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London, Ont Officer killed

niner domestic

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One officer has been shot along with an unknown individual.  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/london_police_killed

Thoughts and prayers for family and colleagues.
 
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2007/06/07/4242004.html

Police to discuss shooting at press conference
Victims are believed to be off-duty officer and retired officer
By SUN MEDIA

London police have scheduled a 3:30 p.m. news conference to disclose more details on a murder-suicide that took the lives of a man and woman — believed to be a retired police officer and an off-duty police officer — early this morning.

Police are expected to confirm the circumstances surrounding the early-morning shooting that has shocked neighbours and set the city abuzz with rumours.

Several horrified witnesses called police to say a van had hit an apartment building downtown at 7 Picton St. soon after midnight.

Police found two people with gunshot wounds inside the vehicle. They were pronounced dead at hospital.

Police haven't yet confirmed the names of the two people.

Police said it appears a shooting took place immediately before the crash.

“This is a very difficult day for the London Police Service,” said spokesperson Const. Amanda Pfeffer.

“We are remaining focused on the investigation because it is essential for us to identify what happened just as it is essential for the public to told what has happened."

Several witnesses told The Free Press they heard what sounded like gunshots and a loud bang, and ran to see a van stopped on Picton Street, the corner of a low brick wall smashed.

“It was awful, just gruesome” said Jenn, a resident of a nearby apartment, who did not want to give her last name.

“A bunch of us were banging on the windows because the doors were locked.”

The male driver and female passenger inside the van were not moving, she said.

Police and ambulances arrived soon after, Jenn said.

“I think everyone here is in complete shock,” one London police officer told The Free Press.

Police remain on scene this morning. The windows of a sixth-floor apartment unit where one of the victims apparently lived were draped in thick black material.

I'll try to have a follow up soon.
 
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2007/06/07/4242004.html

Dead officers had a 'relationship,' police say
Two perish downtown in murder-suicide
By SUN MEDIA

London police have identified two dead people in this morning's murder-suicide as retired police Supt. Dave Lucio and newly promoted Insp. Kelly Johnson.

Both had gunshot wounds. A service pistol issued to Johnson was found in the van, which had rammed an apartment building where Johnson lived on Picton Street downtown.

Police said the two had a "relationship" but did not disclose what it was and would not elaborate further.

Lucio, 57, was a 35-year veteran of the police force and retired in 2004.

Johnson, 40, had attained the highest rank of any female officer in the force and was set next week to assume the position of Inspector. She had been in charge of the sexual assault and child-abuse section of the police department.

Lucio was the driver and Johnson, who was not on duty at the time, was the passenger.

Police Chief Murray Faulkner said it's not yet determined who shot whom.

Several horrified witnesses called police to say a van had hit an apartment building downtown at 7 Picton St. soon after midnight.

Police found Johnson and Lucio inside the vehicle. They were pronounced dead at hospital.

“This is a very difficult day for the London Police Service,” spokesperson Const. Amanda Pfeffer said earlier in the day, before Johnson and Lucio were identified.

“We are remaining focused on the investigation because it is essential for us to identify what happened just as it is essential for the public to told what has happened."

Several witnesses told The Free Press they heard what sounded like gunshots and a loud bang, and ran to see a van stopped on Picton Street, the corner of a low brick wall smashed.

“It was awful, just gruesome” said Jenn, a resident of a nearby apartment, who did not want to give her last name.

“A bunch of us were banging on the windows because the doors were locked.”

The male driver and female passenger inside the van were not moving, she said.

Police and ambulances arrived soon after, Jenn said.

“I think everyone here is in complete shock,” one London police officer told The Free Press.

Police remain on the scene. The windows of a sixth-floor apartment unit where Johnson apparently lived were draped in thick black material.

My thoughts are with the families, friends, and LPS.
 
A lot of articles in today's London Free Press. Here are some:

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2007/06/08/4243749-sun.html
'An irrational act'
Top-ranking female officer, retired superintendent found in scene of horror The service pistol used belonged to Kelly Johnson, a leader in fighting domestic violence.
By RANDY RICHMOND AND KELLY PEDRO, SUN MEDIA
'An irrational act'
Acting Insp. Kelly Johnson

Just before London police's "rising female star" and her ex-lover, a retired officer, were killed in a murder-suicide, she made a mysterious stop at the police station.

Then, Acting Insp. Kelly Johnson, the force's highest- ranking female officer, jumped into a waiting van.

Minutes later, two gunshots were fired inside a van before it crashed into a brick wall six blocks away from the station, outside Johnson's apartment building at 7 Picton St.

Stunned neighbours found Johnson, 40, dead, her face bloody, her 9 mm Glock service pistol -- which she wasn't authorized to have with her -- on her lap.

Beside her, the driver of the van and her ex-lover, retired superintendent David Lucio, 57, was slumped over with what witnesses called a bullet wound to the head.

Neighbours called 911 at 12:01 a.m yesterday and police arrived within four minutes to discover the unthinkable: two of their own were dead.

Even more unthinkable -- police and civilian sources and witness accounts pointed yesterday to Johnson -- a noted community leader in fighting domestic violence -- as the one who shot Lucio.

A subdued police Chief Murray Faulkner stressed police won't know who shot whom until after an autopsy scheduled for today.

"Nothing that happened last night makes any sense right yet," he told The Free Press. "There will be sources that say that (Johnson was the shooter), and I understand that."

"But we need to have proof, not just speculation, not just opinion," Faulkner said.

Even after the autopsies, police may never know why the killings occurred.

"Was there anything yesterday that would indicate there would be a problem at midnight last night? Not a single thing. Was there anything in her mood, anything? No, no," Faulkner said.

Faulkner said he didn't know why Johnson, after leaving work about 5 p.m., returned just before midnight.

"Did she come to get some workout clothes? Did she come to get her service revolver? I don't know."

She wasn't authorized to take her gun home, Faulkner said.

An officer who saw Johnson at the station noticed nothing amiss, Faulkner said.

The first civilians to find Johnson and Lucio after the shooting described a scene of quiet horror.

"I heard a gunshot, then I heard an engine revving and then a crash," said Brian Kearn, who was in the front lobby of his apartment building near where the van crashed.

He and several other building residents ran outside.

"We tried to get in the van and help the victims but the doors were locked," he said.

Kearn said he saw a female passenger, with a severe head wound from a gunshot, sitting in the passenger side. A handgun rested on her lap.

The male driver appeared to have a bullet wound to his right temple, Kearn said.

"There was no movement. The people were obviously dead."

Other witnesses described seeing the man with a bloody left arm and blood down his back.

"It was awful, just gruesome" said one woman, a nearby resident. "You could see blood on the airbags."

Another resident of the same building said he heard a bang and watched from his second-floor window as the van rolled back after hitting the wall.

When he got to the van, "they were lifeless."

Police on the scene grew instantly quiet once they opened the van, Kearn said.

"There were quite subdued. They were quite quiet."

Johnson was an 18-year veteran of the force.

She's served for several years as the detective sergeant in charge of the sexual assault and child abuse section and supervised the force's domestic violence co-ordinator.

Five days ago, she was named acting inspector of the department's professional standards branch.

Kelly "was a very bright, articulate community-minded officer . . . If there was a rising star, specifically female, she was it," Faulkner said.

Lucio retired as superintendent in 2004 after 35 years of service.

Johnson was a role model for many of the about 100 female officers, Faulkner said.

"Lucio was a role model for many of the male officers," Faulkner said.

"When you see this happen to two people that you either very much admire and emulate, it shakes your confidence."

Most of the force's 180 civilian employees took the news especially hard, Faulkner said.

"It's the tough cop that doesn't show emotion, but civilian staff are not used to that."

A shaken police board chair- person, Ab Chahbar, said it was a sad day for the force.

"You can see it all over their faces," he said.

Faulkner confirmed Johnson and Lucio had had a relationship, but didn't say how close they were.

The two were ex-lovers, several sources told The Free Press.

Johnson had been married for several years to a fellow London officer, Steve Pearson, but they separated.

Lucio was also separated from his wife.

It wasn't clear if Lucio and Johnson still had a relationship.

The deaths stunned not only the 720 members of the force, but hundreds more in community groups where the two high-profile officers volunteered.

"It's just a great personal tragedy for both families, friends and loved ones and anyone who worked with either one of them," said Megan Walker, head of the London Abused Women's Centre.

"He was a very, very close friend of mine . . . He loved being a cop," said Dave Scatcherd, owner of the Oakwood resort in Grand Bend.

Police called Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, which probes civilian deaths and injuries from police actions, but the agency left the case to London police because the "subject officer" was dead, Faulkner said.
 
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2007/06/08/4243754-sun.html
Police soldier on
police murder-suicide
By KATE DUBINSKI AND KELLY PEDRO, SUN MEDIA

Despite being "shell-shocked" after yesterday's murder-suicide that left two of their own shot dead, London's police community will continue to serve and protect the community, some with the help of grief counsellors.

Continuing to police the city as they deal with their grief is part of the job, said Dan Axford, administrator of the London Police Association.

"People are shell-shocked. This is just horrible and it's affecting everyone in the organization," he said.

The same police force that responded to the gruesome scene outside a condominium building at 7 Picton St. must investigate what led to the shooting of off-duty Acting Insp. Kelly Johnson, 40, and retired Supt. David Lucio, 57.

Axford had just gone to bed when the phone rang at 12:20 a.m. yesterday, telling him an off-duty officer -- who turned out to be Johnson -- was shot.

He and Chief Murray Faulkner immediately called in the critical incident team to help officers manage stress from yesterday's deadly blow.

Grief counsellors are available for all officers dealing with the deaths, Axford said.

"Although there's 800 people (on the force), they're all under one roof. It's like an 800-member family and now two of those family members are gone."

Officers have to deal with their emotions and continue to do their jobs, Axford said.

"It's a full range of emotions, and we have to make sure there's somewhere for everyone to go.

"First responders deal with those kinds of things day in and day out, and you have to find a way to get past the emotional roller-coaster you sometimes find yourself on.

"You still have to act as a police officer; you still have to function."

Grief counsellors had been dealing with each new shift of officers yesterday.

"There is a lot of upset in our organization and that can be expected," Faulkner said.

Night-shift officers were kept an extra hour to be debriefed and offered help.

"Night shift isn't the easiest shift to work, but when you compound that with this type of incident, it's much more stressful,"Faulkner said.

"We need to have an understanding that there will be an opportunity when they are rested and relaxed to talk about what they saw and what we need to do as an organization to move forward."

Civilian staffers who work with police also are upset. One broke down crying when asked how she was doing.

Even for seasoned veterans, the death of a fellow officers is hard to handle.

"It's like anytime when you're woken up in the middle of the night and information is given to you," Faulkner said.

"You first of all pinch yourself that this is a dream. And once you realize this isn't a dream, there's some disbelief that this would happen."

Faulkner notified family members about the deaths.

"This isn't a pleasant day for me. It's not something you're trained for," he said.

"I don't think any chief looks forward to it, but it goes with the office."

Officers killed in the line of duty are given a full police funeral. It's too early to say what arrangements will be made in this case, Axford said.
 
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2007/06/08/4243755-sun.html
Job 'perfect storm' for personal crisis
By APRIL KEMICK, SUN MEDIA

A high-pressure job that demands complete control.

Training in the use of force.

Emotional burnout.

Access to a handgun.

Such factors -- constant in the lives of every police officer -- could create "a perfect storm" such as the one that played out in yesterday's police murder-suicide in London, says one American expert in police behaviour.

Dan Newman, a retired officer and licensed mental health counsellor who consults with police agencies in Arizona, said it's not altogether uncommon for police officers to lash out in violent ways.

In London, that both of the dead were police -- Kelly Johnson, an acting inspector on the London force, and David Lucio, a recently retired London superintendent -- might have added to the recipe for disaster, he said.

Sources have said Johnson and Lucio had a relationship.

"It's like a perfect storm if you want to talk about a job that could cause a lot of psychological problems," Newman said.

Aside from dealing with job stress, police are trained to control situations, resorting to force if needed, he said.

Many are high achievers who strive for perfection, he said. Add access to weapons, and the potential for danger increases.

"If you write down the . . . characteristics that go with policing . . . it's not that illogical that there'd be suicide-homicides," he said.

"A police officer has always got a gun handy and a police officer is trained to control. Those are factors . . .

"When you get two people going through that same phenomenon, it doesn't surprise me that there'd be suicide-homicides," he said.

But another expert in police behaviour, Dr. Audrey Honig, chairperson of police psychological services for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, said officers are no more likely to be involved in a murder-suicide than a member of the general public.

But crimes committed by police are more likely to be highly scrutinized because the public -- and media -- hold police to such high expectations, she said from California.

"The strongest tree in the forest is still subject to bark beetles and drought like all the other trees," she said. "Except when that one falls, it falls hard."

It can be difficult for an officer to keep certain job aspects -- for example, need for control and force -- out of the home, she said.

"You're paid to use force at times . . . one has to learn to regulate it," she said.

And she agreed the availability of a gun increases the risk of suicide.

But like the general public, it isn't problems with the job, but problems in personal relationships that police identify as their biggest stressor, Honig said.

"Over 50 per cent (of police officers seeking counselling) come in for relationship issues," she said.

While murder-suicides involving police are rare, she said she's seen a handful of cases in her 22 years as a police psychologist.

People need to remember police are regular people dealing with the same issues the public deals with, she said.

"Even those who are 'a cut above' are potentially subject to crisis," she said.
 
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2007/06/08/4243756-sun.html
Chief saw nothing that alerted him to possible tragedy
By KELLY PEDRO AND RANDY RICHMOND, SUN MEDIA

Police Chief Murray Faulkner sat down with The Free Press after yesterday's news that Acting Insp. Kelly Johnson and retired Supt. David Lucio were found dead in a minivan outside Johnson's apartment building, with Johnson's police-issued 9 mm Glock pistol found in the van.

Q: What was your reaction upon hearing the news?

A: You first of all pinch yourself that this is a dream and once you realize this isn't a dream, there's some disbelief that this would happen.

Q: What is the protocol for an off-duty officer to have a weapon on them?

A: There is clear policy in place in relation to police officers taking their service pistol home . . . It has to be under permission of the police chief . . . Permission was not given in this case . . . Every firearm is put in a personal locker and kept in their locker along with their uniform. If you're leaving the building in a uniform, you have to have your firearm with you.

Each person is responsible for their own locker. Everybody is responsible for their own service weapon.

Q: So, there's no way of knowing whether someone has taken their firearm out?

A: No.

Q: Is that something you might look at?

A: I don't think we want to change the whole way we do business because of this one incident.
We are rationally trying to explain an irrational act here. Nothing that happened last night makes sense

Q: Do you think it will ever make sense?

A: For the sake of a lot of people here I hope we can make some sense of it (but) I think the only two people that might have those answers are no longer with us.

Q: Do you know who fired first?

A: We don't know the sequence of events. That's the intense investigation of the major crime and forensic identification officers. The autopsy should answer some of the very important questions that are nagging us.

Q: Was Kelly Johnson working last night?

A: She worked yesterday. Was there anything in her mood? No. Was there anything yesterday that would indicate there would be a problem at midnight last night? Not a single thing. I'm not in denial, I know it happened, but that's one reason I can't get my head around this. Where are the signs? We are trained to pick up signs in individuals. Here is an individual who had all sorts of help at her disposal, knows all the community resources, knows the internal resources and then we have a situation like last night. It's bizarre . . . I'm internalizing it. Did I, as chief, miss something here?

Q: You're coming close to confirming that she was, indeed, the one who shot.

A: No. We're going to wait until we have evidence. You will have speculation and there are only two speculations . . . We need to have proof, not just speculation. We don't charge people on speculation; we don't arrest people on speculation; and in this case, although there will be no charges laid, we need some closure for our own staff and for the community so they understand by proof, by medical proof, by forensic proof, exactly what went on in the cabin of that vehicle.

Q: How will this affect the officers?

A: I don't think this will affect any of the officers on the street. I saw the face of professionalism at 6:45 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. (when the day shift started and night shift ended).

Q: Does the public have to worry that the force has been shattered by this?

A: It is (shattered by this). But the public doesn't have to be worried about it.

Brings up the question of how the police store their firearms. Is the current method adequate, or should they change it to something like what we have, a common weapons lockup with firearms being signed out and in?
 
JDBeach said:
Brings up the question of how the police store their firearms. Is the current method adequate, or should they change it to something like what we have, a common weapons lockup with firearms being signed out and in?

Suicide is not a tool driven act.  If someone wants to kill themself, they will find a way.  This was a tragic incident and a total waste.  Now is not the time to start suggesting unnecessary changes and meddling in the affairs of things that don't affect you. 
 
JDBeach said:
My thoughts are with the families, friends, and LPS.
Then keep your thoughts there and don't take this down a road and undermine your OWN statement.

We are rationally trying to explain an irrational act here. Nothing that happened last night makes sense
That is the portion that you should have highlighted in the article..
enough said.
 
I did not intend to suggest that the practice should be changed. I am not a police officer and I don't know what method of storage would be best for them. That's why I phrased it as a question, to stimulate discussion by people who do have the knowledge required to make informed arguments. The London Free Press thought it was an appropriate question to ask, and I don't think I'm out of line in repeating their question to a wider audience. Perhaps this part should be moved to another thread then to keep the the issues a little more separate.
 
The press like to throw out all kinds of jack assy things.  It's what they do.  Serving members are usually more switched on.  Drop the issue or start a thread of your own.
 
zipperhead_cop said:
The press like to throw out all kinds of jack assy things.  It's what they do.  Serving members are usually more switched on.  Drop the issue or start a thread of your own.

see
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/63068.0.html
 
From the obituary for David Lucio:

"The funeral service will be conducted at the Westview Funeral Chapel, 709 Wonderland Road North, on Monday, June 11th, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to the Thyroid Foundation of Canada, London Chapter in honour of his loving granddaughter Haley who has Graves Disease, will be gratefully acknowledged."
 
From the obituary for Kelly Johnson:

"private memorial service at a later date... Those wishing to make a donation in memory of Kelly are asked to consider the London Health Sciences Foundation - Cancer Centre... E-mail condolences may be sent to condolences@westviewfuneralchapel.com"
 
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