-Caveat Lector-
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-
lastandoff901.story?coll=sfla%2Dhome%2Dheadlines
>From the Los Angeles Times
Officers shot at wrong house in L.A. siege
By Carol Chambers and Josh Meyer
Times Staff Writer
September 1, 2001, 10:50 PM EDT
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. --
An eruption of violence that claimed the life of
a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy took authorities off guard, plunging a
quiet neighborhood into such chaos that officers fired into houses on both
sides of the suspect's, officials said Saturday.
The extent to which officers were surprised in the Friday morning raid was
evident Saturday in the charred ruins of James Allen Beck's home, where
investigators found a body believed to be that of the former police officer and
convicted felon.
Federal agents were serving a search warrant on Beck's house when he
allegedly responded with gunfire, triggering a gun battle that ended when his
home caught fire and burned to the ground.
In addition to Beck's body, authorities said they found several assault rifles,
a handgun and large amounts of ammunition in the ashes of his home.
Authorities say Beck shot sheriff's Deputy Hagop �Jake� Kuredjian. An autopsy Saturday
determined that the officer had died of a bullet wound to the head.
Relatives of Beck in the San Diego community of Scripps Ranch released a statement
saying the family was �deeply saddened by the death of Deputy Kuredjian. We would like
to offer our condolences to the deputy's family and
to the entire police community on their tragic loss,� the statement said.
�We are struggling to come to terms with James' actions and do not understand what
caused him to do what he did,� the statement said.
Residents of surrounding homes in the Stevenson Ranch subdivision were full of
questions in the aftermath of the tragedy, and some were critical of the way in which
a simple legal maneuver � the serving of a search warran
t � quickly escalated into a violent inferno that appeared to threaten the entire
neighborhood.
The questions zeroed in on the tactics used in the siege and fire, with suggestions
that the incident verged on chaos as law enforcement officials struggled with a
dangerously out-of-control situation.
Law enforcement officials, while acknowledging that they were surprised, said it was
too early to answer many of the questions raised by the incident. They also said the
only person to blame for the explosion of violence
was Beck, who was under investigation for impersonating a U.S. marshal and for being a
felon in possession of a firearm.
A man who lived across the street from Beck said he saw sheriff's deputies firing at a
home next door to the suspect's.
�I hollered out the window, �You're shooting at the wrong house!' � said the man, who
spoke on condition of anonymity. �They must have heard us or somthing, because I could
hear one of the deputies say, �Is it the house w
ith the Explorer?' And another guy says, �No, the one next to it.' �
Capt. Ray Leyva, commanding officer of the sheriff's Headquarters Bureau, acknowledged
that deputies fired at that house, as well as the house on the other side of Beck's.
�We did hit the houses on either side,� he said. �I don't know exactly what was
happening at the time, I don't know how well (the deputies') aim was but they were
returning fire and trying to rescue someone so I'm sure th
ey were hitting things during the battle.�
The two houses adjoining Beck's � at least one of which was occupied, by a couple and
a baby, during the shooting � were pocked with numerous bullet marks.
Friday morning's operation was carried out by two U.S. marshals and eight agents of
the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Three sheriff's deputies
accompanied them for support. Once the gunfight began, the
Sheriff's Department rushed in reinforcements and took charge.
The Southern California head of the ATF offered some answers to residents' questions
Saturday and defended his agency's role in the raid.
Donald Kincaid said the ATF had reason to believe that Beck would be cooperative
Friday morning. The reason for their confidence, he said, was that the bureau had
conducted a similar search a year ago. And on that occasio
n, after federal agents called Beck on the telephone, he came outside and cooperated
fully.
On Friday, Beck greeted agents very differently, refusing to come outside, and then
firing a fusillade of automatic weapons fire at them as they advanced on the house,
authorities said. That forced agents to scramble for
cover on Beck's front lawn and call for back-up, and he still kept firing.
Early in the battle, he allegedly shot and killed Kuredjian, who suffered a head wound
while trying to provide cover to deputies pinned down in the fuselade, authorities
said.
Kincaid called Beck's response �unanticipated resistance,� and acknowledged that it
took his agents by surprise, even though they had prepared extensively for the search.
�We don't just go to Dunkin Donuts, talk about it for three minutes and show up at the
house,� said Kincaid. �We did what we thought was best based on intelligence and prior
dealings with this individual, which was to cal
l him on the phone and ask him to come out.�
The specific reasons for the search are laid out in an affidavit by a federal
agent that was shown to a federal prosecutor and a federal judge, both of
whom approved the search. Kincaid said the affidavit was sealed and he
would not discuss the specifics it contained.
Dozens of investigators picked through the rubble that was Beck's house on
Saturday, ultimately finding what they think are the badly charred remains of
his body � encased in a bulletproof vest and lying on an assault rifle � as
well as that of his dog.
Copyright � 2001, The Los Angeles Times
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
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believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
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The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
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A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
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It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
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"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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