Lindsay Ann Hawker murder

Lindsay Ann Hawker murder: Tatsuya Ichihashi refusing to cooperate with police

Tatsuya Ichihashi, the Japanese man arrested in connection with the killing of Briton Lindsay Ann Hawker, is refusing to cooperate with investigators.
Ichihashi, 30, was arrested in Osaka after being on the runsince March 2007, when the body of Ms Hawker was found covered in sand in a bath tub on the balcony of his Tokyo apartment.

After his arrest, as he waited to board a ferry to the remote southern islands of Okinawa, police quoted Ichihashi as telling them, "I have no excuses and I don't want to say anything."

Officers have been questioning him at Gyotoku Police Station.

Takeshi Ootani, a police spokesman, told The Daily Telegraph: "Two officers started the questioning this morning and we have spent all day interrogating him," he said. "We plan to continue into this evening as well.

"The suspect has refused to say anything to the officers but we will continue to question him," he said.

Ichihashi is being held on a technical charge of abandoning a body and can be held until November 22nd, according to Ootani. At that point, he is likely to be formally charged, enabling the police to keep him in custody and continue to interrogate him about Ms Hawker's death.

The maximum penalty for murder in Japan is the death sentence, which is carried out by hanging.

In Gifu, Ichihashi's home town in central Japan, his father said that he was "relieved" his son had been arrested.

In a message to his son in an interview on national broadcaster NHK, Masayoshi Ichihashi said, "You committed a crime. You must be brought to justice. I want you to atone for what you have done."

Ichihashi said he and his wife, Nobuko, had been praying for Ms Hawker every day since March 2007 and hoped his son would make amends for her death.

"You probably think my son is a monster, but for us, he isn't like that. He was a sweet boy.

"These have been painful days for us," he added. "I cannot bear the thought of him undergoing plastic surgery to try to get away with this crime.

"Running away must have added to the pain and sorrow of the family of Miss Lindsay, as it has to us," he said.

Further information has also emerged about Ichihashi's 32 months on the run from the authorities, including reports from former colleagues at the construction company where he worked for 13 months before his arrest that he was a loner, saved his money carefully and constantly wore a baseball cap and square-rimmed glasses.

He was also involved in a fight with another employee last summer.

A colleague intervened and later warned Ichihashi that could have killed the other man - at which point he reportedly broke down in tears.

Ichihashi earned around Y150,000 (£1,005) a month as a labourer and earned a reputation in the company as a diligent worker.

Police believe he saved his wages to pay for a series of plastic surgery procedures to radically alter his features and continue to evade police.

A search by police of his room in a company dormitory have revealed a number of mirrors, an English dictionary and a partly completed application form for a passport in the name of Kosuka Inoue.

Shortly before the release of a new photo of Ichihashi subsequent to his latest facial operation, he collected his pay from the construction site and disappeared. And despite a televised plea to hand himself in to authorities from his mother this week, police believe Ichihashi was planning to keep running.

A ticket officer at Osaka port contacted police on Tuesday evening to report that a man who may have been the suspect had purchsed a ticket for the 18-hour voyage to Okinawa. Wearing a baseball cap, dark-rimmed glasses and a flu mask, police approached Ichihashi shortly before 6 p.m. and questioned him for 10 minutes before he finally admitted, "I am Ichihashi."

News From: www.telegraph.co.uk

Jeff Lacy Brother Shooted Police Officer

Jeff Lacy: Brother Shooted Two 2 Florida Officers, Suspect Killed in Shootout

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Authorities and a fugitive holed up in an attic fired more than 100 shots at each other Monday in a firefight that killed two officers, wounded a deputy U.S. marshal and led to an hourslong standoff that ended when the suspect was found dead inside the home.

St. Petersburg Police spokesman Michael Puetz said the suspect was found dead when officers went into the home Monday afternoon, about six hours after the shootout, the latest in a recent rash of shootings across the nation that have killed or wounded law enforcement officers.

Law enforcement had been at the home to arrest Hydra Lacy Jr., 39, around 7 a.m. on an aggravated battery charge, and investigators believe he is the one who opened fire on the officers, Puetz said.

He said Lacy had a long record that includes convictions for armed robbery and sexual battery.

He had been listed as a sex offender with the state since 1996 and failed to register in December with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department, which he was required to do four times a year.

Deputies had been looking for him since then, and local officers on Friday had been told to be on the lookout for Lacy.

"He was somebody we wanted to get off the streets, " Police Chief Chuck Harmon said. "Who expects to walk into a house and get gunfire from the attic?"

The marshal was shot twice but was doing fine, Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Tom Figmik said.
One officer, the marshal and a Pinellas County Sheriff's deputy were the first ones at the house and were told by a woman that Lacy was in the attic. The three called for backup, and soon after

Jeffrey Yaslowitz, 39, and Tom Baitinger, 48, arrived. Police had initially said they were among the first three to arrive.

The chief said Yaslowitz and the marshal, who was not identified, went up to the attic and exchanged fire with the suspect. Both were hit. Yaslowitz went down in the attic, while the marshal tumbled to the first floor after being hit in his bulletproof vest and lower torso.

Baitinger was one of several officers who came to rescue the other two and was hit when Lacy fired through the attic floor.

Hostage negotiators arrived, and the SWAT team exchanged more gunfire with the suspect. The SWAT team eventually got Yaslowitz out of the house, destroying about a third of the home in the process. He was later pronounced dead. Authorities had tried to force out the gunman by cutting off the home's electricity and water before discovering he was dead.

Baitinger had worked with the department since 1996 and is survived by his wife. Yaslowitz started his career there in 1999, working with a K-9 unit and his dog partner, Ace. He is survived by his wife and three children.

"In my mind as a police officer, this crook, this criminal, this murderer, cop-killer, whatever you would like to call him, did a terrible injustice to two of my people today and two of the people that served this community," Harmon said during an afternoon press conference.

The home, situated in a middle-class neighborhood on the south side of St. Petersburg, was listed in Lacy's name, according to property records.

Court records show Lacy failed to show for his scheduled trial Nov. 1 on the aggravated battery charge, and an arrest warrant was issued the next day.

State records show Lacy was convicted in 1989 of armed burglary, resisting arrest with violence and other charges. He was released from prison 1991. In 1992, he was convicted of sexual battery with a weapon or force and false imprisonment of a child. He was released in from prison 2001.

Monday's shooting comes four days after two Miami-Dade County detectives were killed by a murder suspect they were trying to arrest. That suspect was killed by another detective.

The officers were being remembered Monday at a funeral, where news of Monday's shooting added to the grief already palpable among the thousands gathered at American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami.

On Sunday, a man opened fire inside a Detroit police precinct, wounding four officers including a commander before he was shot and killed by police. The officers' injuries were not considered life-threatening, said Police Chief Ralph Godbee.

And on Monday, a Lincoln City, Ore., police officer was critically wounded when he was shot during a traffic stop.

Newws From:www.foxnews.com

30 year old Amanda Bennett died from a gunshot

Police find four people dead in Austin house 30 year old Amanda Bennett died from a gunshot

AUSTIN, Ind. (WISH) - The Scott County Coroner has completed the autopsies on four people found dead in a southern Indiana home Friday afternoon.

At 4:21 p.m. Friday, Austin City Police forced their way into a house in the 300 block of New York Street in Austin, Ind. to check on the people in the home. When police entered, they found “parts of the home had been burned,” Indiana State Police officials say.

Indiana State Police are investigating the deaths. They say 30 year old Amanda Bennett died from a gunshot wound to the head area and smoke inhalation. Her two daughters, 14 year old Jasmine Abbott and 9 year old Katelynn Bennett also died from gunshot wounds to the head area, as well as her son, 4 year old Ryan Bennett. Katelynn also suffered from smoke inhalation.

At this time detectives are not ready to release any more information about the investigation and are continuing several interviews.

School administrators from the Scott County School District #1 say they will have extra counselors at the schools on Monday to help anyone cope with the tragedy.

News From: www.wishtv.com