# Search Warrant Sparked Pennsylvania Officer's Shooting



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Manuel Gamiz Jr., Kirk Beldon Jackson and Dalondo Moultrie*
_The Morning Call, Allentown_









Oct. 28--The gunman who shot and critically wounded an Allentown police officer early Friday opened fire minutes after officers entered his house to search for a cell phone as part of a homicide investigation, authorities say.
Officer Andrew J. Beky fired back at 20-year-old Isaac M. Jefferson Jr., who then apparently killed himself, according to investigators.
Beky, 31, was shot in the shoulder, just above his bulletproof vest, after he and four other officers showed up at 133 S. Madison St. shortly after midnight Thursday with a search warrant, according to the authorities.
They said Beky's shot hit Jefferson in the stomach and the officers withdrew.
After a four-hour standoff, officers went in the house and found Jefferson dead on the second floor, probably from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Lehigh County District Attorney James Martin said Friday.
He would not say why the police wanted to search the house, where Jefferson lived with his aunt and uncle.
District Judge Rod Beck of Slatington, who signed the search warrant while on duty in Allentown at 11:55 p.m. Thursday, said Allentown police were looking for a cell phone belonging to Jefferson as part of an investigation into a recent homicide.
Lawyer John P. Karoly Jr., who has won high-profile brutality and misconduct cases against the Easton and Bethlehem police departments and who was asked by Jefferson's family for help in getting answers, said a law enforcement source told him the warrant was related to an Oct. 17 killing on N. 11th Street.
Beky, of Lower Macungie, underwent surgery at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest and was listed in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Martin said the shooting, which he said happened on a stairway to the second floor, left Beky with several wounds. Officials wouldn't say whether the officer was shot more than once.
"We believe, preliminarily, that the use of deadly force was extremely justified," said Martin, adding that a complete investigation will be reviewed by his office, the coroner's office and the police department's Office of Professional Standards. "We do not believe that the fatal shot was inflicted by the officer."
Karoly said the family told him no shots were fired after the wounded Beky staggered downstairs.
Martin and police officials would not identify the wounded officer, but sources and Luzerne County District Attorney Dave Lupas did. Lupas knows Beky's father, Dan, a Luzerne County detective, and Andrew Beky is a Kingston native.
Lupas said Beky was shot multiple times. He said a bullet entered near his clavicle and hit his lung. One or both of his hands were also struck, he said.
Lehigh County and hospital officials would not disclose the nature of Beky's injuries.
Police Chief Roger MacLean said the officer is a seven-year patrolman who worked with the department's Emergency Response Team. "He is an outstanding young man," MacLean said, "a fine officer."
Allentown police Sgt. Stephen Mould was guarding Beky's home and said the family did not wish to comment.
Beky was the first Allentown police officer shot since April 1982 and the second Lehigh Valley police officer to be shot this year.
Jefferson was pronounced dead at 4:22 a.m. Friday, shortly after police entered the home, Martin said. An autopsy is scheduled for today, and the manner of death will be determined after the investigation, Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim said.
District Judge Beck said that after he signed the warrant just before midnight Thursday, Detective William Lake said he planned to serve it immediately. Minutes after Lake left the district court in the old county courthouse, "All hell broke loose," Beck said.
Authorities said detectives and patrol officers went to the Madison Street address, between Union and Walnut streets, to serve the warrant shortly after midnight.
Craymon Huskey, Jefferson's uncle, said two officers came to the door, saying they had come to investigate a 911 hang-up call, according to Karoly. After going inside, the officers told Huskey they had a body warrant for Jefferson -- a warrant to search a premises for a person. A detective arrived with a warrant.
Martin said Jefferson confronted the officers on the stairway between the first and second floor. Gunfire erupted at 12:18 a.m. Jefferson shot the officer in the shoulder, and the officer returned fire, hitting Jefferson in the abdomen.
In Huskey's version of events, he said one officer ran upstairs with his gun drawn, and at the top of the stairs, turned the corner, according to Karoly. Huskey then heard four or five shots in quick succession. About two minutes later, the officer came downstairs, walked around the house dripping blood and said he had been shot, according to Karoly.
Martin said backup units were called and set up a perimeter around the house.
The other officer and the detective took Beky outside, Karoly said, and Huskey also went out and was cuffed and placed in a police car.
Genesis Candelario, 18, of 118 S. Madison St., said he heard a commotion coming from the area of 133 S. Madison. He saw a man in a white T-shirt come out yelling. "He said, 'What are you doing? What's going on?' " Candelario said.
An officer yelled to Sherry Huskey, Jefferson's aunt, to stay on the second floor, according to Karoly. After an hour-and-a-half, she screamed to police on a cell phone that she believed her nephew was dead, and she came outside.
Assistant Chief Ron Manescu said a woman was taken to police headquarters and later released. Officials did not identify her, and Martin said he didn't know her relationship to Jefferson.
Earlier, police dispatchers were told to begin calling surrounding buildings to hustle residents out of harm's way. Officers evacuated nearby homes and a LANTA bus collected residents to keep them warm in the 28-degree weather.
Just after 4 a.m., police entered the home and found Jefferson dead on the second floor, Martin said. The district attorney said police found blood on the first floor of the three-story home, indicating Jefferson might have been "ambulating around the first floor of the house during the time police were outside."
Police recovered two weapons, Martin said.
Residents were allowed back into their homes at 5 a.m. and officers began leaving the scene about 5:20 a.m. Some investigators remained, as did yellow police tape around the house.
By 5:30 a.m. Assistant Chief Joseph Hanna said, the wounded officer was out of surgery and recovering in LVH's intensive care unit.
"Everyone's praying and hopeful that [Beky] will pull through this," said Lupas, the Luzerne County district attorney. "This illustrates the dangerous work police do every day, putting themselves in harm's way to keep people safe."
Several members of Lupas' staff visited the hospital to show support for Beky and his family.
"We're all pulling for him," said Luzerne County Detective Gary Capitano.
Beky graduated from Wyoming Valley West High School in Plymouth, Luzerne County, in 1993 and from Kutztown University in 1997 with a degree in criminal justice and a minor in psychology. He is married, and the couple recently had a son.
Kingston police Sgt. Thomas Paratore said Beky is "just a good person. You can't say a bad thing about him." Paratore noted he and Beky followed in their fathers' footsteps and pursued careers as police officers. "I said, 'Hey, it's in our blood. Don't fight it.' "
Paratore said their fathers were protective yet proud of their sons. "This is the worst fear of a parent of a police officer," Paratore said. [Dan Beky] has to be going through hell."
Erin Keating, who graduated with Beky and is now assistant principal at Wyoming Valley West High School, said Beky is "well-respected and very nice."
Police disclosed little about Jefferson or his background.
His mother, Farris Mae Jefferson, died in August 2005 in a car accident in New Jersey. The crash happened a few months after Jefferson was placed on probation after pleading guilty in Lehigh County Court to having a switchblade, according to court records.
He had two sisters and was living with the Huskeys and another of their nephews, Karoly said.
Karoly, who spoke with the Huskeys, Jefferson's father, Isaac Sr., and another relative, said it was too soon to know whether he will represent Jefferson Jr.'s family. "I wouldn't know what to allege at this point," he said.
The South Whitehall attorney said the family came to him because he has "a reputation for finding out what really happened, even though people don't want it known what really happened," Karoly said.
In the Oct. 17 homicide that police wanted to see Jefferson about, 18-year-old Jose Luis Quinones-Calderon of Allentown was gunned down in the 100 block of N. 11th Street, between Linden and Turner streets -- about a half-block from Mayor Ed Pawlowski's home. No arrests have been made.
The shooting early Friday was the first involving an Allentown police officer since April 8, 1982, when Assistant Police Chief Charles Charles was struck by possibly two bullets, one deflected by a bulletproof vest and another that struck his thigh.
Timothy Smith, 32, who shot Charles, was killed by police when he emerged from his basement apartment firing two guns, after a 41/2 hour standoff. Charles recovered from his wounds.
Allentown police don't recall an officer being fatally shot on duty.
In another shooting that injured a Lehigh Valley police officer this year, Bethlehem officer Stephen Marks was shot twice during a gunfight with a robbery suspect in August. Marks is recovering and 21-year-old Christopher Johnson was killed.

610-820-6595
Reporters Wendy Solomon and Genevieve Marshall and the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader contributed to this story.
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