Sunday, March 30, 2008





Florida: Security Guard Fires Shots At Attempted Robber: "Police said a Marion security guard was having lunch in front of the Foot Locker at 3194 South University Drive Friday afternoon, when he saw a man covering his face with a bandana and taking out a gun. That's when the guard fired his gun striking the suspect four times, said police. Investigators said the injured suspect fled in a waiting white Nissan, but was later found in Miami Gardens at 889 NW 214th Street. The suspect was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital. Detectives are still looking for the Nissan driven and another passenger they believe was in the car."


Gunman Caught After Taking A Hostage At Walgreens: "Miami-Dade police say a gunman who took a manager at a Miami Shores Walgreens store hostage in a botched robbery has been shot and is undergoing surgery. Police say 26-year old Adler Dupuy, tried to rob a Walgreens store located at 89th Street and Biscayne Blvd. around 6:30 a.m. Saturday. Investigators said Dupuy hid overnight in the store. When the store opened up early morning, Dupuy pointed a gun at employees, told them to get on the floor and put their cell phones in a bag. Police said the suspect also demanded all the money and when the bag became too heavy, Dupuy asked the employees to take the coins out. An employee told CBS4's Tiffani Helberg one of his co-workers was able to get away and hide inside of a room where he called police. When police arrived and entered the store, they saw the man collecting money from the safe. That's when an employee says the gunman noticed police on a monitor, and took their manager hostage out the back door. The suspect fought with the man he held at gunpoint, and fled in his vehicle. It was then that authorities say officers from the Miami-Dade and Miami Shores police departments opened fire. Police followed the gunman to 82 North Miami Avenue, where he jumped and ran. Officials searched with dogs, helicopters, and caught the man about three hours later at a nearby trailer park. Dupuy was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he was undergoing surgery Saturday afternoon. The manager was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries."


Man confesses to 17-year-old Oregon killing, claims self-defense: "For nearly two decades David Lee Patterson hid a terrible secret about a night in Oregon in 1991. Last week, unable to live with the guilt anymore, the 60-year-old man walked into a suburban Dallas police station and admitted killing a man.... Ordinarily, Patterson said he would been in a homeless shelter. But because it was a warm, clear night, he decided to sleep outdoors and save the few dollars it would have cost to stay at a mission. He hunkered down with his bedroll on a funeral homes' porch, a place he had stayed safely before. Beneath his head was a .22 automatic pistol he found on the streets while searching for discarded aluminum cans and bottles, he said. "I woke up to people screaming n----- and kicking me on the head and shoulders," said Patterson. "When I got the gun, he fell off me and started to run. I just started firing." In the darkness, he heard a man yell "ouch, ouch, ouch" so he figured a bullet struck his assailant. He didn't know the man died until he read about it in the newspaper the next day. "I chose to sleep. They chose to attack me," he said, reacting as he'd been trained in the military. "I recovered my weapon and fired," he said... Patterson said a mistrust of police kept him from coming forward sooner. "When you're a black person and you kill a white person, you have this inborn feeling that they're not going to believe you regardless of what happened," said Patterson, who grew up in Alabama during racial strife . The younger brother of the man he shot believes Patterson acted in self-defense and has suffered enough. "I wish the guy was free," said Andy Lamon, 37, of Portland. "I had to dig down really deep in my heart to come up with that ... My anger is long passed." Lamon said his brother was caught up in some "bad things"


Minnesota: Car crash leads to shooting: "Tyeric Lessley believed it was life or death. In town to celebrate his fiancee's birthday, the 22-year-old and his two cousins were leaving a downtown Minneapolis club early March 17 when they crashed into a pickup on Washington Avenue S. Lessley got out and started to walk away, but Darby Claar went after him. Lessley's family claims racial epithets were shouted and punches thrown. As Lessley stumbled to the ground, he pulled out a .44 caliber Smith and Wesson handgun and fatally shot Claar in the chest. Within minutes, a random twist of fate shattered two families. "He knew he would have had to pay the consequences if he killed that man on purpose," the aunt, Bessie Rodgers, said of Lessley. "If he didn't defend himself, he would have been the one in a body bag. Tyeric isn't a cold-blooded killer." Lessley is the father of three children. He recently received an Applebee's employee of the month award because of his rapport with customers. He was charged with intentional second-degree murder. Lt. Amelia Huffman, head of the Minneapolis Police Department's homicide unit, said she's not surprised he would argue self-defense. "But in this scenario, we had only one person who was armed with a weapon of any kind," she said. "There are no other aggravating factors that I believe would lead a reasonable person to feel they were in a situation in which they would be likely to lose their life." Rodgers said her nephew doesn't have a criminal history. Neither she nor his fiancee, Justina Owens, knows where he bought the handgun. The car in which Lessley was riding hit Claar's pickup about 2:30 a.m. Monday near Washington and Chicago Avenues S. Claar wasn't driving. Rodgers said the pickup then rammed Lessley's car, four white men stepped out and one allegedly said, "We're gonna get us some [racial epithet] tonight." Lessley and his cousins are black."

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