# Worth your time.....



## Slim (6 Jul 2005)

*Subject: Worth your time.....*
>
>This was the murders in London, Ontario, last week.  This is written by a
>London Policewoman.
>
>I want to tell you a story about last Sunday night. Please read this, then
>go tell your family how much you love them...
>
>At 2:26am, Monday morning, I was on routine patrol in the east end of
>the city... It had been a really quiet night, I hadn't received a call yet,
>and was just trying to keep myself busy for the next hour so I could go
>home. Other officers have said it was the slowest night they have ever
>worked.
>
>The silence is broken when I hear a couple cars down town get dispatched
>to an assault in progress, the dispatcher says: "9 year old girl shows up
>at a neighbours house, says a man is in her house and hurting her
>mommy, she thinks her mommy is dead, she thinks the male left the house
>
>on foot". My husband John, is one of the officers who responds to the call.
>
>Although I am a ways off I start heading to the area to set up a
>perimeter. All of a sudden the words no one ever thinks they will hear
>"OFFICER DOWN, SHOTS FIRED, OFFICER DOWN, WE NEED AN AMBULANCE NOW",
>"I'VE BEEN HIT GET ME HELP, I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE". Because
>everyone is trying to use the radio, the officers shot don't know if their
>transmission came through or not, so they continue to come over the
>air... at this point, the rest of us who aren't there have no idea how
>many are hit, who is hit, or how bad it is... For those of you that are
>officers, you know that adrenaline dump you get from pursuits, or big
>calls... this was different. My entire body changed, I no longer had any
>fine motor skills, and nearly totalled my car a few times as I clumsily
>put on my lights and sirens and flew to the scene.
>
>As it turned out, the two officers who received the bullets, had been
>standing in front of my husband and another officer as the four
>approached the house.  One of the officers shot, Mike Kukolj, has been
>on the job 8 months. He was bleeding from two shots to the top of his
>head, one to his cheek and one in his arm. The other officer, Paul Doerkson,
>has been on the job 13 years, he received just under 60 wounds to his
>left arm and back. The 13 year veteran, dove from the porch onto the
>grass and returned fire. It appears as though he emptied his mag at the door,
>preventing the gun man from exiting the house to kill the rest of the
>responding officers. He saved all of our lives.
>
>I arrived 40 seconds later, to total chaos... over the radio I hear
>"THERE ARE STILL TWO CHILDREN IN THE HOUSE, A 5 YEAR OLD BOY AND A 13
>YEAR OLD GIRL, AS WELL AS THE MOM", then I hear an officer say "THERE
>IS AN EXPLOSION INSIDE THE HOUSE, THE WINDOWS ARE SMASHING, THE GAS LINE
>HAS BEEN CUT, HE IS SETTING THE HOUSE ON FIRE"... I recognize one of those
>voices as John's so I know I am not a widow yet.  The gunman continues
>to fire. The ERS (SWAT) team arrived on scene immediately after the first
>shots were fired. At this point they have no other choice but to go in.
>There is thick, black smoke billowing out the doors and windows, and
>the officers are almost completely blinded. They walk into the darkness,
>knowing there is an active shooter in there somewhere, because they
>need to save those victims.  Fire fallows, knowing they are unarmed and have
>no protection from bullets. Other than the ERS officers, a uniform Sgt,
>John and the other original first responding officer who was not hit by
>fire, enters the house.  John and the Sgt locate the 88lb mother of the
>children and carry her to the ambulance. The 13 year old girl and the 5
>year old boy are found by other officers. The 5 year old is the only
>one left alive. He has had his throat sliced from one end to the other and
>has a stab wound to the chest. All are taken to the ambulance, but the
>5 year old is the only one who is taken to the hospital. Somewhere in
>this mayhem, an ERS Sgt gets locked in the bathroom as the house is filling
>with smoke. Luckily he managed to escape, but was taken to hospital for
>serious smoke inhalation, along with another ERS member.
>
>I am sent to the hospital with him. While he is transported, he spoke
>to the ambulance staff, and anyone else who would listen. He asked when he
>would get to see his mom, we all knew she was dead by now and told him
>to be patient. He wasn't scared, and I think the coward that caused these
>injuries, actually slit his throat while he was asleep, because it
>seemed as though he had no idea what was happening or why he as even going to
>the hospital.
>
>When he arrived at the hospital, it looked like he might actually hold
>on. Everyone was pulling for this kid. All I could think of was how
>lucky I was that I would get to be the one who comforts this little boy. I
>was thinking how when he was feeling better, wouldn't it be great to wheel
>him over to the injured officers who were being treated on the adult
>side, to show them exactly why they took those bullets.  I was thinking
>how much his little 9 year old sister would need a sibling after going
>through this complete nightmare. Then all of a sudden, the boy is
>incubated and his heart stopped.
>
>One hour and 40 minutes after the call came in, the little guy was
>pronounced dead.
>
>The injured officers were as lucky as you can be when someone shoots
>you with a shotgun. The idiot used bird shot, so the bullets were not very
>big.  It is a miracle that they are both alive. Nearly 60 shots, and no
>nerve damage, Paul was using his arm immediately after it happened....
>how do you get hit 60 times and not die? How does Mike get hit in the head,
>and get released from the hospital 3 hours later? Someone was watching
>over us that day.
>
>For those of you that are officers: please learn from this: never stand
>in front of a door, no matter what... the officers thought they were
>rushing into the house to save this 9 year old girls mother, they did
>not know a man with a gun was still inside. Never trust anyone... this male
>was so far off the radar screen of our police department... he was a
>married father of three children under the age of ten. He was not the
>father of the dead children or the boyfriend or husband of their
>mother.  He was the last person in the world you would see as a threat. Also,
>never park in front of the house. We get lazy sometimes and take that
>for granted... in this case, the police did not know the exact address when
>they responded to the call, so there were cruisers parked directly out
>front. If you are ever faced with that situation, park around the
>corner and walk in. Finally, appreciate your co-workers. I am so proud to say,
>I arrived 40 seconds after the officer down, and there were already
>about 30 officers on scene.
>
>For the rest of you... please don't take life for granted. This
>happened to a normal family. On a normal street in a normal city... These were
>not high risk people. Tell your loved ones what they mean to you. This is a
>tragedy, and we are all trying to make sense of it. Nothing will ever
>make the massacre of innocent women and children "worth it", but please
>learn what you can from this incident.
>
>Finally, and I am not saying this to get attention, cause I know that
>my part in this, albeit traumatic, was not brave or instrumental:  Please
>appreciate the brave men and women who are out there fighting for your
>safety every day.  So many officers risked their lives to try and save
>his mom and her kids, and they would do that for anyone, anytime.
>
>The SIU investigation ended this morning, and they found the police
>were not at fault in any way... that is why it took three days to get this
>email off.
>
>ake care,
>MJ


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## Donut (6 Jul 2005)

Thanks for posting this, Slim.

As a guy who walks up to stranger's houses a couple of times a week for an "unknown problem" it reinforces the lessons others have paid so dearly for.

Watch yourselves, stay safe.


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