Citizen Foils Armed Home Invasion

[Eric Cordian <emc@wire.insync.net>]

RAINBOW CITY, Ala. (AP) -- Officers who went to a house with a
warrant to search for drugs were met at the door by a couple in
bulletproof vests and a surprise gunfight.
 
A blast from an assault weapon, apparently fired through the
front door, killed Chris McCurley, 46, the recently appointed
chief of Etowah Country's drug task force, authorities said.
 
Etowah County Sheriff James Hayes said a man and woman came to
the door wearing bulletproof vests when law officers arrived
Friday at their new house in a quiet neighborhood near the Coosa
River about 65 miles northeast of Birmingham.
 
After McCurley was shot, the man walked outside and continued
firing, striking three more officers before he was finally shot
down by police hiding behind trees, said Minnie Bellew, who lives
across the street.
 
Ezra George Petersen, 50, was hospitalized with minor gunshot
wounds to his extremities, Hayes said. He was under guard at
Gadsden Regional Medical Center. The woman, Connie Stozzie, 30,
was taken to jail and was on investigative hold.
 
Petersen shot at officers with an AK-47 assault weapon with a
100-round drum of ammunition, Hayes said.
 
Officer Gary Lee Entrekin, 34, was in serious condition with a
gunshot wound to the back, said M.D. Garmon, a spokesman at
Riverview Regional Medical Center in Gadsden.
 
Altoona police officer Khris Yancey, 26, was shot in the back,
but his wounds were not thought to be serious. Reserve officer
Rick Correll, 46, was in fair condition with wounds to an arm and
foot.
 
``The law enforcement community and its supporters will not rest
in this county until Petersen gets what he justly deserves -- and
that's the electric chair,'' Hayes said.
 
Neighbors said the tall, tattooed Petersen was a friendly man
frequently seen riding a motorcycle. He had bought $20 worth of
oranges Wednesday from Mrs. Bellow's grandson, who was selling
fruit for a school fund-raiser.
 
``He was real nice. I talked to him about his motorcycles, all
the stuff he did to them,'' 14-year-old Jake Bellew said.

--
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
"Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"