About Me

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Cedar, Leelanau County, Michigan (near Traverse City), United States
I am a 76 year old (born 7/4/1937) retired Public Radio Engineer from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. Happily married to the love of my life, Teddy (nee Teddy Schlueter). Teddy is a retired Medical Records Clerk from Theda Clark Hospital in Neenah, Wisconsin. Two children, Michael and Lon. Lon passed away in 1994. Michael is married to his wonderful wife, Toni and lives in Appleton, Wisconsin. For photos click on link below or visit our photo site http://www.flickr.com/photos/igboo NOTE: Click on photos for full-size images.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Gunplay in Pahrump

On Friday night Sept 19 I was awakened at about 2:30 am with what sounded to me like gunshots. Nah, I thinks to myself, can’t be must be some over enthusiastic fireworks fan.
Then about five minutes later there were several reports in rapid succession accompanied by police sirens and fast moving car engines that left no doubt in my mind. “What the hell is going on”, I sez to myself as I got up to investigate. Stepping from the trailer I witnessed several muzzle flashes from behind the rest rooms (about 100 yds away) and about that time an officer yelled at me to get back inside. Thinking that that was an excellent suggestion, I immediately complied and by then Teddy also was up. For the next 45 minutes we (stupidly) sat by the window and witnessed that turned out to be a gun battle between the local police and a well armed nutcase. He evidently had been drinking and got into a violent argument with his wife, shot up her computer and his motorhome and then armed with two automatic handguns and a carbine rifle took a position behind some rocks for the ensuing gun battle where he ambushed and wounded two police officers.
We later found out that he was a “Gulf War” combat vet so he definitely knew how to fight. He was eventually shot and captured and as of now, was released from the hospital and is sitting in jail under a two million dollar bond awaiting prosecution. The two police officers that were shot are also recovering in a Las Vegas hospital.
Several campers suffered bullet damage to their Rvs and or trucks/cars from either direct shots or ricochets but no campers were injured. Thankfully we were spared. The camper across the road from us got two bullets in his motorhome including one into his refrigerator and an Alfa fifth wheel got a bullet through his large rear window. The motorhome where it all started is one of those several hundred thousand dollar models and is still sitting there about a 1/2 block from us. I understand that they can’t move it as he shot up the engine as well as the hydraulic system so that they cannot raise the landing jacks. It appears that they will have to get a large wrecker in here to move it. The police tend to get really pissed when one of their own gets shot in the line of duty so I don’t think that he will be using it any more as he will in all likelihood be spending the rest of his days in the greybar hotel.Here is a scan of the newspaper account that came out the following week. (Click on it for a larger image) (The local Pahrump paper only publishes once a week)
All I can say is, "Things just get weirder and weirdier."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I hope when the little woman rode her 3 wheel bike into Cedar for the milk, meat, and saltport that she didn't forget the bullets and whisky! Ya shur coulda used the whisky after that gun battle!!

Seriously, thank God, you're safe! I guess you never know what's gonna happen next. (Maybe, that's a good thing.....)
Barb & Bill