Friday, March 1, 2013

Santa Cruz’s First Fatal Shooting of Two Law Enforcement Officers


The community of Santa Cruz California is very sad, due to the fatal shooting of two law enforcement officers on February 26, 2013. When I heard this on the news, I thought in Santa Cruz you never hear about police officers being killed like Oakland. Santa Cruz has always been known as the ‘sleepy little town by the sea’ with very little violence. Recently that has not been the case. There have been some real violent crimes in Santa Cruz in the month of February. On February 9, 2013 martial arts instructor was fatally shot outside a downtown bar. February 11, 2013 a 21-year-old UC Santa Cruz student was robbed of her backpack and shot in the head while waiting for a bus. Law enforcement in Santa Cruz has always been laid back. That laid back attitude got two officers killed by Jeremy Goulet a very disturbed individual. He shot and killed Detective Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker, a 28-year veteran who was near retirement, and Detective Elizabeth Butler, a mother of two young boys. They were the first law enforcement officers ever killed in the department’s history. The two officers went to Jeremy Goulet’s home to question him about inappropriate sexual advances toward a co-worker at the coffee shop where he was fired from. Jeremy was talking to the officer through a screened door. He left that location and came out another ambushing the officers killing them. After killing them Goulet took their weapons, car and officer’s Barker’s body armor and fled. Twenty five minutes later law enforcement officers found Jeremy Goulet. Exchanged gunfire with him and fatally wounding him. Jeremy’s Goulet has had trouble in the past. He was charge with alleged raps while in the military in 2006. The Army dropped all charges. That was a big mistake on the military’s part. While living in Oregon in 2008, he was convicted on weapons charges and of peeping at a woman while she showered. Goulet's father told The Associated Press that his son, who had served in the military, was a ticking time bomb who had contempt for police and the justice system. Well, I guess the bomb blew and unfortunately it happened to be in Santa Cruz California. That is why we need stricter gun laws because there are some very sick individuals out there that don’t need to get their hands on guns. My prayers go out to the families and the community of Santa Cruz.

LM


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