# 91-Year-Old Woman Dies in Shootout with Atlanta Police



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*The Associated Press*

*Atlanta--* A police official said narcotics officers were justified in returning fire on a 91-year-old woman they shot to death after she shot them as they tried to serve a warrant at her house.
Neighbors and relatives said it was a case of mistaken identity. But police said the woman, identified as Kathryn Johnston, was the only resident in the house at the time and had lived there for about 17 years.
Assistant Chief Alan Dreher said the officers had a legal warrant and "knocked and announced" before they forced open the door. He said they were justified in shooting once they were fired upon.
As the plainclothes Atlanta police officers approached the house about 7 p.m., a woman inside started shooting, striking each of them, said Officer Joe Cobb, a police spokesman.
One was hit in the arm, another in a thigh and the third in a shoulder. The officers were taken to a hospital for treatment, and all three were conscious and alert, police said.
Sarah Dozier, identified as a niece of the woman, told WAGA-TV that there were never any drugs at the house.
"My aunt was in good health. I'm sure she panicked when they kicked that door down," Dozier said. "There was no reason they had to go in there and shoot her down like a dog."
Rev. Markel Hutchins, a civil rights leader, said Johnston's family deserves an apology.
"Of the police brutality cases we've had, this is the most egregious because of the woman's age," Hutchins said.
Hutchins said he would try to meet with Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington and would also meet with lawyers.








Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


----------



## JoninNH (Jan 29, 2004)

A little old for this shit


----------



## CJIS (Mar 12, 2005)

*Woman, 92, dies in shootout with police*

* Woman, 92, dies in shootout with police*








Police said 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston was the only resident in the house at the time of the shooting.

* POSTED: 11:30 a.m. EST, November 22, 2006 *

var clickExpire = "12/22/2006"; Adjust font size:

*ATLANTA, Georgia* (AP) -- The niece of a 92-year-old woman shot to death by police said her aunt likely had reason to shoot three narcotics investigators as they stormed her house.

Police insisted the officers did everything right before entering the home Tuesday evening, despite suggestions from the woman's neighbors and relatives that it was a case of mistaken identity.

The woman, Kathryn Johnston, was the only resident in the house at the time and had lived there for about 17 years, Assistant Chief Alan Dreher said.

The officers had a legal warrant, "knocked and announced" before they forced open the door and were justified in shooting once fired upon, he said.

Sarah Dozier, the niece, told WAGA-TV that there were never drugs at the house. (Watch niece's fury at police shooting )

"My aunt was in good health. I'm sure she panicked when they kicked that door down," Dozier said. "There was no reason they had to go in there and shoot her down like a dog."

As the plainclothes Atlanta police officers approached the house about 7 p.m., a woman inside started shooting, striking each of them, said Officer Joe Cobb, a police spokesman.

One was hit in the arm, another in a thigh and the third in a shoulder. The officers were taken to a hospital for treatment, and all three were conscious and alert, police said.

The Rev. Markel Hutchins, a civil rights leader, said Johnston's family deserves an apology.

"Of the police brutality cases we've had, this is the most egregious because of the woman's age," Hutchins said.

Hutchins said he would try to meet with Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington and would also meet with lawyers.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


----------



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Re: Woman, 92, dies in shootout with police*

http://www.masscops.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20666


----------



## kttref (Oct 5, 2004)

Merged


----------



## CJIS (Mar 12, 2005)

Aww man I looked... I did not see it.....


----------



## MM1799 (Sep 14, 2006)

Jesus christ, where do I start?



> The niece of a 92-year-old woman shot to death by police said her aunt likely had reason to shoot three narcotics investigators as they stormed her house


I dont care who you are, you dont _ever_ have a good reason to shoot at police officers.

*Let me put this article in the right order...*


> As the plainclothes Atlanta police officers approached the house about 7 p.m., a woman inside started shooting, striking each of them, said Officer Joe Cobb, a police spokesman.





> "My aunt was in good health. I'm sure she panicked when they kicked that door down," Dozier said. "There was no reason they had to go in there and shoot her down like a dog."


Now, the fact that she opened fire on police officers was good enough reason for me for them to return fire, for their own safety.

I've seen police brutality crap where the officer uses force to detain someone or sometimes is a little questionable.. but if any of these officers is punished for *returning fire to protect themselves*  That will truly make me sick to my stomach. *Good job officers.*


----------



## NBC515 (Dec 26, 2004)

were they serving an arrest warrant or search warrant? I know the public does not want to believe that older people may be dealing drugs but prescriptions pills are everywhere and the elderly are realizing they can make some dough. Even though members of that community will be demanding the police be punished I would hope those officers would be commended instead disciplined!


----------



## sempergumby (Nov 14, 2003)

GLad all 3 Officers will recover physically. Don't feel sorry for the old bitch.


----------



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Probe Requested in Shooting Death of Elderly Atlanta Woman

*The Associated Press*

A civil rights activist representing the family of an elderly woman killed in a gunfight with police is calling for a federal investigation into her death.
The Rev. Markel Hutchins will go to Washington on Monday to deliver a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales requesting that the Department of Justice and FBI review the shootout, Hutchins said in a news release Thursday.
Kathryn Johnston, who police said was 92, was killed Tuesday evening by narcotics agents. Authorities said the agents got a search warrant for her home after buying drugs from a man there that afternoon. Police said the plainclothes agents identified themselves, but when they knocked down Johnston's door, she opened fire and injured three of the officers.
All are expected to recover.
"This horrific incident has all the signs of an egregious violation of Ms. Johnston's civil and human rights at worst and police officers using poor judgment and unnecessary force at best," Hutchins said.
Johnston's neighbors and relatives have called the raid a case of mistaken identity. Her niece said there were no drugs in the home.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said his office has launched its own investigation, but said a preliminary review of the case shows the officers had a legal right to search the home.








Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


----------



## 4ransom (Mar 1, 2006)

So what were they supposed to do, Just let her shoot them until they were all dead on the floor? Give me a break, the bulletts recovered from the officer's bodies don't lie. 
Thank God they all survived.


----------



## Fozzy (Jul 27, 2005)

Live by the sword, die by the sword.


----------



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Drugs in House of Geogia Woman, 92, Shot By Police*

*RHONDA COOK. ERNIE SUGGS and BILL TORPY*
_Cox News Service_









ATLANTA - Atlanta police say undercover officers bought narcotics from a man inside the home of a 92-year-old woman hours before the gun battle in which she wounded three officers before police killed her.
Neighbors and family members say Kathryn Johnston was feeble and frightened and rarely let people in, even friends bringing groceries.
Police are investigating how the deadly and strange confrontation Tuesday night came about.
Johnston apparently heard police breaking through the burglar bar door before breaking down her front door. She was ready. The woman fired her revolver and five shots struck the officers just as they rushed in the door. One was struck three times, the other two once each. All were released later from Grady Memorial Hospital.
Medical examiners said the woman was shot twice in the chest and in "other extremities."
"It was a very tragic and unfortunate incident," Assistant Chief Alan Dreher said during a news conference. Dreher filled in for Chief Richard Pennington, who was in New York for the holiday.
The Rev. Markell Hutchins, a local activist, agreed with Dreher that the case is a tragedy.
"This is one of the most tragic cases of police-involved use of force, not only in Atlanta, but in the nation," said Hutchins, who by noon Wednesday had counseled with the family, set them up in a meeting with a law firm and claimed to have talked with Pennington. "It appears Mrs. Johnston was a model citizen. A good citizen and a matriarch of the community."
State Rep. "Able" Mable Thomas (D-Atlanta) summed up what many people were saying all day: "A confrontation with police and a 92-year-old woman don't go together."
Dreher said undercover officers purchased drugs inside Johnston's home in the 900 block of Neal Street in northwest Atlanta only a few hours earlier and had returned just after 7 p.m. with a "no knock" warrant to search the single-story, yellow-brick house with a green-carpeted wheelchair ramp.
The basis for the search warrant was not known because State Court Administrator Stefani Searcy refused to release a copy of the warrant Wednesday. State law considers all such documents public record, but Searcy cited "office policy" as her reason for withholding the warrant.
Dreher said no one was arrested, but officers found "suspected narcotics" in the house. He said he did not know if the suspect, whom police did not name, had any relation to the dead woman. Dreher said police knew little about Johnston but do not think she was selling drugs.
"We know she was elderly," Dreher said. "She shot three officers."
The assistant chief insisted that Johnston should have recognized the three men as police officers even though they were not wearing uniforms. He said all three wore bullet proof vests that had the word "Police" across the front and back. He said they shouted they were officers as they burst through the door.
"It was clear they were officers," Dreher said.
But he hastened to add, "There's been no predeterminations made in this case."
"There is going to be a complete, thorough investigation," Dreher said.
The department's internal affairs unit and the Fulton County district attorney's office will conduct an automatic investigation. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation also has been asked to review the case.
Police did not say how many times Johnston was shot. Dreher said "not all officers" discharged their weapons, but he declined to say more.
All three officers are on leave without pay until the investigation is finished.
Gary Smith, 38, a 13-year APD veteran, was shot in the left leg. Cary Bond, also 38, a 14-year department veteran, was shot in the left arm. Gregg Junnier, 40 years old and 18 years with the department, was shot three times - his left cheek, his leg and the center front of his vest.
Dreher said the three drug officers "were well-trained" and had "served hundreds of warrants" over the years. Even though the officers were not required to knock before entering the house, they did, Dreher said.
"No knock" warrants are issued to police frequently so they can get inside a building before suspects can destroy or flush any drugs.
Dreher said he did not know if the officers knew it was an elderly woman firing at them, but usually when officers are conducting a "no knock" warrant, he said, "You don't know who's in the house."
On Wednesday, the shooting death of Johnston was the talk of the neighborhood, an area northwest of downtown.
By most accounts, the block where Johnston lives is quiet and unassuming. Yards are neat, and many of the residents are elderly. But of the 15 homes on the block, three are either abandoned or empty, and six have burglar bars on windows and doors.
Just to the east of the block is "The Bluff," an area so beset with drugs and crime that federal authorities and Atlanta police have targeted it with an effort named Project Safe Neighborhoods. The program brings an increase in enforcement of drug and gun crimes, as well as inspections for codes violations. Dozens of homes have been torn down since 2002 to fight blight and further crimes.
"This is a crime-ridden area. We know that," said Hutchins, a local activist. "But if this were Buckhead or Midtown, there would have been a much different set of circumstances. These police officers felt comfortable shooting first and asking questions later."
Keith Coachman, Reginald McAfee and Thomas Benjamin, who milled around Johnston's house Wednesday, recalled her as a nice, old woman who was cautious.
Coachman, who used to do work for Johnston, said she always urged him to get his work done early.
"She was scared, she would go to bed around 5 or 6, and she wouldn't open her door for anybody," he said. "When she is in, she is in."
Neighbors said Johnston didn't even take her trash to the street; instead, sanitation workers came to her side door.
Sallie Strickland, who has lived on the street for 51 years, also said the woman lived in fear. "I'd bring groceries, and she's say, 'Set them on the porch,' " Strickland said. "Then she'd lock the doors right away."
The only people she ever saw in the house were Johnston's niece and some nephews.
McAfee said he was cooking when he heard the shots. When he went over to see the commotion, he said the last person that he would have suspected to be involved was Johnston.
"The cops went to the wrong house," McAfee said. On Wednesday, the place looked peaceful, except for the knocked-down door and bullet holes in the door sills.
The president of the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP, the Rev. R.L. White of Mount Epharim Baptist Church, said his group would conduct its own investigation. Officials from that office sat through the news conference.
"I want to make sure," White said, "the people in this neighborhood don't fear the police more than [they fear] the criminals."

Staff writer S.A. Reid contributed to this article.
Rhonda Cook, Ernie Suggs, Bill Torpy and S.A. Reid write for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

E-mail: rcook AT ajc.com, esuggs AT ajc.com, btorpy AT ajc.com, sereid AT ajc.com

Copyright 2005 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy​


----------



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Informant: Police Cover-up in Elderly Woman Shooting*

*RHONDA COOK *
_Cox News Service_









The informant who Atlanta police say led them to the house where an elderly woman was killed in a drug raid is accusing the officers involved in the bust of asking him to lie about the confrontation, police Chief Richard Pennington said Monday.
The informant, who has not been identified, complained to department officials that the drug investigators involved in the bust had asked him to go along with the story they concocted after the shooting, Pennington said. The informant has been placed in protective custody, he said.
Nearly a week after the drug raid in northwest Atlanta, Pennington said he had asked for an unusual multi-agency review of the shooting and what preceded it. After being away from Atlanta in the initial days after the shooting, Pennington appeared at a news conference Monday evening that featured top officials from the U.S. attorney's office, the FBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Fulton County district attorney's office.
David Nahmias, the U.S. attorney in Atlanta, said federal agents "come to this investigation with an open mind," but he cautioned that anyone who lies could face federal charges.
"No one should get in the way of the truth," Nahmias said.
Kathryn Johnston was shot to death last Tuesday as the drug investigators burst into her house at 933 Neal St. Johnston was shot twice in the chest by the officers, who have said that they were returning her fire.
The 88-year-old woman wounded three of the officers with a rusty revolver her niece said she bought her aunt for her protection. One officer was hit three times, including one time in the center of his bulletproof vest, and the other two were shot once each. The officers were discharged from Grady Memorial Hospital a few hours after the shooting.
Police officials have said the narcotics officers went to Johnston's house after the informant purchased drugs there from a man identified only as "Sam." Police have obtained an arrest warrant for Sam.
In a court affidavit, Jason R. Smith, an Atlanta narcotics officer, said that the informant bought $50 worth of crack cocaine from Sam a few hours earlier at the Neal Street house. Smith described the informant as a reliable source of information who has helped police make drug arrests in the past.
In the affidavit, Smith said the informant spoke briefly to Sam on the front porch of the house and then the suspect entered. The informant returned to Smith and other officers with two bags of crack, according to the affidavit.
The informant also told police that Sam had installed surveillance cameras at the house and was monitoring them constantly, according to Smith's statement.
Smith's affidavit was sufficient to persuade Fulton County Magistrate Kimberly Warden to sign a warrant that allowed the officers to enter the house without knocking on the door.
Smith asked for the special authorization because of the possibility that officers would be injured or evidence would be destroyed.
However, the informant denied to police and a local television station that he purchased the drugs.
The informant, who said he worked with Atlanta police four years, told WAGA-TV that he hadn't been at 933 Neal St. His identity hidden, the informant told the TV station that one of the drug officers called him soon after the shooting with instructions.
Quoting the police officers, the informant, told Fox 5 News: "'This is what you need to do. You need to cover [us]
? It's all on you man. ? You need to tell them about this Sam dude.'"
"I don't know if he went in or not," Pennington said of the informant.
All seven Atlanta drug investigators involved in the raid have been suspended with pay, Pennington said.
"The complete truth will be known," Pennington promised.
Many questions and conflicting and changing accounts have surfaced since police shot the woman, described by neighbors as feeble and afraid to open her door after dark. "There are many unanswered questions," Pennington said at the Monday news conference.
Mayor Shirley Franklin said she had discussed the allegations with Pennington and the chief has "my confidence that they will be transparent and honest and very thorough in their review. ? I certainly share the concern that all of us have on
the loss of life. We were not expecting something like that could happen in the city of Atlanta."
Rhonda Cook writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. E-mail: rcook AT ajc.com. Staff writers Ernie Suggs, Stephanie Reid, David Pendered and Saeed Ahmed contributed to this article.

Copyright 2005 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy

FBI to Probe Atlanta Police Shootout ​*Associated Press WorldStream*
_via NewsEdge Corporation_
​ATLANTA_The FBI will lead the investigation into the shootout between plainclothes police officers and an 88-year-old woman who was killed in her home, which was suspected to contain drugs, the city police chief said Monday.
Three officers were wounded when they entered Kathryn Johnston's home looking for cocaine based on tips from an informant, according to the search warrant released Monday by the Fulton County State Court.
Police said the informant told officers he had purchased drugs in the home earlier, prompting investigators to get a warrant. But Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington said it was unclear whether there had been a drug deal or whether the suspected drug dealer actually exists.
"That's what we're going to have to investigate and determine," Pennington said. "The officers are saying one thing, the confidential informant is saying something else."
Monday evening, WAGA-TV aired an interview with a man who said that he was the informant, and that he had never purchased drugs at Kathryn Johnston's home. The man, whose identity was obscured by the TV station, also said that police had asked him to lie about providing the information, but that that was before he knew the elderly woman had been killed in a shootout there.
Seven narcotics investigators and a police sergeant were placed on paid leave until the inquiry is complete, Pennington said. Pennington said the informant is in protective custody and would be a key part of the investigation.
"There are many unanswered questions," Pennington said. "I promise each and every citizen that the truth will eventually be known, but we must have patience."
After the shooting, officers said they found marijuana inside the northwest Atlanta home, but "not a large quantity," according to Pennington.
Police had a "no-knock" warrant, which are frequently used to get inside a home before suspects have a chance to get rid of drugs, said Pennington, adding that his department would review its policy on such warrants and its use of confidential informants.
The U.S. attorney's office, Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Fulton County district attorney's office also will take part in the review of the circumstances surrounding the shootout.
Sarah Dozier, Johnston's niece, has said her aunt lived alone.
Johnston was described by neighbors and family as a woman living in fear in Vine City - a northwest Atlanta neighborhood in the shadow of the Georgia Dome. There were burglar bars on her one-story brick home, and she rarely let friends and neighbors inside.
The medical examiner's office also reported Sunday that records show Johnston was 88, despite her family saying she was 92.

<<Associated Press WorldStream -- 11/29/06>>


----------



## OutOfManyOne (Mar 2, 2006)

She was only 88, I guess her family cared and loved her so much that they didn't even know how old she was.


----------

