Police increasingly face off with veterans

Police increasingly face off with veterans
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 13, 2014

There are too many stories about police facing off with veterans. Most of them are tied to PTSD. This will give you a glimpse of what happened all over the country in just a year.

This report came out in December of 2012 and offered a clue as to what should have been expected in 2013.

The e-mail arrived on the heels of the Sandy Hook tragedy in Connecticut and just days before December 21, 2012 – a date that some believed signaled the end of the world. In fact, a worried family member of a young Iraqi soldier wrote of her unsuccessful attempts to get the young soldier help. A man the family member said suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, Schizophrenia and more. She detailed that she believed the young soldier was going to kill himself and others and included a laundry list of weapons he allegedly he possessed, including shotguns, rifles and handguns.

“That’s when the second best of luck happened. We got a hero who came out who turned out to be an Iraqi vet himself.” said Leifman.

“He was in crisis and he truly believed that what he was doing was the right thing,” says Victor Milian. To the judge, a hero in this story.

Millian is not only a Miami-Dade Hostage negotiator, but also a veteran of the Iraqi war, a senior sergeant, and when he arrived at the soldier’s apartment complex he was determined to get the roubled soldier out alive, while trying to make sure that residents and his fellow officers were kept safe.

January 2013

Dustin Wernli, 30, called 911 Tuesday night saying he wanted an officer to shoot him, according to the Tucson Police Department.

Officers talked to Wernli for about 15 minutes when he pulled a gun and an officer lethally shot him, according to TPD.

Wernli was a Navy medic who was deployed with the Marine Corps in Iraq, according to his father.

He suffered a brain injury from an explosion in 2004. He was receiving treatment from the VA hospital for PTSD, according to Wernli's father.

Pfc. Gregory Gordon HONOLULU — A Schofield Barracks soldier was shot and killed by police early Tuesday after he repeatedly rammed multiple police cars with his truck in Waikiki. Several police officers were injured in the incident.

The 25th Infantry Division said in a statement it’s cooperating with the Honolulu Police Department as officers investigate. The unit won’t release the soldier’s name until his next of kin are notified.

February

Veteran at center of police standoff hopes treatment of PTSD will help him

March 2013

Jason Glover, 32 The deputies were called out to Glover's residence at 28260 Louisiana 435 about 11 p.m. Glover's girlfriend had called 911 and reported that Glover had threatened to kill her and that he was armed with a handgun, Strain said. When deputies arrived at the house, they found the 32-year-old sitting in his car outside the house.

As Glover got out of the car, deputies saw he had a handgun. He allegedly ignored their repeated calls to drop his gun.

"Since his return from Iraq, this young man has struggled greatly to adjust and to recover from his experience. Sadly, he and his family were ultimately unable to find the help he truly needed.

Santiago Cisneros

Antoinette Cisneros was on the phone with her son Santiago when a shootout started with police at a Portland parking garage.

"I was there," she said. "I heard my son being killed."

Last Monday, two police officers in northeast Portland said they came upon 32-year-old Santiago Cisneros, who was armed with a shotgun, on the top of a parking garage.

Theodore “T.J.” Jones IV was shot and killed at about 4 a.m. Thursday when he advanced on officers who had surrounded him at a former business at 1811 E. Broadway Ave., Maryville Police Chief Tony Crisp said. TJ had served five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. But they didn't realize how serious it had become.

April 2013

Iraq War veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder claimed to have a firearm and barricaded himself inside a Vine Street house for an hour and a half today, according to police and family members.

May 2013

Ryan George Nelson heard before the bullet pierced through his chest, killing the 34-year-old U.S. Navy veteran. The shot came from his own gun and Nelson himself pulled the trigger. It marked the end of a life that saw the birth of two children, the end of a relationship with a fiance, the end of a neighborhood disruption and, perhaps, the beginning of a discussion. Nelson had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Man in Townsend standoff ordered to enter VA treatment

June 2013

The gunman who went "berserk" with a high-powered air rifle on the North Shore on Friday night is an ex-soldier who suffers post-traumatic stress disorder. The 49-year-old, who the Herald on Sunday have chosen not to name, is under guard in North Shore Hospital being treated for dog bites after being brought down by a police dog during the three-hour siege on Awaruku Rd, Torbay.

Jon Hyatt shot himself June 28, but his mother, Lisa McLaughlin, said he had been tormented by things he had seen and done in Iraq. the man had taken a shot at the police and was refusing to come out of his home. The next morning police found him dead. He was an Iraq war veteran and had been treated for post traumatic stress disorder and he had committed suicide.

July 2013

Vincent Wood, who family members said was a Vietnam veteran diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and possibly other mental issues.

The autopsy report, which was completed July 18 by the state Office of the Medical Investigator and will likely be released publicly today, details the nine gunshot wounds that Wood suffered when he was killed at the parking lot. Six of the bullets were in his back.

Dustin Cole A Fort Hood soldier has been identified as the man who killed one Killeen police officer and wounded another on Saturday. 24 year old Dustin Cole was identified as the deceased suspect in the July 13 shootout that killed a Killeen officer and wounded another.

At least five standoffs this year have happened in Killeen, and on July 14, one ended with the shooting death of police Officer Robert "Bobby" Hornsby, 32. Fort Hood Pfc. Dustin Billy Cole was shot and killed after he opened fire with an AK47 on Hornsby and Officer Juan E. Obregon, Jr., who was wounded.

Kenny Stafford, 27, was an active military member who grew up in the Reno area. Stafford was stationed in Washington State, but he was in town to visit family and friends and attend a memorial for a young man he considered a brother. That young man was Ryan Connelly. Connelly, 17, was shot and killed on July 7, 2012 while walking home from the store, his murder is still unsolved.

August 2013

Daniel Abeyta, 31, shot and killed a woman and that when officers arrived the gunman suddenly shot at a propane tank that had gunpowder on top.

California standoff The man, whose age is unknown and identity is being withheld, surrendered to police and was taken to a Veterans Administration hospital for treatment.

Gabriel Edmeier, 28, barricaded himself in his home on the 2200 block of 33rd street Monday, where Lubbock police say he threatened to kill himself or anyone who entered. LPD said Edmeier is an ex-marine experienced in combat and was armed with semi-automatic weapons and body armor.

September 2013

Denis Reynoso, 30, of Lynn. Family members of the man could not be reached for comment following the shooting.

Lynn Police Lieutenant Richard Donnelly said officers were called to 115 O’Callaghan Way in the King’s Lynne apartment complex, about 11:10 a.m. for a disturbance and were told that a man was screaming outside. They were then directed to Newcastle Street, which is also in the development.

Police said William Hall, 57, shot Jerry Hale at his home on Plummer Drive near I-635E. Hall was a Vietnam Veteran.

October 2013

Vincent L. Young Police fatally shot a 68-year-old veteran who claimed he had a bomb and lunged at them with a knife in the emergency room of the Bay Pines VA Health Care center, an FBI spokesman said.

The man drove to the medical center at 10000 Bay Pines Blvd. about 5 p.m. Friday and walked into the lobby of the emergency room carrying a backpack, said Special Agent Dave Couvertier with the FBI.

The man said he had a bomb, and when police with the Department of Veterans Affairs confronted him, he brandished a knife and lunged at them, Couvertier said. The officers shot and wounded him. He was treated in the hospital and died there from his injuries. Authorities would not comment on how many shots were fired. Inside the backpack investigators found a suspicious object, Couvertier said, “a piece of PVC pipe, I guess, made to look like a bomb or explosive device.”

Authorities quickly determined “it was not an actual device. It was a hoax device.”

Daryl “Ray” Cody was shot by a deputy Tuesday at the downtown apartment building where he was living. Two deputies were helping evict Cody when one saw what he thought was the barrel of a gun, according to police. Police said Cody refused to come down from his bunk bed and refused to show the deputy his hands before the shooting.

November 2013

Glen Vela, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq in 2002, was taken into custody the day after being shot in the torso by police. He was shot after alledgedly aiming a handgun equipped with a laser at two policemen through his apartment window in North Campus. Police were originally summoned to his apartment following a 911 call from a friend of Vela’s.

“I got shot, I shook it off; they could shoot me ten times, and I won’t care,” Vela said in an official statement, according to Reposa.

Reposa said Vela has been strained by post-traumatic stress disorder, and psychological stressors have affected his recent decisions.

Jonathan D. Clark III, 25, had been stationed at the Mountain Post since July 2009, assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team with the 4th Infantry Division. Clark, from Germantown, N.Y., had most recently completed a four-month deployment to Kuwait and had returned to Fort Carson in June. Clark was shot in the chest and hand during a standoff with two Fountain police officers, and died at a Memorial Hospital Central late Monday night.

Jason White, 31 was wielding a knife when he lunged at officers in the 2100 block of Gables Lake Drive Sunday morning. White suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and paranoid schizophrenia, according to family members.

His mother, Patti Stevens-Rucker, says her son is an Army veteran who served overseas and was never quite the same when he came back. Stevens-Rucker, however, disputes the allegations that White was aggressive with officers. She describes her son as considerate and sensitive but troubled after he recently served a tour of duty in Iraq.

Home on leave from Afghanistan The shooting occurred Wednesday after deputies responded to a call from Marty Maiden II about his intention to commit suicide found him barricaded inside a residence. The 20-year-old was home on emergency leave from Afghanistan to attend the funeral of his father. The father shot himself at the same residence during a similar SWAT standoff on Oct. 31.

December 2013

Jason Ingalsbe, 43, was arrested for investigation of third-degree assault and felony menacing following a two-hour standoff. Canon police, Fremont County Sheriff and Florence police authorities were called to the 900 block of Whipple by Ingalsbe’s brother, who reported the two had been in a physical altercation.

The victim had barricaded himself in a bedroom and reported that he had been assaulted. The victim also reported that his brother, a military veteran suffering from PTSD, was armed and intoxicated.

Michael Vaughan A standoff lasting more than 24 hours between police in northern Kentucky and a military veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who barricaded himself and his three children inside his home has finally ended.

Those are just some of the stories. There are, sadly, many more.