Police: Las Vegas officer kills wife, son and then himself in burning home By Lateef Mungin, CNN January 22, 2013 -- Updated 0827 GMT (1627 HKT) When a SWAT team arrived at the lieutenant's home, they found him waiting outside with what was believed to be a gun.
(CNN) -- Even for stone-faced, seen-it-all-before officers, the act that took place at a police lieutenant's Las Vegas-area home Monday was deeply distressing.
The 52-year-old lawman, police said, killed his wife and child, called 911 to say he was burning his house down and warned he would take the life of anyone who tried to stop him.
Then he waited.
When a SWAT team arrived at the lieutenant's Boulder City home, they found him outside with what looked like a handgun.
Officers asked him to drop the weapon -- commands the lieutenant must have screamed many times before in his 20-year career. He ignored them and ducked back into the blazing home.
It was then, police believe, that he killed himself.
Once firefighters put out the blaze that tore through the home, they found his body, his 46-year-old wife's, and their elementary-school-aged son's.
CNN is withholding their names because the coroner's office has not finished notifying family members.
The lieutenant worked for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, where he supervised patrol officers, CNN affiliate KVVU reported.
The station had interviewed him before about other crimes.
The wife worked for some time as a Las Vegas police officer, the Las Vegas Review-Journal said.
She won a community service award and a lifesaving award before leaving the department in 2005.
"Anyone involved with law enforcement for any amount of time is usually prepared for any scenario, but nobody can prepare for something like this," Las Vegas Metro Sheriff Doug Gillespie told reporters.
Last year, 126 police officers killed themselves, according to the National Study of Police Suicides by the nonprofit The Badge of Life.
It's a steep drop from the other two years the survey was conducted: 143 in 2009 and 141 in 2008.
Yet, it's cause for concern.
"In spite of this encouraging news, the fact is that police suicides continue at a rate much higher than the number of police officers killed by felons," the group said.
Folks who knew the lieutenant in Monday's incident were also trying to make sense of it. The soul-searching was agonizing for some.
Retired Las Vegas lieutenant Randy Sutton told KVVU he had worked alongside the lieutenant for years.
"There's no rhyme or reason," Sutton said, saying the lieutenant was hard-working and seemed well-adjusted.
This is "the most unconscionable, dishonorable thing to do I can ever imagine," he added.
"The memories I have of him, they mean nothing to me anymore."
Read more about this story from CNN affiliate KVVU.
Box is concerned about the teen suicide because at least they made it past the womb abortion but he wont have them abort their own lives.
I didn't even get a chance to post on this thread... and some 'know it all' is posting for me.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
I didn't even get a chance to post on this thread... and some 'know it all' is posting for me.
Did you understand sender's post?
He's commenting on your stance whereby you support the right to not live, before birth, but once they are born, you don't want them to have the right to no longer live.
Let's call it your flip flopping stand on the right to not live.
If suicide makes a person happy, then why do you deny them the right to happiness?
What are your views on assisted suicide?(Kevorkianism)
Did you understand sender's post? He's commenting on your stance whereby you support the right to not live, before birth, but once they are born, you don't want them to have the right to no longer live.
Let's call it your flip flopping stand on the right to not live. If suicide makes a person happy, then why do you deny them the right to happiness? What are your views on assisted suicide?(Kevorkianism)
And yet another 'know it all' is posting my views for me. Amazing!!!
NOTE: In a post that I have yet to respond... I've been quoted twice... and as always... it isn't my words from this thread... it's theirs!
Are these two that desperate for attention that they have to make up responses, then answer them???
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Please tell us if we've been deceived by your posts, but you seem to support abortions and be against the right to no longer live.
Of course I am Pro Choice, as are most Americans... but what does that have to do with the subject of this thread? "Laws Won't Stop Suicide Killers" Anything???
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Of course I am Pro Choice, as are most Americans... but what does that have to do with the subject of this thread? "Laws Won't Stop Suicide Killers" Anything???
Are you pro-choice for suicides?
Suicides are the story. You keep trying to deflect away from it.
You stamp your feet saying stop speaking for me, as if we misrepresented your views.
So, I stated you were pro-choice on abortions and anti-choice for suicides.
You have used suicide stats constantly in your gun banning posts, as if you were against them.
Go ahead answer the question.
Does a person have the right to choose to no longer live?
Are you pro-choice for suicides? Suicides are the story. You keep trying to deflect away from it. You stamp your feet saying stop speaking for me, as if we misrepresented your views. So, I stated you were pro-choice on abortions and anti-choice for suicides. You have used suicide stats constantly in your gun banning posts, as if you were against them. Go ahead answer the question. Does a person have the right to choose to no longer live?
IMO, YES! as long as the person is rational at the time of the decision.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Wow, was that so hard? So, not if they are on a killing spree? I'm afraid that it doesn't matter if a person is rational, homicidal or full blown insane. The choice to live or die already exists without approval, and no law can prevent it. No weapons ban, no forced mental health checks, no child proofed world will stop a person who no longer wishes to live. A more friendly and peaceful society "could" prevent some suicides, but suicides have been around since the beginning of time.
I have always been in favor of Hemlock laws like those in Oregon etc. Just as I'm in favor of Choice... Nothing new there!
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
IMO, YES! as long as the person is rational at the time of the decision.
so your all about making someone else decide if you are rational, as if they 'know' you intimately and then diagnose you, label you and become your 'god'?
you give up your ability to chose but defend others
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
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