Napier stand off continues
The Herald has coverage of the ongoing seige.
I am surprised the Police have not gone in yet, but sounds like the House is booby trapped, so that is no doubt a factor.
I recall some dark humour the last time an officer was shot in the Hawke’s Bay – in the mid 90s. The killer escaped and there was a manhunt. He was eventually caught up with, refused to surrender and shot dead.
At Parliament the normal group met every morning to work out what questions to ask to Ministers. A mate of mine known for his sense of humour chipped in with “Will the Government provide counselling to those officers who did not get a shot away”. It took a few seconds for people to realise the subtle change from the normal “WIll the Government provide counselling to the Officers who did the killing”, recognising that when it comes to shooting a cop killer, Officers don’t normally feel as much moral anguish as shooting someone else.
The fact this killer won’t even let Police recover the body of their fallen comrade (and has prevented them from any chance of saving his life) will have them in a silent fury – still professionaly focused on the job, but very determined not to let him kill anyone else.
I do like the report that Whale has of the killing of a cop killer in Florida:
The cop killer was shot 68 times with Police, with 110 rounsd fired at him. The Polk County Sheriff when questioned on why he was shot at 110 times, replied:
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said he was not concerned by the number of shots fired.
“You have to understand, he had already shot and killed a deputy, he had already shot and killed a K-9 and he shot and injured another deputy,” Judd said by phone Saturday. “Quite frankly, we weren’t taking any chances.”
Ten SWAT officers surrounded Freeland on Friday as he hid beneath brush and a fallen tree in a rural area. Authorities say he raised the gun belonging to the deputy he had killed, prompting nine officers to fire.
“I suspect the only reason 110 rounds was all that was fired was that’s all the ammunition they had,”
Heh, and in NZ we debate whether cops should do a single or double tap!
Latest news from the Herald is here.
The Herald also has a profile of Len Snee. I’ve also had e-mails from people who know him, and he was hugely respected and liked. The Dom Post also profiles him, including comments from Pita Sharples who has known him for decades.