Thread: 2 Ark. police killed during traffic stop

2 Ark. police killed during traffic stop; 2 suspects later killed in shootout with authorities

Updated May 20, 2010

WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. (AP) — Two Arkansas police officers were fatally shot Thursday during a traffic stop, and a short time later, two suspects were killed in a separate shootout in a crowded Wal-Mart parking lot, authorities said.

A local sheriff and chief deputy were wounded in the parking lot shootout and were taken to a hospital, authorities said.

The West Memphis police officers were killed after pulling over a white van with Ohio license plates on Interstate 40 Thursday afternoon, authorities said. One of the slain officers is the son the of the city's police department.

The suspects fled the scene in the van, and were later surrounded by authorities, some carrying assault rifles, who swarmed the parking lot that was packed with other cars. The suspects were killed in the shootout, and the Crittenden County sheriff and his deputy were wounded, authorities said.

One witness described the scene on Interstate 40 as "chaos." Stacy Gilchrist said she saw a police officer lying in the road when she pulled up.

"It was a disaster, cars were just going everywhere," Gilchrist told Memphis television station WMC.

It was not immediately clear why the police officers pulled over the van and details about the suspects were not immediately known.

Sheriff Richard Busby, who was shot in the arm, and Deputy W.A. Wren, who was shot in the abdomen, were taken to a local hospital, said Larry Godwin, the safety director in Memphis, Tenn. Busby's condition was not immediately known while Wren was in critical condition, a spokesman at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis said.

The two West Memphis police officers killed were Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans. Paudert is the son of West Memphis police chief Bob Paudert and was assigned to the police department's drug unit, Bob Paudert said.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said the killings were a reminder of the risks that police face.

"I have reached out to express my condolences to the entire West Memphis Police Department, including Sergeant Paudert's father, Chief Bob Paudert," Beebe said in a statement. "This is a loss shared by all Arkansans."

Outside the West Memphis Police Department station on Thursday, officers went in and out, some hugging each other as they passed.


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/20/ar ... rking-lot/

Police: Former Ohio man, son killed Ark. officers
By CHUCK BARTELS (AP) – 1 hour ago

WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. — Arkansas State Police have identified two people who died in a shootout with police after allegedly killing two officers as an anti-government Ohio man and his son.

Police on Friday identified the pair as 45-year-old Jerry R. Kane Jr., of Forest, Ohio, and his son, Joseph T. Kane, w believed to be 16.

They were killed in a shootout in the parking lot of a Walmart store on Thursday. Authorities say they had killed two officers with assault rifles after being pulled over in a white minivan on Interstate 40 in West Memphis, Ark.

Kane had a long history with police and recently complained about being busted at a "Nazi checkpoint" on I-40 in New Mexico. Court records show he was charged with driving without a license and concealing his identity.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — One of the two men who shot and killed a pair of police officers along an Arkansas interstate was identified Friday as an Ohio man who once prompted a sheriff to warn others that he might be dangerous to law enforcement officers.

Jerry Kane Jr., 45, of Springfield, Ohio, was one of the two shooters, said Clark County, Ohio, Sheriff Gene Kelley. He said Arkansas State Police had confirmed the identity with him Friday. State police did not return a telephone call from The Associated Press seeking confirmation.

Kelly said Kane complained in 2004 about being sentenced to six days of community service for driving with an expired license plate and no seat belt, saying the judge had tried to "enslave" him. Kelly said Kane added that he was a "free man" and asked for $100,000 per day in gold or silver.

Kelly issued a warning to police on July 21, 2004.

"After listening to this man for almost 30 minutes, I feel that he is expecting and prepared for confrontations with any law enforcement officer that may come in contact with him," Kelly wrote in his warning.

Arkansas authorities said Kane and a person traveling with him in a white minivan opened fire Thursday on two West Memphis police officers who were working a drug detail along Interstate 40. It wasn't known why the officers pulled over the minivan.

After killing Sgt. Brandon Paudert, 39, and Officer Bill Evans, 38, with Russian-made AK-47 assault rifles, the van's occupants engaged in a gun battle with police 90 minutes later in the parking lot of a nearby Walmart, authorities said. Kane and the other person were killed.

Kelly told the AP that he wrote the warning about Kane because he was "very concerned about a potential confrontation and about his resentment of authority."

He said Kane talked to him as sheriff because he is an elected official, not a hired law officer.

Arkansas State Police have revealed no information about the two men as they worked to reconstruct their whereabouts over recent weeks.

"We've got to find out: Why they were here? Where did they come from? Who had they talked to in the Memphis area?" state police spokesman Bill Sadler said Friday. "Did they set out to target the officers?"

"The only people who know what happened in the original traffic stop are dead," Sadler said.

During that shootout, Crittenden County Sheriff Dick Busby was shot in the arm and his chief deputy, W.A. Wren, was shot in the abdomen, authorities said. Both were in serious condition Friday, a spokeswoman at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis said.

Associated Press Writer Lisa Cornwell reported from Springfield, Ohio.