(TX) White Settlement officer fatally shot; suspect dead

[Drizzt]

White Settlement officer fatally shot; suspect dead
04/24/2002

By REBECCA LOPEZ and JIM DOUGLAS / WFAA-TV


A police officer was shot and killed at a house in White Settlement Wednesday afternoon after responding to a report of shots fired at the address, police said.

A suspect in the residence in the 9000 block of Farmers Road held police at bay for several hours. Just before 6 p.m., Fort Worth tactical officers moved in and reportedly shot the suspect, who was later confirmed dead by police.

Authorities at the scene identified the slain policeman as 37-year-old Captain George Scott Monier. He had been with the White Settlement police department for about 11 years.

Officials said the two officers split up when they arrived at the house -- one to check out the front of the house, the other to the rear.

The police captain, who went in from the front, was fired upon and managed to return fire. He was dragged from the scene by other arriving officers.

The Medstar ambulance service said Monier was rushed to Harris Methodist Hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.

The Fort Worth Police Department SWAT team was called in to coordinate efforts as officers with weapons drawn surrounded the wood frame house, crouching behind vehicles for protection.

Police from Lake Worth and the White Settlement school district also assisted in securing the location as negotiators talked to the suspect during the standoff.

Two women in the house at the time of the shooting were able to flee unharmed.

The women told WFAA-TV they had gone to the residence to check on a relative's welfare when the suspect started shooting.

The women said the suspect has a military background.

The scene of the shooting is just one block from West Elementary School, which was placed on perimiter lockdown for protection of students and faculty. Parents arriving to pick up students at the end of the school day were asked to go to the west side of the school. Identification will be required for release of students.

White Settlement is in western Tarrant County, just west of the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base.

http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews....206b297c.html

[Drizzt]

Officer fatally shot responding to call
Gunman, 67, is found dead in White Settlement house

04/25/2002

By NANCY CALAWAY and JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News

WHITE SETTLEMENT – A police officer responding to a domestic disturbance without wearing a bulletproof vest was fatally shot Wednesday by a man who officials said had a history of mental problems.

Capt. George Scott Monier, 37, is the first White Settlement police officer to die in the line of duty.

Police say Capt. Monier fired at least one shot at the gunman, who was later found dead inside the Tarrant County home.

Investigators said that James Southall, 68, appeared to have died from gunshot wounds. They said they would have to wait for an autopsy to determine whether the officer's weapon fired the shots.

Capt. Monier was an 11-year veteran of the department who was promoted in December. His job entailed mainly administrative tasks, including overseeing the department's jail, training and communication operations. As a result, he wasn't wearing a bulletproof vest when he rushed to the scene.

The incident began at 12:40 p.m., when police got a report that shots had been fired at a house in the 9000 block of Farmer Road.

Officials said that when the officers arrived, three women were at the home, where Mr. Southall was temporarily staying.

WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reported that Mr. Southall was living with his girlfriend, Betty Cook, 63, her daughter, Brandy, and a granddaughter.

Brandy Cook told WFAA that an argument erupted in the house after she confronted Mr. Southall about hitting her mother.

"I asked him why he hit her and told him that he hit the wrong person," she said.

Brandy Cook said Mr. Southall then chased her out of the house. "He told me, 'I'm going to kill you.' "

Police said that the women ran away from the house unharmed and that while officers tried to coax the gunman out the front door, Capt. Monier volunteered to enter from the back.

When he went inside, Capt. Monier exchanged gunfire with the man, later identified as Mr. Southall. Capt. Monier was shot three times in the chest.

Investigators said he staggered out the front of the home and collapsed on the front porch. Officers pulled him to safety and began administering aid. He was taken to Harris Methodist Fort Worth hospital, where he died in surgery about 3 p.m., officials said.

After Capt. Monier was shot, officers from White Settlement and Lake Worth arrived, along with tactical units from Fort Worth and crime scene technicians from the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department.

Under normal circumstances, Capt. Monier would not have responded to the disturbance call, which came during lunchtime.

"I'm sure he was responding as quickly as possible, and that in his rush, he didn't want to let any more time pass," said White Settlement City Manager Gus Pappas.

"It was one of those awkward times when part of the department is at lunch," Mr. Pappas said. Capt. Monier "had gone to an earlier lunch, so he was the senior man in charge when the call went in."

Stunned White Settlement officers gathered at the police station Wednesday afternoon to comfort one another. They soon were joined by representatives from various law-enforcement agencies.

"In a department this small, it hurts when you lose one like that," White Settlement Officer Darrel Payne said.

While listening devices revealed no signs of life within the home, police waited for a judge to sign a search warrant before they re-entered the residence. Tear gas canisters were fired into the house about 4:45 p.m. About an hour later, more gas was fired, and officers went inside, along with two paramedics. A few minutes later, they left the home and said the suspect was dead.

Officers found a .45-caliber handgun and a rifle inside the house, Mr. Pappas said.

"It is my understanding that Mr. Southall had some mental problems, although the depth or type has not been confirmed," Mr. Pappas said, adding that officers continued Wednesday night to investigate his mental history.

"It seems to have been a very random, useless act of violence."

In the usually quiet residential area near White Settlement Road and East Loop 820, neighbors gathered to watch the police activity. Leigh Mooney said she was getting into her car when she saw officers walking down her street with their guns drawn.

"They were looking really serious and were hunkered down as they were coming down the street," she said. "That's when I thought something serious was going on, and then I could hear the screaming."

Before joining the White Settlement force, Capt. Monier had worked as a jail employee with the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department. He lived with his wife and two young children in rural Parker County, north of Weatherford.
Late Wednesday, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers allowed only relatives to approach the family's property.

White Settlement Police Chief David Place was too upset to comment about the officer's shooting, officials said.

"It's going to be hard to get through this," White Settlement Mayor James Herring said.

Capt. Monier was extremely popular and described by administrators as a "cutting-edge officer" who was part of the department's recent modernization.

"He was one of the best and brightest. He would have been a future potential chief, if not here, then somewhere else," Mr. Pappas said. "We'll miss him terribly."

Dewayn Cash, a City Council member who described himself as a friend of Capt. Monier, said the officer was always willing to listen to a friend in need.

"We lost a great person in the community, and I lost a friend," Mr. Cash said. "That he would volunteer to go in the back – that tells you the type of person he was. That he would take that responsibility and take that risk."

Because it was the first time an officer in White Settlement has been shot, as well as the first time an officer died in the line of duty, the department of about 50 was taking Capt. Monier's death hard.

"It bothers us, and it's going to take a long time to heal. I think it will take a long time for the officers to be confident again, and there will be a lot of questioning inside," Mr. Pappas said.

[Drizzt]

Fort Worth Star-Telegram


April 25, 2002 Thursday

SECTION: TOPSTORY

LENGTH: 1139 words

HEADLINE: Officer dies after shootout;
Girls feared for safety of grandmother

BYLINE: DEANNA BOYD Star-Telegram Staff Writer

BODY:
WHITE SETTLEMENT - A White Settlement police captain investigating a domestic disturbance was fatally shot Wednesday afternoon, and his assailant, wounded by return gunfire, was found dead in a house where he had barricaded himself.

Officials did not know late Wednesday whether police gunfire killed James Southall, 67, or whether he had also shot himself.

Capt. Scott Monier, an 11-year veteran and a former Tarrant County jailer, was shot twice in the abdomen and once in the chest and died in surgery at Harris Methodist Fort Worth. He was not wearing a protective vest. Monier, 37, was the first White Settlement police officer killed in the line of duty. He is survived by his wife, Vicki, a schoolteacher in Peaster in Parker County, and two young daughters.

The shooting occurred shortly after 1 p.m. at 9009 Farmer Road, where Southall had lived for about five years with Betty Cook, 65, Cook's granddaughters said.

The granddaughters, who said they were upset that Southall had been abusive to Betty Cook, called police from a nearby school to report that Southall had pulled a gun after refusing to let them use the telephone. Monier was shot when he entered the home as the granddaughters spoke outside with another officer responding to the 911 call.

One granddaughter, Brandy Cook, 21, said that Southall had recently "gotten more verbal, more physical," and that Betty Cook had attempted to evict him.

"None of the family could get him to leave," Brandy Cook said. "My grandmother wanted him out of the house, but he wouldn't leave."

Police said they had unconfirmed reports that Southall had had mental problems. Brandy Cook said Southall had previously been hospitalized for a mental breakdown.

Monier's slaying stunned the 30-member Police Department.

"It's been very trying," police spokesman John Clapp said at a late afternoon news conference. "Everybody is shocked and very emotional."

City Manager Gus Pappas said the shooting of Monier "seems to have been very random and basically without purpose, a useless act of violence."

Police Chief David Place described the slain officer as "one of the strong rocks in my command. Society and law enforcement lost a good man."

Brandy Cook said she and her sister, Monica Lolless, 18, went to the Farmer Road home to visit their grandmother Wednesday. They were greeted by a visibly upset Southall, who slammed the door behind them as they entered, she said.

"He said he couldn't take us kids always coming over," Brandy Cook said.

A few minutes later, as they stood on the front porch out of Southall's earshot, their grandmother told them that Southall had hit her Tuesday.

"She said, 'I want him gone, but he won't leave,' " Brandy Cook said. "We were mad. That's when I went in the house to call my uncle."

Southall refused to let her use the phone, which had been unplugged from the jack, she said.

"I went in there and said, 'Can you hook up the phone so I can make a phone call?' He said, 'No.' I said, 'Well, you've hit the wrong person.' "

As the granddaughters left to call their uncle from nearby West Elementary School, Southall pulled a .45-caliber gun and "ran after me," Brandy Cook said.

The sisters fled to the school and called police.

"The 911 call came in from the school. The caller advised that a man was holding a gun on her grandmother," Clapp said.

The granddaughters were standing in the middle of the street with a responding officer when Brandy Cook spotted Southall on the porch with a gun, and Betty Cook standing nearby.

"She kept telling the officers she could calm him down," Brandy Cook said.

"We didn't think he was going to do it, and then he cocked it."

About that time, police said, other officers arrived and Monier entered the house through a back door, apparently attracting Southall's attention.

Southall "was standing in the doorway. He went back in the house, and that's when the gunfire was exchanged between the two of them," Pappas said. "And then Captain Monier came out the front of the house injured."

Place said officers helped Betty Cook get away from the house and take shelter in a neighbor's house sometime after Southall went inside.

Brandy Cook said she heard five shots but didn't see the wounded officer.

"I didn't know an officer had been hit until I was next door and I saw them take him out. I thought he [Southall] had shot himself," she said.

The wounded officer was pulled out of the line of fire by other officers and was taken to Harris Methodist, where he died less than two hours later in surgery.

"Captain Monier had apparently, so I understand, told some of his fellow officers when he was being taken away that he believed that he had shot" Southall, Pappas said.

After shooting Monier, Southall barricaded himself in the house as White Settlement police, later replaced by the Fort Worth SWAT team and police snipers, surrounded the residence. Police also ordered West Elementary into a "lockdown" to prevent students or teachers from inadvertently walking into a dangerous situation.

As the afternoon wore on, police repeatedly attempted to contact Southall by phone and loudspeaker but received no response. At 4:45 p.m., they fired the first of two rounds of tear gas into the residence. There was no response. An hour later, after obtaining a search warrant, they fired a second volley of tear gas and stormed inside.

"Once they entered, they found Mr. Southall dead," Pappas said. "Apparently he had died from the wounds that had been inflicted in the gunshots that were exchanged between him and Captain Monier."

Police did not say where or how many times Southall had been shot.

Brandy Cook said Southall was retired from the military, liked guns and said he had served in "special services."

"My fiance sold him that gun," she said. "If we would have known he was nuts, we wouldn't have sold him the gun."

Brandy Cook said Southall had a horrible temper and was often mean to her 12-year-old sister, who lived with her grandmother and Southall. The girl was at school at the time of the shooting.

An adult grandson and his wife also live at the home but were away Wednesday afternoon.

Brandy Cook said Southall had never abused the grandmother in front of her family.

"He wants his way or no way," she said. "He's jealous. He wants her for himself."

Late Wednesday night, Betty Cook, who was at a relative's house, said that police moved too quickly and that more caution might have prevented both deaths.

"They should have listened to me when I told them to stay away from my house," she said.

"He didn't do anything wrong. He was a good man."

Staff writers Bill Teeter and Melody McDonald and correspondent Anita Baker contributed to this report.

Deanna Boyd, (817) 390-7655 [email protected]

[BuckeyePPC]

>>Brandy Cook said Southall was retired from the military, liked guns and said he had served in "special services." <<

In the Army 'special services' was the unit that took care of the bowling lanes, libraries, movie theaters, swimming pools, etc. Not to be confused with Special Forces, i.e. Green Berets.

[jwise]

"He didn't do anything wrong. He was a good man."

I'm sorry- but I don't see how someone can make this claim after what just transpired.

"Good men" don't do these things; "scum" do these things...

[Double Naught Spy]

I never understood from the news last evening if the Capt. Monier was shot with a handgun or rifle. Had it been the rifle and has the rifle been a caliber larger than .22 lr, then chances are the presence or absence of a vest would not have mattered.

Unless Southall committed suicide, this may be one of those classic and tragic events where the good guy manages to stop the bad guy, and in this case kill him, but does not survive the confrontation. That is a shame. And there is a very real lesson to be learned here for the rest of us. Even if you do stop the threat, if you end up dead, then you didn't win and winning is all about surviving.

Betty Cook is an idiot. " "Betty Cook, who was at a relative's house, said that police moved too quickly and that more caution might have prevented both deaths.

"They should have listened to me when I told them to stay away from my house," she said.

"He didn't do anything wrong. He was a good man." "

Talk about a victim mentality where the victim defends her abuser. She places the blame on the police for what happened and makes the statement that Southall didn't do anything wrong. Southall is the same guy who reportedly abused her and she had even tried to evict him.

Sure enough, he didn't do anything wrong but shoot a police officer and kill him.

[TheeBadOne]

Eulogy=A speech or writing in commendation; praise

You can see by the very definition of Eulogy why everyone at a funeral service is a good person. Even Charles Manson will have people stand by his casket extolling his virtues. Just for once I'd like to see one where the speaker calls it like it is......"Yep, Bob was a real POS, he drank too much, beat his wife, stole from his neighbors, never worked an honest day in his life......". Yeah, that'll happen.