European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 07, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Jan 15 what Price Honor a payment in blood it s Mape in the h began at a Frallic Light As a saturday night scuttle Between two youths on a motorcycle and others in a car one of those teen age confrontations in which More words and gestures Are exchanged than punches. It ended 24 hours later in Iron of the barrel of a 12-gauge Mossberg Shotgun. Seeking retaliation alter the iral fic Contro Lalion the 18 year old Cycle Driver Scott Pierce and his rider Luis Contreras 19, assembled six friends the next night and headed Lor a party where the youths in the car were rumoured to to. On the Way they picked up another Friend Tony Williams. The party with 50 or go youths was on Busy my Laugham Avenue in an impressive two Story House Wilh a front Balcony Stone Lence and double front door. The Pierce group was admitted Only alter promising to be Cool a shoving match followed. The 18 year old Williams nicknamed Green eyes went out to fetch Anthony Nelson s new Shotgun Iron the car. The 21-year-old had purchased the weapon on oct. 22 from a big 5 sporting goods store Lor about $200. Saying it was Lor self Prol Calion because it is a Long gun no wait is required. Nelson helped Williams Load the weapon which was then swung toward a gathering of party goers and fired one youth was wounded Williams then aimed the barrel at the door and fired again. Bul that Cartridge did not contain pellets it held a Shotgun slug a Lead Ball about the size of a Man s lop thumb pint thai slug blow a Hole in the door nearly two inches in diameter behind the door Vas Angel Cevallos or. A 20 year old bystander trying to avoid the trouble outside. The slug caught him in the Backol the neck. It came out his right Eye. Many lied but the police got descriptions. Al the 7am Roll Call officers were told to watch for a Black male named Tony Williams Green thought sol. Randy Cooper who knew him from off duty Security work Al the youth s school Sylvan Dale Cooper was working the Security detail thai morning at Cahill Street station As hundreds of Blacks boarded the annual Freedom Tram to a Celebration in san Francisco marking tie birthday of the Rev. Or. Martin Luther King or. In the crowd Cooper spotted the Williams family. Hey. the sergeant said casually. A Jan 18 gun against Gunin Early morning alter two undercover drug buys simultaneous police raids were set Lor 7 . At 2606 Lombard ave. And three nearby houses. Because the residents were known to be heavily armed with pistols rifles and at least one double barrel Shotgun officers assigned the specially trained Mobile emergency response group and equipment team san go one Man kicked in the door and leaped aside. Smith a family Man and eight year police Veteran lobbed in a concussion grenade designed to disorient occupants so practice Are these teams that the men Don t seem to move so much As they How. Each had his assignment and Smith the third Man in was Lowarl to the Backol the first floor. Bui instinct suggested deliberation. From near the bathroom to saw a Long. Dark object moving slowly around the bedroom door police drop it then two Quick sounds like Metal burps. Two bursts of two rounds each went through Williams s Chest. His double barrel Shotgun a 12-Gaugo russian Model that Williams had purchased in 1977. Fell to the floor cocked and loaded. The police also seized another 12-Gaugo sold to someone else in 1984, a .22 Rille sold to Soccono else in 1986. A 410 Shotgun with no sales record two .30 Caliper rifles with no records and a .38 pistol reported stolen irom a san Jose House in 1978. Jose s swat unit. Early rising neighbors of Roosevelt Williams saw eight officers walking Down the dead end Street. Near the end of the Street they melted into Iho Palms and shrubbery around the Williams House. The officers sweating in their bulletproof vests crouched in the dim Light close enough to Road a sign on the door this House guarded by Shotgun 3 nights per week you guess which alter 4vz years on the dangerous merge unit earning an extra Nickel Lor each Dollar of his salary officer Jerry Smith Vas making his last raid before resuming to regular patrol work. Like his colleagues he had Slung Over his shoulder an mp-5, a German 9-Millimeler weapon made by heckler & Koch that oilers the Speed and reliability of a powerful pistol Wilh the accuracy of a Rifle. Lightweight and shiny Black in can lire 30 rounds in two seconds but Ollices train for weeks to squeeze off Only iwo bursts of two rounds each enough to take out any human Large. The lethal snub nosed weapons Are normally Kepi inside police Headquarters and Only removed irom special suitcases minutes Belore an assignment. The Williams s two pit bulls were nowhere in sight when a voice crackled through the officers earphones Jan 20 last plea for help help me control ii was 11 55 ., and Gene Simpson a 19-year Veteran of san Jose s 1,019-member police department was trying to give his location to the communications Center a routine procedure when an of Liccar leaves his patrol car. Although every san Jose officer wears a portable radio. The precaution is also an unstated invitation to nearby colleagues to cruise by soon As insurance. But this Day the dispatcher asked Simpson whose code name is King two to keep the Channel open Lor another officer who had just stopped a suspicious car. Since Simpson was Only checking a dazed homeless Man he did not wait for help and left the car anyway wearing his Standard .357 magnum and bulletproof vol suddenly 35 seconds later code 30" it is the Universal signal of police distress the dispatcher misunderstood and Simpson repealed no. Code 30. Fifth and Santa Clara " the dispatcher repeated King two. King two Man with a gun. Filth and Clara. Units respond " negro male has my pistol negro male Wilh King two s pistol. Fifth and Clara units to in a Hood other cars reported they were racing to help though unarmed a breathless Simpson kept reporting the suspect s whereabouts As he was being stalked he s the dispatcher replied in code that she understood ten Lour. The male is shooting Iho gun behind the donuts going North on Santa Clara ten four. He s running on Santa Clara from filth. Whal s the direction of travel All Over the place on Santa Clara ten Lour. In Iron of the doughnut shop. Fifth and Clara. A male with King two s help me control. Hurry ten four. Units he is shooting. King two. Have you been hit. King two. Be advised King two has been Simpson dodged Between cars in the Donal shop parking lot. Raising his head by a truck Lender the policeman found himself staring Down the barrel of his own gun. I got you now said the stranger and he lived Inlo his face. Within seconds other officers arrived and exchanged gunfire with the suspect. Pretending to lire his now empty pistol Iho Man ran Inlo the intersection in full View of a half dozen officers and fell in a Hail of gunfire i by 28 bullets and Shotgun pellets. He was Dale Randell Connors 35, the son of a retired policeman in Alton Iii he had just been released from a 15-Day jail sentence for stealing a loaf of bread. Only As officers approached the body did they realize thai a second patrolman 39-year-old Gordon Silva was lying fatally wounded nearby. He had tried to Call Lor help on another radio Channel. A ricocheting police Shotgun Pellet had severed his Aorta. Moments later a shaken chief Mcnamara arrived the son and brother of new York City patrolmen. Mcnamara himself walked a beat in Harlem or 10 years. This was his third Day Back at work after medical leave on his first Day Back a Man named Patrick Purdy had opened up with an assault Rifle on a schoolyard in nearby Stockton killing five children. May 7,1989 the stars and stripes Page 15
