By Sgt. Mike Barry PAPD (ret.)
As fall came upon us and the leaves changed colors to a beautiful crimson red, danger and death took no time off to enjoy the change of season.
ATF Special Agent Adam Daniels
In one particularly disturbing new incident on October 5th, 2021 an ATF Special Agent was shot through the head and seriously wounded during an intense gun battle when he and other agents attempted to take forty-year-old felon Corey Daniel Wellman into custody. Wellman was on parole from a previous manslaughter and drug conviction and was suspected of selling illegal drugs again. As agents blocked Wellman’s car into a parking spot he opened fire on the agents from inside his vehicle. It is estimated that well over forty rounds were exchanged in the close quarter’s gun battle. S/A Adam Daniels was shot through the head and has undergone multiple surgeries. The NPDF was asked for assistance by Special Agent in Charge (SAC) John B. DeVito of the ATF’s New York Office. He brought the plight of S/A Daniel’s family to the attention of the NPDF and has requested assistance from our Executive Director, Joseph Occhipinti in helping the Agent’s family with travel expenses and lodging while the agents is treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. In response, the National Police Defense Foundation’s Safe Cop Program, a 501(c) 3 tax deductible initiative designed to assist law enforcement officers who are shot in the line of duty, has created the Special Agent Adam Daniels Family Support Fund to assist his family in defraying the high cost of out-of-state travel and lodging during his long recovery.
Police Officer Dylan Harrison
On October 10, 2021 PO Dylan Harrison of the Alamo, Georgia Police Department was fatally shot at 1:00 AM on his first night on the job. Harrison was shot outside the Alamo police station, and details surrounding the incident are few. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has named 43-year-old Damien Ferguson as a suspect, noting that he also goes by Luke Ferguson. The suspect fled the scene but was arrested the following day. Officer Harrison leaves behind a wife and a six-month-old child.
Deputy Sheriff Lena Marshall
On November 9, 2021 Jackson County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) Deputy Lena Marshall died in the line of duty three days after she was shot while responding to a domestic disturbance. The attack occurred on Nov. 5, when Jackson County deputies responded to a residence after receiving a 911 call about a homeowner who wanted someone who didn’t live there removed. When the two deputies arrived, they were met at the front door by a woman, according to investigators. The woman then allegedly pulled a gun and pointed it at them. The deputies ordered her to drop her weapon, but the suspect opened fire on them. One of the deputies, later identified as 49-year-old Deputy Marshall, was shot multiple times in the attack. The second deputy returned fire, killing the armed suspect. Deputy Marshall was the mother of a small child.
Police Sgt. Richard Houston
On Friday, December 4, 2021 as Christmas approached, a Mesquite, Texas Police Sergeant with 21 years of service was shot dead in a “senseless act of violence” in a “disturbance” outside a grocery store, according to officials and reports.
The officer, identified as Sgt. Richard Houston, was among those responding to the disturbance around 1:40 p.m. Friday, when he was shot multiple times, the Mesquite Police Department said on its Facebook page. The officer was pronounced dead at 2:11 p.m. at Baylor Hospital. The suspect was shot once during the altercation, according to the statement. The alleged shooter is in critical condition at a local hospital. Sgt. Houston was a husband and father of three.
Police Officer Tyler Moldovam
On December 14, 2021, with Christmas slightly over ten days away, Police Officer Tyler Moldovan, a 22-year-old police officer was shot eight (8) times, including once in the head. Officers responded to reports of vehicles doing donuts and speeding at about 2 a.m. on December 14th. When officers arrived to the scene, there were no vehicles there, just skid marks and smoke in the air. Shortly thereafter, police received another call about the same suspect vehicles. Officers spotted a black Dodge Charger pulling into a parking lot in the area and followed it. Charging documents said the officers saw 24-year-old Essa Williams get out of the car and jump the fence into an apartment complex. The officers said they could see a gun case inside the Charger, so Police set up a perimeter and began searching for the suspect. Phoenix Police Officer Tyler Moldovan found Williams hiding on a covered patio a few minutes later. Williams was on his cell phone telling someone that he was going to jail when Officer Moldovan approached.
Officer Moldovan asked Williams if he had any weapons and the suspect answered “no.” Then Williams pulled a gun from his waistband, pointed it at the officer, and started firing. Officer Moldovan fell to the ground after the first shot but Williams loomed over him and continued firing at the wounded officer. After Williams shot Officer Moldovan multiple times, he jumped from the patio, dropped his gun, and began trying to pull the wounded officer’s gun from his holster. That was when another officer arrived and saw Williams standing over the wounded officer. The second officer saw Williams yank harder at the downed officer’s holster, trying to take his weapon. William threw himself on the ground as the second officer attempted to arrest him. He resisted arrest and tried to get away, but a third officer arrived on the scene and was able to help the second officer get Williams into handcuffs. Police found another handgun with an extended magazine on the patio where Williams had been hiding. Officer Moldovan was rushed to the hospital in critical condition with at least eight gunshot wounds. The officer was unresponsive and is currently on life support. Officials said that no officers fired their weapons during the incident.
Court records showed that Williams went to prison for three (3) years in 2017 for armed robbery, aggravated assault, and endangerment committed in 2014 and 2015. Arizona Department of Corrections records showed he was released from prison in April of 2020. Questions regarding why Williams was released after only three years in custody for an armed robbery and aggravated assault have not been answered as this goes to print.
Police Officer Mia Goodwin
On December 22, 2021 PO Mia Goodwin of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, North Carolina was killed when a tractor-trailer struck her patrol car on southbound I-85. She was blocking traffic on the interstate at the scene of a previous crash when the tractor-trailer struck her patrol car. Officer Goodwin had served with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department for over six years and was assigned to the University City Division. She is survived by her husband and three children ages three, one, and four months.
Police Officer Keona Holley
Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, Baltimore Police Officer Keona Holley, 39, died Thursday, December 23, 2021, a week after being shot while sitting in her patrol car. The mother of four, died after her family consulted with doctors and decided to take her off life support, the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) stated. The second-year officer was shot during an early morning shift on December 16th according to the BPD. “Holley was seated in her patrol car about 1:30 a.m. Thursday when someone opened fire into the vehicle, police said. Shot multiple times, Holley was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.”
Charging documents state she was shot twice in the back of the head. Baltimore Police arrested Elliot Knox, 31, and Travon Shaw, 32, in connection with the shooting. Police say following the shooting of Holley, the two went to the 600 block of Lucia Avenue and committed another homicide. The men have been charged with the murder of Holley, and murder in the death of Justin Johnson.
Police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic
On December 29, 2021 authorities were searching for two people believed to have been involved in the fatal shooting of one police officer and wounding of another at a northern Illinois hotel. The two Bradley police officers were shot late Wednesday while speaking to people in a room at a Comfort Inn along a highway in Kankakee County, the county sheriff’s office said. The officers were taken to nearby hospitals, where one died and the other was listed in critical condition and undergoing surgery, said the Bradley Police Department, which didn’t release the officers’ names. However, the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office identified the slain officer as Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic. An arrest warrant was issued for 25-year-old Darius D. Sullivan, and the sheriff’s office requested the public’s help in finding him, saying he should be considered armed and dangerous. The officers were at the hotel to investigate a report of dogs that were barking in an unattended vehicle in the parking lot, the sheriff’s office said. They found the room where the vehicle’s possible owner was staying and were shot while talking to the people in that room. The hotel shootings came hours after a sheriff’s deputy was fatally shot while responding to a motorist assist call on a highway near Mill Shoals, which is in southeastern Illinois and roughly 200 miles (322 kilometers) south of Bradley.
Deputy Sheriff Sean Riley
The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office said Deputy Sean Riley responded to that call at around 5 a.m. Wednesday. He was found dead by a second officer who later arrived at the scene, and the deputy’s squad car was later found abandoned on I-64, police said. Authorities arrested a Kentucky man suspected in that attack and a carjacking in Missouri.
Conclusion
In closing, 2021 has been a tragic year for law enforcement. Anarchist attacks on police, rioting and violence spawned by defunding police nationwide have resulted in a 28% uptick in line of duty deaths. As this is written the number stands at a stunning 482 in one year! Gunfire took the lives of 63 officers, 59 as a result of death by auto, medical reasons including Covid took the lives of a stunning 346 and 14 died from other causes.
In 2020, 385 police officer died in the line of duty. In 2021, 97 more died to total 482. Who know what 2022 will bring…
The National Police Defense Foundation is taking an active role in helping to identify and apprehend anyone who shoots or kills a police officer. Under the leadership and guidance of Executive Director Joseph Occhipinti, we offer a ten thousand dollar reward ($10,000) for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone who shoots or kills a member of the law enforcement community. In June of 2020 the NPDF Executive Board took the unprecedented step of expanding the Safe Cop reward program to include rewards for the arrest and conviction of any protestor/domestic terrorist who assaults a public safety officer by using a vehicle or by an act of arson.
In my role as the administrator of our very successful Safe Cop Program I am interested in receiving input from our members in both the civilian and law enforcement community. Your tax deductible donations go a long way toward helping us achieve our goal and this quarterly newsletter is designed to keep you abreast of our activity, the sacrifices of law enforcement and to encourage you to get involved in this worthy endeavor. I look forward to hearing from all of our members who have suggestions about how we can be even more effective in achieving our goal of law enforcement support. We pray that God protects our law enforcement officers and blesses their families who have also sacrificed so much.
Fraternally yours,
Sgt. Mike Barry (ret.)
Port Authority of NY & NJ Police Department