Bad Cop, No Donut!

Tell me again why cops and the military are the Only Ones who are supposed to have guns?

Butcher says officer's actions scared many

VANCOUVER, Wash. - The owner of a Vancouver butcher shop said he and his store full of customers were scared for their lives when a man who turned out to be an off-duty Vancouver police officer pulled out a gun during an argument there Friday.

Mike Brannan, who owns Top Choice Meat Market at 12313 N.E. Fourth Plain Blvd., told KATU News it all started when a man he identified as Roger Evans came into the shop upset about an order. Hot pepper flake hadn't been applied to jerky made from a small deer he'd brought in for processing, and Evans felt he should not have to pay for it, Brannan said.

Several employees tried to calm Evans, whom Brannan described as very loud and very rude. Eventually Brannan met the man outside with his order, handing the roughly 40-pound meat order over to him and telling Evans never to come back.

Brannan said he thought Evans had a hold of the order but instead it dropped to the ground. That threw Brannan off balance into a pickup truck, he said.

That's when Brannan claims Evans backed up, drew his pistol and told the owner not to come any closer or he would shoot.

Brannan ran back into the store and called 911.

"Nobody knew who he was or nothing about him," Brannan said. "You would assume he was a crackhead."

Evans just backed out into the parking lot, keeping his gun out, and made a cell phone call.

"I have to admit, you know, I don't care how big, bad, tough ... you are, someone pointing a big gun at you (at) real close range is a very scary situation," Brannan said. "I mean, I didn't get no sleep last night."

Officers arrived and calmed everyone down. Vancouver police turned over the investigation to the Clark County Sheriff's Office because it involved one of their own.

The sheriff's office has not officially confirmed that the officer involved was Evans. They have also not made any arrests - a spokesman said that is because detectives do not see the officer as a threat to the public. But the investigation is continuing.

The Vancouver officer told deputies he pulled out the handgun to defend himself because he felt threatened, according to the sheriff's office. He was put on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure in such incidents.

Brannan said he thinks the officer is receiving preferential treatment.

"I think he should be treated like anybody else," Brannan said. "And we all know if it was anybody else out there how they'd have been treated. They'd have been handcuffed and arrested and taken."

Only Cops Should Have Guns

At Least 5 Youths Dead After Shooting in Wisconsin

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Oct. 7: Law enforcement officer stand outside site of deadly shooting in Crandon, Wis.

A Wisconsin town was to have its state of lockdown lifted after a police chief said law enforcement is no longer looking for a suspect — believed to be with the local sheriff's office — who went on a killing spree early Sunday morning, gunning down at least five youths in a Crandon home.

Crandon Police Chief John Dennee, speaking outside the police department about two blocks from the shooting site, would not say whether the suspect was dead. But he said: "We're not looking for anybody anymore."

A dispatcher for the State Patrol who declined to give his full name as a matter of department practice said several of the patrol's officers went to Forest County to help investigators because the suspect is an employee of the Forest County Sheriff's Department and a part-time officer for the Crandon Police Department.

"It's a pretty tragic situation here," said Forest County Supervisor Tom Vollmar, who lives just outside Crandon, a city of about 2,000 people. "There are five or six people dead."

The State Patrol and the Crandon Fire Department detoured a steady stream of traffic from two blocks of U.S. Highway 8 in the downtown area. Some residents stood in nearby front yards.

Earlier in the day, Crandon Mayor Gary Bradley told FOX News that the town was under a "gag order" regarding the overnight event but no one in the town can leave church, home or anywhere else they happened to be Sunday morning.

A witness told WMTJ Radio that gunfire erupted in the home at about 3 a.m. Sunday morning. Ten area youths from the ages of 16 to 21 were reportedly in the home when the shots were fired. Fatalities are being reported, but the number of casualties is still unconfirmed.

A family member of one of the victims told WITI-TV, a FOX affiliate, that one of the victims involved in the shooting is a student at the Milwaukee Area Technical College.

The town of Crandon is located about 100 miles north of Green Bay. The area is known for logging, and fishing, hunting and snowmobiling.