Veteran AK Trooper Shot to Death in D.V. Response
Ken [NY
Wasilla, Alaska - 11/26/2001
A 24-year-old Wasilla man shot an Alaska state trooper to death
Saturday morning at a trailer home, then killed his two young children
and himself, troopers said.
Ryan Andrews apparently forced his girlfriend out of a moving SUV,
then fled from troopers with his two kids at speeds exceeding 100 mph
before holing up in his trailer. Minutes later, trooper Hans Roelle
was shot as he scaled a chain-link fence in front of the home, a
witness said.
Roelle, 40, of Anchorage was a 17-year veteran of the troopers. He is
the 12th state trooper to die in the line of duty in Alaska.
The incident began about 11 a.m. when Andrews and his 25-year-old
girlfriend, Amy Cordell, were driving north on the Parks Highway near
Mile 59 in Houston in a 1994 Chevrolet Suburban. Their two children,
Cheyenne Cordell, 3, and Kluane Cordell, 1, were with them.
Passers-by called 911 to report that Amy Cordell had either jumped or
had been pushed out of the Suburban, said Greg Wilkinson, troopers
spokesman.
As troopers and a Houston ambulance responded to the scene, Andrews
returned. The ambulance arrived first and medics examined Cordell.
Then as trooper Eric Spitzer approached, Andrews took off south,
Wilkinson said. Spitzer followed.
Spitzer clocked Andrews driving faster than 100 mph, Wilkinson said.
At 11:13 a.m., Roelle, the trooper in charge of the region for that
shift, radioed Spitzer to stop the pursuit because he didn't want a
high-speed chase through Wasilla. Troopers instead obtained the
address of Andrews' trailer. Roelle and trooper Matt Tarbox drove to
the Best View Mobile Home Park near the Parks and Glenn highways
junction, suspecting Andrews was going home.
Tarbox encountered Andrews near the trailer park, Lt. Rick Roberts
said. Tarbox followed the Suburban into the park, pulled up along the
side of the trailer, and watched as Andrews ran inside with the two
children.
Then Tarbox saw Roelle run to the front of the trailer with his weapon
drawn and heard a shot, Roberts said. Tarbox couldn't see Roelle at
that point.
Roelle was wearing a bullet-proof vest, Wilkinson said, but the bullet
struck him in his head. It appears he died instantly.
"I don't even know if trooper Roelle returned fire," Roberts said.
Peggy Johnson stepped outside her trailer across the street and heard
the shot ring out as she put her laundry in her car.
Johnson looked up to see Roelle balanced on top of the chain-link
fence as if he were trying to scale it.
"I heard someone yell like they were hurt," she said. "I didn't know
what it was."
Tarbox ran to the front of the trailer and saw Roelle on the ground.
As he retreated and called for backup, he heard three more shots from
inside the trailer.
Officers from the Palmer and Wasilla police departments joined
troopers at the scene. Troopers' Special Emergency Response Team was
also called in. About 30 officers surrounded the trailer and a trooper
helicopter flew overhead.
The team fired tear gas into the trailer. Authorities tried
unsuccessfully to reach Andrews by telephone, Roberts said.
Troopers shot a lock off the front door about 1:45 p.m. and entered
the trailer. They found the bodies of Andrews and the two children and
a large-caliber Desert Eagle model handgun. Troopers believe that
after Andrews shot Roelle, he shot his son and daughter and then
killed himself.
Later, a patch of blood marked the icy road in front of the trailer.
Yellow police tape surrounded it and the patrol cars Roelle and Tarbox
drove remained parked with engines still running.
Tarbox stood with a group of troopers in front of the trailer, hands
on his hips, staring. His face crumpled into tears as he turned away.
Roelle graduated from the troopers academy in June 1984 and recently
had worked with the commercial vehicle enforcement division in
Anchorage. He transferred to the Palmer patrol unit earlier this year.
Roelle lived with his family on Stanford Drive in the Rogers Park area
of Anchorage. He leaves his wife, Christine, and four children,
Andrea, Ariel, Hans and Rachel.
Wilkinson said the loss of Roelle, the second trooper to die in the
line of duty this year, is tragic.
"Troopers put that uniform on every day and they go out there to
protect people, never knowing if that's the day they are going to be
called upon to pay the ultimate price," he said. "Today,
unfortunately, was Hans Roelle's day. . . . He was just doing his best
to protect the public and keep people safe."
Cordell was treated at Valley Hospital for minor injuries and
released.
Neighbors thought Andrews and Cordell were unusually private, a couple
of four years who kept to themselves. The family moved into the
trailer last summer. Cordell's father, Danny, rented the space, said
Penny Bennett, a Best View manager.
Residents of the 40-unit trailer park described Best View as a family
oriented place where people knew one another. Andrews worked as a cook
and Cordell works at a nursing home. The couple acted shy, as if they
wanted to avoid contact, several said.
"I didn't even think anybody had moved in yet, that's how quiet they
were," said Chuck Albert, who lives next door.
Andrews had troubles in the past, according to state records and an
interview Saturday night with his mother, Dorothy Clark Gregory.
He spent time at McLaughlin Youth Center in Anchorage as a teenager,
Gregory said. As an adult, he was convicted of disorderly conduct in
1998, according to state court records.
Gregory, still in shock after just learning of her son's death from
the television news, said she last saw Andrews about a week ago. He
mentioned he planned to buy the children a cat.
She said doctors had prescribed Ritalin and antidepressants to combat
mood swings but her son might have gone off the drugs.
"Amy told me Ryan wasn't taking his medication right," she said. "He
gets real, real depressed."
Andrews is survived by three siblings. An older brother killed himself
at age 17 about eight years ago.
Andrews might have felt overwhelmed, Gregory said. A former girlfriend
who now lives in Utah claimed Andrews owed $11,972 in child support.
Andrews contested her claim that he was the father, his mother said,
but Alaska's Child Support Enforcement Division filed a lien against
him for the money in February, according to a document from the state
recorder's office in Palmer.
Her son was "a comedian," Gregory said during the interview at her
home in the Muldoon area of Anchorage. "A lot of people knew him,
loved him. . . . The little boy, Kluane, he was always smiling and
happy and laughing. Cheyenne, the last time I saw her she was dancing
because her grandpa taught her how to dance.
"They really loved their dad."
ANCHORAGE(ALASKA)DAILY NEWS
Ken [NY]
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