Man Who Killed KY Deputy Fired 11 Times; Semi-Auto Rifle
Ken [NY
Nicholasville, Kentucky - 11/16/2001
Phillip Walker fired a semi-automatic rifle 11 times in a shootout
with three Jessamine County sheriff's deputies trying to serve a
warrant this week, Kentucky State Police said.
At the time of Tuesday morning's shootout, Walker possessed a small
arsenal of about 20 other firearms, including rifles and handguns, in
the small drydocked houseboat he called home, state police said.
Police took the weapons from the boat as they continued to investigate
the shootings in which Walker, 75, and Deputy Billy Ray Walls, 28,
died, and two other deputies were wounded.
The deputies went to Walker's home about 9 a.m. to serve a misdemeanor
terroristic-threatening warrant. But Walker began shooting and the
deputies returned fire. Walker was shot 14 or 15 times, said Jessamine
County Coroner Joe Northup.
Capt. Chuck Morgan, 51, remained in critical condition yesterday at
University of Kentucky Hospital, and Deputy Sammy Brown, 29, remained
in fair condition.
State police spokeswoman Lt. Lisa Rudzinski declined to talk about the
nature of the deputies' injuries, but she said it is possible they
were injured by ricochets from the hail of gunfire within the
houseboat's cramped space. The deputies were firing .40-caliber
Glocks, Rudzinski said. All the shooting took place inside the
houseboat.
State police and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
are trying to determine where Walker obtained the .30-caliber M1
carbine, said Capt. Alecia Webb-Edgington, commander of the state
police post in Richmond.
Some Jessamine residents near the elderly man's home have suggested
this might be a case of ``police-assisted suicide,'' in which Walker,
a cancer survivor, might have deliberately provoked a shootout so he
could die. But state police say there is no evidence of that so far in
their investigation.
``I would be reluctant to make any speculation or to make that leap,''
Rudzinski said.
But the three deputies went to Walker's home knowing that he had
threatened someone else with a firearm.
The warrant for terroristic threatening ``involved a threat to kill
family members'' with a gun, said Nicholasville trial commissioner
Michael Dixon. He said he signed the warrant on Monday, after a deputy
called and asked for his signature. Dixon said he doesn't recall the
deputy who requested his signature, nor does he remember the name of
the person who made the complaint.
But neighbors said Tuesday that Walker's nephew, Danny Lowry, had
sought the warrant after Walker had allegedly threatened another
nephew, Ed Lowry, with a gun. The Lowrys could not be reached for
comment, and the warrant is not in public records because it was in
the process of being served.
Dixon said Walker's name ``rang no bell'' with him, and Walker had no
arrests listed in the Jessamine County court records.
However, according to the state Department of Corrections, Walker
began a one-year jail sentence in July 1976 at the Madison County
Detention Center for a third-degree burglary that took place in the
county. At the time, Walker lived in Jessamine. Neither the Madison
Circuit Court Clerk's office nor the county sheriff's department
carried any criminal records on Walker.
Madison property records show that Walker had owned a 2- to 3-acre lot
in the small rural community of Poosey Ridge near the Kentucky River,
which separates Madison and Jessamine counties, since 1971. Walker had
lived in the houseboat on the Madison County side of the Kentucky
River before drydocking the boat on the Jessamine property that is
thought to be owned by one of his nephews.
Yellow police tape that had cordoned off that property Tuesday was
gone yesterday morning, and people could be seen moving in and out of
the little houseboat. One man declined to identify himself or be
interviewed.
Kentucky State Police had a noticeably increased presence in Jessamine
yesterday as gray cruisers were spotted several times in the
southeastern part of the county.
Webb-Edgington said that troopers would patrol the county for 24-hour
protection in the wake of Tuesday's shootings.
LEXINGTON(KY)HERALD LEADER
Ken [NY]
--
Chairperson,
Department of Redundancy Department
____________________________________
An officer is assaulted every 7 minutes,
one is injured every 2.5 hours, and
one is KILLED every other day.
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