One Douglas County deputy died and four more were wounded along with two civilians Sunday morning at a Highlands Ranch apartment complex. The shooter was also shot and is believed dead, the Sheriff’s Office said in a tweet at 9:32 a.m.
The Sheriff’s Office announced at 10:02 a.m. that the slain officer would soon be moved from Littleton Adventist Hospital in a procession. “Expect heavy law enforcement presence and traffic congestion on Broadway, C470 and SB I-25,” the Sheriffs Office tweeted.
Deputies were responding to a domestic disturbance call when shots were fired from the home in the 3400 block of County Line Road near Colorado Boulevard before 6 a.m., Lauren Lekander, DCSO spokeswoman said.
Denver 7 reported hearing shots fired as a reporter later arrived at the scene.
“We have SWAT out there setting up and preparing to go in right now,” Lekander said at about 7:15 a.m.
Early during the incident, the Sheriff’s Office said only that a number of officers were shot. “We have multiple officers down,” said Deputy Jason Blanchard of the incident at Copper Canyon Apartments in Highlands Ranch.
“We are not giving numbers or status at this point, we are still working on getting the suspect in custody.”
Residents were told to stay inside and avoid windows and exterior walls.
Steven Silknitter lives in the complex.
He was working elsewhere when he heard about the shooting. He called home waking up his fiance.
She woke to hear “a barrage” of gunfire in the dark, said Silknitter.
“She was pretty scared. She kept saying how loud it was.”
Silknitter lived in Aurora during the 2014 Aurora Theater shooting. “Where do you move to? It’s everywhere.”
Three of the injured were taken to Skyridge Medical Center in Lone Tree with non-critical injuries, said Linda Watson, a hospital spokeswoman. She couldn’t say if the injured were officers. Another four have been taken to Littleton Adventist Hospital, said Alyssa Parker, a hospital spokeswoman.
Parker couldn’t say how serious their injuries are.
Due to the size of the investigation an emergency shelter was set up at East Ridge Recreation Center, located at 9568 University Blvd. in Highlands Ranch. Anyone who has been displaced can go there, the Sheriff’s Department said.
Multiple law enforcement vehicles, Douglas County Sheriff, South Metro and Littleton fire rescue vehicles came and went from the scene.
“There is still a lot of activity out here,” Larry Ryckman, Denver Post editor at the scene, said at 9:30 a.m.
Video broadcast by Denver 7 showed an Arapahoe County Sheriff Bomb Squad truck at the scene.
In a Code Red the Sheriff’s office told residents to shelter in place, avoid windows and stay away from exterior walls.
An investigation is in progress and most of County Line Road is closed down from Colorado Boulevard to University Boulevard. C-470 is closed from Quebec Street to University Boulevard.
Parker Police Department, Lone Tree Police, Castle Rock Police and Colorado State Patrol are involved in the incident.
Procession for the deceased officer will take place soon from @LittletonHosp. Expect heavy law enforcement presence and traffic congestion on Broadway, C470 and SB I-25 #CopperCanyonOIS
**Copper Canyon OIS Update**- Deputies responded to a domestic disturbance resulting in shots fired. 5 deputies shot by suspect. 1 deputy confirmed deceased. 2 civilians also shot by suspect. Suspect shot & believed to be dead & no longer a threat. #CopperCanyonOIS
Due to the size and cope of this investigation an emergency shelter has been set up @ East Ridge Rec Center, located at 9568 University Blvd. in Highlands Ranch. If anyone has been displaced from their homes due to this event please feel free to head there.
UPDATE 0513 this morning deputies responded to he Copper Canyon Apartments for a Domestic Disturbance. During the Investigation, shots were fired and multiple deputies were injured. No status on the deputies and no status on civilian injuries. Please avoid this area.
Due to this incident, the following agencies are on accident alert. Douglas County, Parker Police Department, Lone Tree Police Department, Castle Rock Police Department and Colorado State Patrol.
A Code Red was sent out regarding this incident. Any citizens in the affected area are instructed to shelter in place, avoid windows and stay away from exterior walls.
DCSO is working an officer down call in the area of County Line Rd between Colorado Blvd and University Blvd. This is an active event, please avoid the area.
Richland County deputies are investigating an incident where one person was shot and later died.
Deputies say they were called to the McDonald’s located at 7011 Parklane Road around 4 a.m. following an argument that led to a person being shot outside in the restaurant’s parking lot.
The victim, identified as James K. Copeland III, 30, of Cumming, GA, was taken to Palmetto Health Richland in critical condition but later died.
Detectives say Sultan Battle was the man who shot Copeland, but the sheriff’s department and the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office ruled the incident a justifiable homicide.
Battle has been charged with kidnapping and armed robbery for the moments leading up to the shooting. Detectives say Battle met a woman at the Quality Inn at 8140 Two Notch Road with the intent to have sex with and rob her. Battle stole cash and a cell phone from the victim and ran away.
The victim called an acquaintance and they tracked the phone down to the McDonald’s on Parklane Road. The victim’s friend demanded the stolen items back from Sultan and pulled a gun on him. Sultan pointed a gun at him in return and shot him.
Battle is booked to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center where he will await a bond hearing.
Son Mutilated Dad, Posted Selfies After Murder: Prosecutors
CHICAGO (CBS) — Just days after he was served with a court order barring him from coming near his father, Cook County prosecutors said murdered the 61-year-old and mutilated the body in the basement of the older man’s West Pullman home.
He then allegedly posted several selfies on Facebook, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
Led into court in shackles and white, jail-issued coveralls, the 26-year-old Edmondson muttered and ranted during a bond hearing Tuesday at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.
When Assistant State’s Attorney Julia Ramirez said that Edmondson was facing a single count of first-degree murder, in addition to pending charges for violating the order of protection taken out by his father on Nov. 20, Edmondson shouted.
“The order of protection is gone,” he said, smiling. “He is no longer living.”
Edmondson laughed softly to himself as Ramirez described how Carl Edmondson’s body was found Saturday at the bottom of the basement stairs of his home in the 11500 block of South Bishop – the skull crushed and blood and brain matter splattered on the floor and walls.
Carlton Edmondson | Chicago Police
Carlton Edmondson shook his head and seemed to chuckle when Ramirez added that Carl Edmondson’s penis had been cut off.
The outbursts prompted Judge Stephanie Miller to order Carlton Edmondson out of the courtroom even before she ruled that he be held without bond.
Police went to the elder Edmondson’s house on the weekend after Carlton Edmondson’s uncle reported that he had stopped by and seen Carlton Edmondson inside the house, and knew that he not supposed to be there.
Carlton Edmondson answered the door when police arrived, and when asked the whereabouts of his father, said the older man was “at the hospital,” Ramirez said.
Police took Carlton Edmondson into custody, and found the body beside a Bowie knife, circular saw, and a “concrete capstone,” Ramirez said. The body smelled of gasoline, and a gas can lay nearby, Ramirez said. Inside the house, investigators found a black jacket that appeared to be the one Carlton Edmondson was wearing in pictures he posted to Facebook on Saturday.
In the photos, Carlton Edmondson holds a cigarette and grins at the camera, with what looks like blood spatter against the white logos on the jacket.
Using the odd punctuation and spelling Carlton Edmondson used for most of his posts, one photo is captioned “EyEm OAWn mA pEriOd #beebop #silenceofthelambs #gdshit #chevezwhatupfolkz.” A post from around 7 a.m. reads “EyE sIlEnCed thE LahmeDs.”
Edmondson’s Facebook profile lists his profession as “singer/songwriter.”
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office ruled that the elder Edmondson died of multiple injuries from assault.
Five days earlier, Carlton Edmondson was arrested for throwing a brick through the window of his father’s house, and was released on a recognizance bond from the police station.
Court records indicate Carlton Edmondson had been arrested six times since September on a variety of misdemeanor charges, including refusing to give his name to police officers who saw him drinking on a street corner; stealing a pair of $16 sunglasses from a South Side Target and snatching a 70-year-old woman’s cell phone as she bought lottery tickets at a convenience store.
In 2015, he was arrested for flashing his penis at police officers in the Loop, and also for refusing to leave a downtown 7-Eleven store.
Carlton Edmondson’s father’s first sought an order of protection from his son in August. He subsequently made another request for the order in October.
The order of protection barred Carlton Edmondson from having contact with his father or coming to his house. The younger Edmondson was served with a copy of the order when he was arrested, Ramirez said.
“Not guilty!” Carlton Edmondson yelled. “It wasn’t me. It wasn’t his jacket.”
Assistant Public Defender Kevin Ochalla told Miller that Carlton Edmondson was a graduate of Morgan Park High School and had attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
When Ochalla asked that Carlton Edmondson be evaluated at the jail hospital, he shouted again.
“He got my death-body, G!” he said, pointing a finger at Ochalla. “I’ma kill him.”
A black man suspected of fatally gunning down five middle-aged white men in sneak attacks in Kansas once threatened to shoot up a school and “kill all white people,” according to court records.
A city citation for harassment shows that Fredrick Demond Scott, 22, made the threats in January 2014 at the Center Alternative School in Kansas City, The Kansas City Star reported Wednesday.
“I want to shoot the school up, Columbine-style,” Scott was quoted as saying, according to the report.
Scott was charged with murder Tuesday in the deaths of Steven Gibbons, 57, and John Palmer, 54, and named as a suspect in the killings of three other men, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced.
All of the victims, ranging in age from 54 to 67, were shot from behind — and most of the shooting happened along Kansas City walking trails, prosecutors said.
Scott’s mother told The Star that her son suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, but did not show any hatred towards white people.
“As far as I know Fredrick never had a problem with white people,” his mother told the news outlet. “He would do odd jobs for people and some of those people were white men.”
Baker said that there is no known motive in the surprise slayings so far. Scott told investigators he was angry about the stabbing death of his half-brother, who was killed during a robbery in 2015, according to police.
Scott has been jailed in Jackson County on two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action in the deaths of Palmer, who was shot on Aug. 19, 2016 in a wooded area and Gibbons, who was shot in the back of the head along a city street.
The other victims include Mike Darby, 61, who was found dead on May 18 along a trail; David Lenox, 67, who was found slain on Feb. 27, steps away from his front doors while walking one of his dogs; and Timothy S. Rice, 57, who was found killed at a shelter in a park.
Baker said there was not enough evidence at the moment to charge Scott with those deaths.
A man who beat his murder case when prosecutors failed to give him a speedy trial was killed minutes after leaving Cook County Jail on Monday night, according to authorities.
Kamari Belmont, 23, was being held on murder and robbery charges after he allegedly shot a man during a robbery and robbed another man a few hours later in 2015. The man he shot died weeks later.
Cook County prosecutors dropped the murder charges the end of January after allowing too much time to elapse under the state’s speedy trial statute, according to court records and Belmont’s attorney. The robbery charges remained and Belmont was ordered held on a $100,000 bond.
At 5:30 p.m. Monday, a friend of Belmont posted the required $10,000 on the bond and Belmont was released at 11:12 p.m., according to jail officials.
Belmont was a few block of the jail when a white SUV pulled up to his car on California Avenue and someone inside started shooting, police said. Belmont was hit several times.
The SUV ran a red light as it sped off and crashed into a car near Interstate 55, police said. Those inside ran away. Belmont collapsed in the street and died at the scene.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe it,” said Belmont’s attorney, Michael Johnson, who said he has known Belmont’s family for more than two decades. He said he’d seen Belmont at the jail recently as the family put together the bail money.
“I told him, once he gets out he’s got to get out of the neighborhood,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately this isn’t the first time I’ve seen this.”
The shooting and robberies occurred on May 1, 2015. The person who was shot, Sorrell Marshall, 40, died three weeks later.
Belmont and another man, Terrance Hogan, 23, were arrested the night of the shooting and initially charged with attempted murder and armed robbery. The charges were not upgraded to murder until nearly a year later, in April 2016, according to a timeline compiled by jail officials.
It wasn’t clear why prosecutors waited so long to file murder charges. However, Marshall’s death was not immediately ruled a homicide by the Cook County medical examiner’s office, which initially marked the case as pending further investigation.
But the clock under the speedy trial statute had started ticking with the attempted murder charges. The murder charges did not reset the clock because they were based on the same set of facts, according to a three-page motion from attorneys for Hogan and Belmont.
Prosecutors had no choice but to drop the charges, Belmont’s attorney said.
A representative Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Marshall was shot after he dropped off his girlfriend near her apartment at 37th and Vincennes and parked when Belmont and Hogan tried to rob him, according to authorities. A struggle ensued, and Marshall was shot in the leg and the groin.
Belmont was arrested in Canaryville that night after he and Hogan held up a man in the South Loop, authorities said. A woman with the victim fled and flagged down a police car that tracked the phone to Canaryville.
Hogan was accidentally shot by police during the arrest, according to the police union at the time. He was arrested after he showed up at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center seeking treatment.
PICTURED: The grisly photo of smirking son showing off his mother’s head after ‘he chopped up her corpse with a power saw’
Bahsid McLean, 23, is charged with murdering his mother Tanya Byrd, 45, and chopping up her body into pieces
Cops found gruesome pictures of the man and his mother’s body on his cell phone
Byrd’s head, torso, hands, and leg were found in at least four travel and plastic bags strewn among garbage in South Bronx
Pal William Harris, 26, is charged with helping to cover up the grisly crime
McLean wore a black plastic garbage bag to court on Friday and made several outbursts
He is on suicide watch and hadn’t been taking his medication, his lawyer said
A gruesome photo emerged on Saturday showing the Bronx man accused of killing and dismembering his mother’s body, smiling and displaying the head of the dead woman.
Bahsid McLean, 23, posed in front of the bathroom mirror holding the bloody head of his slain mother, Tanya Byrd, like a trophy and used his phone to snap the grisly photo as a keepsake, in the image leaked to the New York Post.
McLean has been charged with killing Byrd, 45, after an argument in which the mother told her son to grow up and move out of her apartment in the Morrisania neighborhood in the South Bronx.
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO
Grisly: Bashid McLean snaps a picture of himself holding up his dead mother’s bloody head
A law enforcement official said the shocking photo is just one of several images found on McLean’s cell phone.
‘I lost sleep over it. Just sheer inhumanity. It’s horrible what he did to her,’ the source told the Post.
Police say that after McLean stabbed the woman to death, likely on late Saturday or on Monday, he cut up her body with a power saw and scattered the body parts around his Bronx neighborhood.
Then he and a pal allegedly stuffed the woman’s body parts into three heavy-duty garbage bags, some of which were zipped inside luggage, and dumped them in at least four different locations in Morrisania, where they were discovered early Tuesday morning by a dog-walker.
McLean appeared in court on Friday for his arraignment, claiming that ‘didn’t do anything wrong.’
Wearing a black plastic garbage bag to the hearing because he kept urinating on himself, he is being held on suicide watch after the horrific attack earlier this week on his mom.
Nothing wrong: Bahsid McLean. pictured leaving court on Friday, told the judge he did nothing wrong
Alleged accomplice: William Harris, pictured, allegedly helped in the chopping
Incontinent: Bahsid McLean, pictured, was incontinent in court
The mentally ill man told the judge that Byrd was dying and that he was trying to help her, though it was unclear what she was supposedly dying of.
McLean’s defense attorney Jerry Iannece said his client, who is undergoing a psychological evaluation, was off medication but he didn’t disclose what the 23-year-old had been taking.
The lawyer admitted it was a ‘troubling’ case but insisted to CBS News that his team would ‘investigate it and defend it thoroughly.’
During the court appearance, McLean made several other outbursts and was ultimately ordered held without bail.
Shocking: The body parts of Tanya Byrd, pictured, were found strewn around at least four different curbside locations in the Bronx
Video: McLean, pictured, and suspected accomplice William Harris were caught on video buying a power saw with cash
‘He’s definitely sick,’ a law-enforcement source told The Post. ‘It’s a ghoulish act. This guy is so mentally defective to do that. That’s pretty outrageous. That’s hardcore s***.’
Police say McLean, whose Twitter handle is @killtanyabyrd, stabbed his mother to death in the bedroom of the apartment they shared on either Sunday night or Monday morning. It is not clear whether McLean’s seven-year-old brother Nasyr, who has Down’s syndrome, was home.
The gruesome pictures, discovered by cops on his cell phone, and an initial confession led to McLean’s murder charge on Wednesday.
Byrd’s sister Cassandra McLean told The New York Daily News that the mother-of-three had caught McLean scouring the Internet for how to tips on covering up a murder and that he later created a MySpace page called ‘Kill the b**** Tanya.’
Police say McLean murdered his mother because she ‘wanted him to grow up and move out and be a man,’ The Post reported.
Concerning: Byrd was reportedly frightened of McLean, pictured left and right
Slipped through the cracks: Tanya Byrd, 45, pictured left with her six-year-old Down’s syndrome son, was tragically murdered in her Bronx home in February by her elder son, police say
His aunt said her nephew harbored resentment towards his mom after he was placed in a foster home while she battled a drug problem. He came back to live with her when he was 18. He was also suspected of abusing his younger brother, whose body began displaying bruises.
His friend, William Harris, 26, allegedly helped him get rid of the body. The pair were reportedly caught on surveillance video at a nearby hardware store where they bought a power saw with cash.
A blade and a box were found in the apartment McLean shared with his mother while the saw – 2-foot-long Black and Decker jigsaw – was found at Harris’ home, sources said.
Cassandra McLean labelled the 23-year-old a ‘monster’ who had been plotting his mother’s murder. ‘My nephew is a monster,’ she told the Daily News. ‘This murder was premeditated.’
She said he deserves the death penalty. ‘He took away one of God’s angels, and for that he deserves to go to hell.’
Even his father said he was a bad egg.
‘He did destructive things,’ James McLean told the Daily News. ‘He set fires; nobody could control him.’
A photograph on his Facebook page shows him burning a scarf.
Right leg: Byrd’s right leg, pictured under a sheet, was discovered in a pile of trash on the corner of E156 Street and Eagle Avenue
Investigation: Police guard a sheet-covered plastic bag near the intersection of Eagle Avenue and 158th street in the Bronx this morning
His sister, Porsche Lovett, said he wasn’t remotely sorry for what he’d done. ‘He looked me in the eyes and told me he did nothing wrong when he killed her,’ she told the Daily News. ‘I don’t know who he is.’
McLean confessed to the sickening crime after police found a shower curtain missing at his apartment, which wreaked of bleach. The shower curtain was later found wrapped around his mom’s body parts in one of the bags dumped on the curb for collection.
McLean was charged on Thursday with second-degree murder and he and Harris were also booked on charges of hindering prosecution and the unlawful dissection of a human body.
When they were questioned they both blames the murder on the other. Harris, who has been arrested 12 times prior to yesterday’s booking, told police McLean confessed to the slaying on the subway and begged for his help. Meanwhile, McLean, who was on probation after attacking two police officers with a knife in 2010, said Harris killed the woman at their apartment.
‘Bahsid had a problem controlling his rage,’ a neighbor told the Daily News. ‘He had creepy eyes. Didn’t like to look you in the eye — but when he did, they went right through you.’
McLean confessed to the crime late on Tuesday after cops found the electric saw and other carving implements.
Police were overwhelmed by the stench of bleach when they entered the apartment Bahsid McLean shared with his mother and little brother. He was led out of the house in handcuffs after police recovered the frightening evidence in the apartment.
Detectives: The mother’s body was chopped up and scattered around the Bronx neighborhood. Police say far fewer murders were carried out this year in New York
Byrd’s body parts were found strewn around at least four different curbside locations within a half-mile of the pair’s Morrisania home in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The pieces – which include her head, torso, right leg and hands – were found zipped into travel bags or stuffed into plastic garbage bags.
McLean, who suffers learning disabilities, admitted to the crime during questioning by NYPD officers, sources told The New York Daily News.
Investigators spent Tuesday scouring through piles of trash in the South Bronx neighborhood after a horrified dog-walker discovered the human remains in a travel bag at around 4:30am and called police.
One-by-one, Byrd’s decapitated head, right leg, torso and hands have been unearthed in the area around Eagle Avenue, 158th Street, 156th Street and Cauldwell Avenue.
Some of Byrd’s body parts were still wearing the clothes she was in when she was slaughtered, police sources told the Daily News.
A neighbor told the paper: ‘I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Bahsid killed her. She was afraid of that boy… He was a hellion.’
Byrd was sometimes frightened of her son but loved him, a relative who didn’t want to be named told DNAInfo. ‘He’s acted out in violent ways before, but I never thought he could do something like this. Not in a million years.’
Scattered: The head, torso and leg were found at scattered at different locations along the Bronx neighborhood shown in the map
Grim: Police guard a sheet-covered plastic bag next to a police vehicle on Eagle Avenue in the Bronx borough of New York, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013
Scene: The mother’s head was found on Cauldwell Avenue near 158th Street in the Bronx
Byrd’s sister, Cassandra McLean, initially defended her nephew, believing Byrd’s allegedly abusive ex-boyfriend was responsible for her ghastly murder and dismemberment.
Police confirmed Byrd’s son reported her missing at the Bronx’s 40th precinct station.
He found a photograph of her, which they matched to the decapitated head found in one of the bags, when police showed up at his house. This is when they discovered the carving equipment.
He reportedly told police he hadn’t been able to contact his mother for at least a day.
Cassandra McLean said her nephew suffered learning difficulties from an early age.
She said Bahsid McLean told her Byrd’s former boyfriend dropped by on Monday and that was the last time he saw her.
‘He (the ex-boyfriend) came over yesterday and walked out with her in the morning, yesterday morning,’ McLean said on Tuesday. ‘That’s what her son told me on the phone just now.’
She told DNAInfo that Byrd’s ex-boyfriend was trouble.
‘I told my sister to stay away from him, but she said he’s harmless and not to worry.’
McLean added of her sister: ‘She was a loving mother and very devoted to her son. That’s what she lived for. That’s her joy in life.’
Smiles: Byrd, pictured, met a grisly death and her son, Bahsid McLean, 22, is the only suspect at this point in the investigation
Scattered: A right leg was found on Eagle Avenue near 156th Street, while a torso was discovered on Eagle Ave near 158th Street, and the woman’s head was discovered around the corner
Neighbor Elizabeth Cruz said the woman would never have left her youngest son willingly, as his Down’s syndrome means he is very reliant on her.
Another neighbor who knew the woman told DNAInfo that Byrd was a good to her kids.
‘She’s a good person, she’s a good mom,’ they said.
The Daily News reported a witness saying they saw a suspect dump the bags and their gruesome contents on the curb for collection and then flee the scene in a silver SUV.
One woman said a female leg was clearly visible, protruding from one of the bags.
‘It was sticking out the bag and apparently it was an African-American leg,’ she told WCBS 880. ‘It was on top of the garbage that we put out.’
Byrd’s right leg was found on Eagle Avenue near 156th Street, while her torso was discovered on Eagle Ave near 158th Street, witnesses told The Post.
The mother’s head was found at Cauldwell Avenue and 158th. Investigators have also found the woman’s hand, though it’s unclear where.
‘I saw the police find it. It was on top of the garbage, the recyclables,’ a 53-year-old witness told The Post of the leg discovery.
She said it was in a plastic trash bag that was stuffed inside a small traveler’s bag.
‘You could tell it was real. You could see past the ankle, but there was no blood,’ Bobby, a superintendent for a building overlooking where one of the body parts was found, told DNAInfo.
‘It’s creepy. It feels like some Freddy Kruger stuff. I don’t like it at all, man.’
Byrd was taken to the medical examiner to determine the cause of death, which came back with stabbing on Wednesday.
The bags were found strewn near El Batey Borincano Garden, part of a quiet residential block that comprises two religious schools and a church.
‘I really don’t know what to think,’ nearby resident Joyce Placencia told CBS News. ‘This is the first time I’ve seen something like this happening around here
DC Sheriff
Larry Ryckman
