3oct99
MYSTERY surrounds the reasons for a Bendigo man's wild outburst that left his elderly father critically injured and four police wounded.
A neighbor, Clem Greer, 72, said last night John Mathew Wason, 34, had moved home after the mental institution he attended closed.
Police who crashed into his house yesterday at the end of a 19-hour siege found him dead apparently after shooting himself in the head.
His father, Rex Wason, 70, is in intensive care in the Alfred Hospital with head injuries after being bashed in the incident that sparked a police emergency in which four officers were wounded by gunshots.
"It appears he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Assistant Commissioner Peter Nancarrow said.
Police said they believed he had a history of mental illness.
The four police shot when called to the house, all recovering in Bendigo Base Hospital, are:
Sen-Det. Craig Miller, 33, of Bendigo CIB, who received chest injuries.
Acting Supt Ulf Kaminsky, 49, of O District headquarters, who was wounded in the upper abdomen.
Sen-Constable Peter Eames, 39, of Bendigo police, who was shot in the chest and right thigh.
Sgt Peter Lukaitis, 40, of Bendigo police, who was wounded in the lower right leg.
The siege began late on Friday when police were alerted by ambulance officers, who had been called to what they believed was a domestic dispute.
The elderly Mr Wason warned his son was armed.
Police cordoned off the property and were awaiting the arrival of the Special Operations Group and negotiators when shots were fired from the house.
A police spokesman said it appeared Wason aimed at police.
"I believe there were plenty of people about and he seemed to be able to pick out police and have a shot at them," Sgt Michael Brown said.
Paramedics were unable to retrieve the most critically injured of the four officers for more than an hour because of continuing gunfire.
Two of the wounded man's fellow officers crawled 100 metres in the line of fire to rescue him.
Police, using an armored vehicle, slammed through the fence, putting the vehicle directly in front of the loungeroom.
Moments later police activated sirens and used loudspeakers to call on the man to put down the gun.
They said: "Let's try to sort this matter out. Leave any weapons you have in the house, it's gone on long enough."
During the night, SOG officers wearing flak jackets and kevlar helmets used the armored vehicle for protection as one approached the front window.
Using his rifle, he raised the blind to allow others to light up the darkened room with searchlights.
Later police fired teargas canisters, a group of 14 storming the front door.
At the start of the drama, Sen-Constable Eames was the first to confront Wason.
He was shot in the chest and received a punctured lung.
Sen-Det Miller started to wave down cars to warn them of the danger, but was also shot.
Supt Kaminski and Sgt Lukaitis were shot when they arrived as back-up.
Off-duty District Commander Chief Supt Dave Mansell, who was nearby with his wife, called for more help.
Next came Sen-Constable Mikaela Maskell, 30, and Sen-Constable Gary Harrison, 31.
The pair crawled into the culvert outside the gunman's house to the injured Sen-Det. Miller.
With Wason still firing, they lay comforting their injured colleague, but were pinned down by gunfire.
Two ambulancemen were also pinned down for an hour by bullets.
Although Sgt Lukaitis had a bullet wound to the foot, he stayed to help Sen-Det. Miller.
Meanwhile Sen-Constable Eames was taken in a private vehicle to hospital.
"Someone decided to borrow a privately owned armored car to rescue the police and ambulance officers who were trapped," ambulance manager Roger Williams said.
"The vehicle was used as a shield to drive down the service road in front of the man's house.
"The armored vehicle was a good decision that saved the officer's life.
"He was shot in the chest which caused extreme concern, and he had been lying down in the cold for 45 minutes."
Saturday, October 02, 1999
The Hempfield home where Michael and Shannon Kokoska had lived since 1995
was frequently the scene of violent confrontations, but yesterday it
stood quiet in the aftermath of a fatal shootout with state police.
Whether Michael Kokoska died of a police bullet or a self-inflicted
gunshot had not been determined.
An autopsy yesterday showed that Kokoska had been shot three times: once
in the head and twice in the left side of his chest, the Westmoreland
County coroner's office said.
Deputy Coroner Gerald Fritz said the head wound was self-inflicted by
Kokoska's .380-caliber handgun. The chest wounds were made by a state
trooper's .40-caliber handgun.
The arguments came to a head late Thursday when, police said, Michael
Kokoska broke into the house, terrorized his wife and then wounded her
and a trooper before another officer shot at him.
The fatal confrontation occurred a little more than 12 hours after a
scheduled Common Pleas Court hearing for Michael Kokoska had been
postponed at the request of his attorney.
Kokoska, 35, was a convicted felon whose criminal history dated to his
teen years. He had been in jail as recently as Sept. 21 on charges of
violating a protection-from-abuse order and for firearms violations, but
his mother bailed him out that same day.
Police were dispatched to the Kokoska house about 11:05 p.m. Thursday
after Shannon Kokoska, 30, phoned and said a man, possibly her husband,
was trying to break in.
When police arrived, they found a broken basement window and heard
screams from inside. They broke into a locked bathroom, where, they said,
Michael Kokoska was terrorizing his wife with a handgun.
Police said he fired two shots, one of which struck Trooper Dean Kerklo.
In response, another trooper fired two shots into Kokoska's chest.
Deputy Coroner Joseph Musgrove pronounced him dead at the scene. Shannon
Kokoska was in serious condition yesterday at UPMC Presbyterian with a
wound of the back of her head. Kerklo was hospitalized with a gunshot
wound to the face.
Trooper Thomas Spallone said police believed four shots were fired and
weren't sure whether Shannon Kokoska's wound was from a bullet.
Michael Kokoska had been barred from his house by a protection-from-abuse
order that Shannon Kokoska obtained Sept. 7.
As a result of the order, Westmoreland County sheriff's deputies
confiscated two rifles and two shotguns from Michael Kokoska, but they
did not take the .380-caliber handgun registered to Shannon Kokoska and
used by Michael Kokoska Thursday night.
After confiscating the weapons, Sgt. Eric Sinclair of the sheriff's
office charged Michael Kokoska with illegal possession of firearms
because he was a convicted felon. State police also charged him with
violating the protection-from-abuse order because he had returned to the
house while his wife was there.
Michael Kokoska was arraigned on Sept. 21 by Youngwood District Justice
James Falcon, the same official who had officiated at the Kokoskas'
marriage Oct. 25, 1988.
Michael Kokoska's mother, Helen, posted his $2,500 bail.
His troubles with the law began when he was 17 and found guilty in a
Sept. 10, 1982, strong-arm purse-snatching in the Greengate Mall in
Hempfield.
PEDLEY, Calif., Updated 9:45 p.m., October 9, 1999 -- Police have
searched all night for two suspects in the shooting death of a Riverside
County sheriff's deputy.
Police shot and killed a third suspect Friday afternoon. They recovered a
shotgun from the scene.
Police believe the suspects lit fires near the Santa Ana River to divert
attention from their escape. Those fires burned out overnight.
Deputy Eric Thach, 34, of the Jurupa Valley substation died in surgery
about 4 p.m. Friday.
The suspects shot Thach as he was responding to a call of a possible
home invasion in the Pedley neighborhood. Neighbors had called police
after seeing an open door at the home on Kennedy Street.
The suspects fled the scene.
Riverside County officials say they will not stop searching until the killers
are found.
The slain deputy is the 14th Riverside County sheriff's deputy to
be killed in the line of duty in the department's more than 100-year
history.
St. Joseph News-Press
10-06-99
A 24-year-old Wisconsin man, who had allegedly stolen $24.69 in gasoline,
and a Missouri Highway Patrol officer were shot to death on Interstate 29
after the trooper attempted to pull the suspect over.
A man driving a maroon Chevrolet sport utility vehicle took the gas from
Farris Truck Stop without paying. Clerk Wally Hockaday reported the incident
at 5:27 p.m. Sgt. Robert G. Kimberling stopped him 10 minutes later on
Interstate 29 just south of the U.S. Highway 169 overpass at the 50-mile
marker.
Sgt. Kimberling, a 14-year veteran of the Highway Patrol, was shot moments
later.
"A struggle ensued, and shots were exchanged between Sgt. Kimberling and the
suspect," Cpl. Sheldon Lyon of Troop H of the Highway Patrol said.
After the shooting, the 43-year-old trooper was transported to Heartland
Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. Mr. Lyon said the
slain trooper was married and the father of two children, ages 12 and 11.
"We ask that you remember Sgt. Kimberling in your prayers this evening,"
Sgt. Lyon said, as he fought back tears.
Sgt. Kimberling was wearing a bulletproof vest, but Highway Patrol officials
would not say where he was shot or what kind of weapon fired the shots.
Officials would not say how many shots were exchanged between the officer
and the suspect.
10-07-99
Trooper Saunder had stopped a blue (or green) small truck with a canopy near
the intersection of 28th and Lewis Street In Pasco (WA). The trooper radioed
his location and license number of the vehicle he stopped. Upon approaching
the vehicle he stopped he was met with gunfire from the inside of the truck.
Trooper Saunder was mortally wounded by one of those first rounds fired (he
was wearing his vest). As the suspect vehicle sped away several citizens ran
to his aid, one of them used his radio to call for help while others phoned
911. Pasco Officers arrived within moments of the help call and started live
saving efforts, however he was pronouced dead after our paramedics arrived.
The suspects house we had surrounded in Pasco lastnight was the registered
owner of the truck that trooper Saunder had stopped. About an hour after the
shooter one of our officers, who had the house under survalance saw a subject
runnning down the alley near the rear of the home and lost sight of him near
the residence. Containment was set on the neighborhood and a K9 search was
incited. After no subject was located the registered owners residence was
secured and he was found him inside. The registered owner was not the shooter
and had sold the truck. He did cooperated with us and provided suspect
information.
As of now the suspect is still not in custody however we have an apartment
where his girlfriend lives identified and they are preparing a search warrant.
Please keep trooper Saunder, his family, partners and my officers in your
thoughts.
A Kendall County sheriff's deputy was gunned down in an ambush Saturday 10-02-99 at a trailer park south of Boerne, sparking a gunbattle in which a DPS officer shot and killed a gunman firing an assault rifle.
Deputy Sheriff Larry Kolb was shot in the neck after walking toward a mobile home and identifying himself as a sheriff's deputy, a witness said. Neighbors knew the resident who was killed only as "Cowboy."
The incident started just after 5 p.m., when dispatchers got a call for shots being fired in the air at Shady Rest Mobile Home Park at the intersection of Cascade Caverns Road and Interstate 10.
"The officers showed up and the next thing we have is an officer down, who died at the scene," said Brian King, dispatch for the Boerne Police Department and Kendall County Sheriff's office. "The suspect was shot and taken to University Hospital."
Garry Parker , safety education officer for the Department of Public Safety, said DPS officers responded to the scene at about 5:15 p.m. to assist in the call. Parker said an officer was reported down at 5:45 p.m., while the resident was reported to be down at 5:55 p.m.
The man was pronounced dead at University Hospital at 7:40 p.m.
Parker said DPS trooper Derome West reported firing three shots at the man; at least one hit him.
Officials didn't release the dead man's name.
Parker said the officer was shot with an AK-47 assault rifle.
"The weapon was a stolen weapon from a mobile home across the street from the assailant's home," he said.
The deputy "walked over and said, 'Sheriff's Department.' He took a step to go up the first step to the trailer, and he was shot right in the neck," Arreola said. "He went down, yelling, 'I'm shot! I'm shot!'"
A 25-year-old resident, who did not want to be identified, said the man hid under a trailer next door to where the officer was killed.
Sergeant Perry died after suffering a heart attack while searching for a suspect in an earlier assault on an officer in Ardmore, Tennessee. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital in Alabama after being flown there. He had been with the agency for 23 years and is survived by his wife and two sons.