and shot."

Witnesses reported hearing four shots. They said medical staff were attempting to give the woman CPR, but she was unconscious.

Durham police identified the victim as 49-year-old Charlene Bullock King. Relatives told ABC11 that she worked at the center for 27 years as a phlebotomist. They said the gunman was her ex-boyfriend.

Police identified him as 52-year-old Burnette Taylor of Durham.

"Charlene was very sweet, very sweet," King's stepson Steven Shealey said. "She didn't deserve this at all. Even at one point when I was going through some things with my fiancé, she took me in."

He said she had recently had a fight with Taylor and decided to leave the relationship.

"I guess he realized he had lost something that was a jewel, something that was precious as she was, and that's why he couldn't let go," Shealey said.

After the shooting, Durham police quickly swarmed the area trying to find Taylor who took off on foot.

"We happened to have officers training not too far from here at that point in time, so they were able to respond at a very quick rate," Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez said.

Witnesses reported the gunman ran into a wooded area behind a house on Carver Street. They reported hearing multiple gunshots before Taylor was seen lying on the ground.

As police tracked Taylor, Lopez said he "engaged police officers in a gun battle" at Carver and Broad streets.

Taylor was shot by officers and Lopez said he was taken to Duke Hospital where he later died.

Lopez said the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation would be assisting in the case - as is standard in any officer involved shooting.

Taylor had a long criminal record. According to the North Carolina Department of Corrections, he was a registered sex offender after convictions for second-degree rape and kidnapping in 1993. He also has convictions for car theft, larceny of firearms, resisting arrest, and drunk driving.

After serving time for those crimes, he was released and apparently began dating another woman, who late-last year accused him of assault. The woman even requested a temporary restraining order, describing a violent episode in which Taylor beat her unconscious. In court documents she wrote, "He continued to slap, kick, punch me with his fists. Blackening both my eyes, fracturing my ribs, my liver was cut due to a kick."

Probation officers put out warrants for Taylor's arrest beginning in November of last year.

State correction officials say Taylor's probation officer made every attempt to locate him, but officers never managed to track Taylor down, until six months later when Durham police officers shot him Tuesday.

Officials with the North Carolina Department of Correction also say their revue shows the probation officer made numerous attempts to find Taylor over the last six months, at his last known address and his family members, but Taylor was willfully fleeing supervision.

Meanwhile, Duke Medicine reopened on Thursday after it cancelled all appointments for all services at the Duke Health Center at North Duke Street for Wednesday. ..Source.. by WTVD.com

Suspect's Suicide Note and New Victim Emerge in Bonne Terre Killings

Posted in Related Deaths

12-2-2010 Missouri:

Bonne Terre, MO (KTVI - FOX2now.com) — There were stunning developments Wednesday in the shooting rampage in Bonne Terre that happened on day earlier: another possible victim, a suicide note, and an apology from the suspected shooter's family.

It appears 25 year old Nathan Fortner was distraught over a breakup with the mother of his son, Danielle Bement. His suicide note reads in part, "I pray to God, God forgives me"... "I can't take it"... "We're not going to get back together". Fortner obviously felt helpless, and now his mother does.

"I'm so deeply sorry," said his mother Mary Anne, "words can't express the sorrow in our hearts."

Police found another body believed to be linked to Fortner's crime spree late Tuesday night. 19 year old Ericka Wade was discovered in a vacant home on Doc Wallen Road in Washington County. Wade was a freshman cheerleader at Mineral Area College.

"Everyone loved this girl," said Nick Basinger, a friend of Ericka's. "A girl like Ericka, what do you do? What do you do?

Tuesday morning, police say Fortner shot and killed Bement, her mother Christine Snider and Snider's boyfriend Derek Nash. Then he killed himself. Police were led to the home on Doc Wallen Road by their investigation. Before her death, Bement had reported to police Fortner had raped her at that location.

Police are not yet saying for sure Fortner was Ericka Wade's killer.

"She was just a blast to be around," said her prom date, 19 year old Justin Clemons. "No matter where she was she was having a good time. And she had a wonderful smile. We pretty much danced the entire time."

Fortner was supposed to go on trial in April for a rape charge. Police say the victim in that case was not involved in Tuesday's crime. Fortner's parents say he was bipolar and had stopped taking his medication.

Clemons and Basinger say their entire community is in mourning.

"She'll always be remembered," said Clemons. "Especially by me, from the experiences we had together. Those are milestones that she shared with me. I'll never forget her." ..Source.. by KTVI-TV

Alisa Maier found alive, suspected kidnapper commits suicide, Amber Alert canceled

7-8-2010 Missouri:

Alisa Maier, the four-year-old girl who was abducted from her Missouri home has been found alive. The investigation led authorities from the St. Louis County Police Department to zero in on a convicted sex offender, Paul Smith. When approached by authorities, Paul Smith shot himself. He died last night at 10:30 p.m. Authorities have said that their investigation into who abducted Alisa Maier is now over.

During a press conference, St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch spoke of the media’s speculation that Paul Smith was the suspect in the case. He said, “We believe at this point we have plenty of evidence to believe that the person you previously reported as a person of interest, Paul Smith, is the suspect. There is no reason to believe at this point anyone else was involved."

According to Chief Fitch, when Alisa Maier was found alive she was wearing new clothes. The clothes were tracked back to a Wal-Mart store in Troy, Missouri. Surveillance video showed the now deceased suspect, Paul Smith purchase the clothes. Alisa was not with the suspect at the time her purchased the clothing. When Smith purchased the clothes he bought cigarettes that required him to reveal his birth date. With that information, investigators tracked him down.

Authorities located Paul Smith, a convicted sex offender, at a home located at 309 Highway D in Hawk Point, Missouri. Officers went to the home to conduct their investigation and upon their arrival, Paul Smith shot himself.

Paul Smith was convicted in 1995 of sodomizing a ten year old boy. He had recently been released from prison. ..Source.. Charisse Van Horn

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Missouri Man Eyed in Abduction Case Fatally Shoots Self

7-8-2010 Missouri:

A Missouri sex offender who shot himself as police approached to question him about the kidnapping of 4-year-old Alisa Maier has died.

The man died Wednesday night at a hospital in St. Charles, Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Al Nothum told The Associated Press. The Lincoln County sheriff's department earlier told AOL News it could not confirm the report.

Alisa's 6-year-old brother, Blake, was the only witness to her abduction. He told police a man driving a dark four-door sedan pulled up in front of their house Monday night and ordered her into the car. She was found a day later wandering around a car wash parking lot in a St. Louis suburb more than 80 miles from her home. Details were reported by several news agencies.

On Wednesday, police following up on more than 100 leads approached the Hawk Point, Mo., home of a man they refused to publicly identify, but whom many local news outlets named as Paul Sterling Smith. His house was about halfway between Alisa's home in the town of Louisiana and Fenton, the St. Louis suburb where she was found.

At 4:30 p.m., Smith was outside his home spray-painting his car silver, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. When police approached, they realized that Smith had a handgun and ordered him to drop it. He refused and then shot himself in the head, the newspaper reported. He had been listed in critical condition before his death was reported.

Local Fox News affiliate KTVI also identified the man as Paul S. Smith, 38, and said he was listed on the Missouri sex offender registry as having sodomized a 10-year-old boy in 1995. He also served prison time on charges of tampering with a motor vehicle and receiving stolen property, the station reported.

Smith's roommate at the Hawk Point house is reportedly James Oellermann, a fellow sex offender on the state's registry. The 54-year-old was convicted of first-degree child molestation of a 7-year-old girl, and sentenced in 2004 to five years in prison, the Post-Dispatch reported. He also had a prior conviction for possession of child pornography. Oellermann isn't believed to be involved in Alisa's kidnapping, however.

Even after Smith shot himself, police still refused to call him a suspect in the case. "We're not saying this is a suspect. He's a person of interest," Nothum said in comments carried by several news agencies.

Family members told NBC that when Alisa saw the man's picture on TV on Wednesday night, she said: "That's the man who cut my hair, Daddy." And when Blake saw the photo, he said: "That's the man who took Alisa," according to NBC's "Today."

Authorities also wouldn't comment on whether Alisa was sexually assaulted during her roughly 26-hour ordeal. She was examined at a St. Louis hospital for nearly three hours on Tuesday night, where she was also reunited with her parents.


The girl's great-aunt, Angela Reddick, told the AP that Alisa was unharmed and hasn't been assaulted in any way.

"The only thing he did was cut her hair to change her appearance -- he tried to disguise the fact she was a girl," Reddick said of the kidnapper. "Evidently this man did not harm her and was not mean to her. She's doing great."

Church billboards and electronic bank signs in the Maiers' hometown of Louisiana carried celebratory messages about her rescue, and well-wishers left balloons and teddy bears on the family's front porch, the AP reported.

"I turned on the news and my wife and I both started crying and fell down to our knees and thanked the Lord," Terry Cook, a pastor who helped organize a candlelight vigil while Alisa was still missing, told the AP. ..Source..