2 P.G. County Maryland Deputies fatally shot

[one4me2use]

Two P.G. County Maryland Deputies were shot fatally last night while serve a emergency psychiatric petition at a house in Adelphi area of P.G. County. First Deputy was shot in the head and was D.O.A. at the scene. The 2nd Deputy died at the Hospital. One Deputy had 13 years on, the second deputy had about a year on. The suspect is still at large, The suspect name is James logan. My prayer's go out to the family's. Check the www. Washington Post.com

[one4me2use]

This suspect was caught in the neighborhood in which he commited the crime...tonight at about 2:10 am....on the Aug 31, 02.

[a911opr8r]

My condolences go out to the families of both officers killed in action. My prayers will be w/them, as well as the dispatchers who were working at the time. God forbid I'm working the radio if that ever happens here.

:(

[DelC]

Man Arrested in Slayings of Two Deputies
Suspect Cornered in Shed 29 Hours After Shootings

By Clarence Williams and Hamil R. Harris Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, September 1, 2002; Page A1

An intensive police search for James Ramiah Logan, who allegedly shot and killed two Prince George's County sheriff's deputies attempting to take him for psychiatric evaluation, ended with his arrest early yesterday within two miles of where it began.

The 23-year-old man later appeared before a Circuit Court commissioner and was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of use of a handgun in the commission of a crime, authorities said.

After a manhunt aided by helicopters, search dogs and door-to-door interviews, Prince George's officers found Logan unarmed and hiding in a shed at an apartment complex on 14th Avenue in the Langley Park area, said county Police Chief Gerald M. Wilson. It was one of 18 locations under surveillance, based on information that Logan's family and friends gave to investigators.

The search ended about 2 a.m. yesterday, in its 29th hour. Police said that they used a police dog and a stun gun to subdue Logan and that the dog bit Logan during the capture. Logan is being held in the county's Upper Marlboro Detention Center.

Prosecutors plan to ask that Logan be denied bail at a bond hearing scheduled for Tuesday, according to county State's Attorney Jack B. Johnson. A semiautomatic handgun was recovered in the Langley Park area, Wilson said, but he would not disclose the specific location. Investigators believe it is the weapon used Thursday night to kill the two deputies – Elizabeth Licera Magruder, 30, and Cpl. James V. Arnaud, who would have turned 54 yesterday.

Ballistics tests had not been done yesterday.

News of the capture stirred strong emotions among solemn police officers, the shattered families of the two victims and Logan's worried relatives. At the Church of the Great Commission in Suitland, Derwinn Magruder held his 3-year-old son as he made arrangements for his wife's funeral and described the arrest as "a big relief."

Prince George's police and sheriff's officials took comfort in the speedy capture of a suspect they considered dangerously unstable. But above all, they expressed sadness and anger over the first slayings of deputies in the 306-year history of the county Sheriff's Department.

"He had his opportunity to go to a psychiatric hospital on" Thursday, Wilson said of Logan, at a news conference yesterday. "He is now facing the criminal justice system."

Logan went to a psychiatrist with his family last week, but he refused treatment for what his relatives described as extremely paranoid behavior. The family then petitioned a county judge to order a mental evaluation.

Yesterday, his parents, James and Karen C. Logan, said they hope he will now receive the care they sought.

"My son is mentally ill right now," Karen Logan said. "My son is getting progressively worse every day."

Family members speculated that Logan – who has a wife and two sons, a part-time job as a computer technician and is attending computer training classes – could have been under a lot of stress lately.

The court petition was what brought Arnaud, a 13-year member of the force, and Magruder, a rookie deputy, to the small, brick house in Adelphi, in the 9300 block of Lynmont Drive, where Logan's parents have lived for 16 years. The deputies tried to persuade Logan to come out of a back bedroom, police said, but he came out shooting, fatally striking Arnaud in the throat and Magruder in the back of the head.

Arnaud died at the scene. Magruder died at Prince George's Hospital Center.

While Assistant State's Attorney William A. Manico, chief of the homicide division, will handle the case, Johnson made it clear that "there are mental issues here. The proper evaluation will be made, and we will move in accordance with the law."

He said Logan will receive psychiatric treatment at the Upper Marlboro Detention Center and an evaluation before Tuesday's bond hearing. "What is going to happen is people who know how to handle these things will make sure that he gets the care that he needs," Johnson said.

Members of at least a dozen local and federal law enforcement agencies joined in the hunt.

Undercover Montgomery County officers first spotted Logan about 1:30 a.m. yesterday and gave chase as he lept over fences, authorities said. When the officers lost sight of him, they called in a U.S. Park Police helicopter. A resident called police 15 minutes later, about the time Prince George's officers arrived at the Quebec Arms apartments in the 8200 block of 14th Avenue. They cornered him in the shed, which was surrounded by overflowing garbage bins and an eight-foot fence.

The officers decided to send a German Shepard named Max behind the wooden fence. The dog latched onto Logan's leg, and officers then used a Taser stun gun to subdue him, authorities said.

"There's an extra element of risk in this type of apprehension," Wilson said. "They made the decision to give the canine a shot."

County and sheriff's office investigators later sealed off the apartment complex's parking lot and courtyard for several hours, looking for evidence.

The police dog bit Logan on one ankle and his triceps, said Capt. Andy Ellis, a county police spokesman. Logan was taken to Prince George's Hospital Center for treatment of minor wounds, including three stitches and two sutures, before being taken to police headquarters for questioning, Ellis said.

Wearing powder-blue hospital clothing, Logan showed no emotion and said nothing to reporters as deputies escorted him into a vehicle that took him to jail. He had small scrapes on his face, and his right arm was bandaged above the elbow.

While waiting at county police headquarters early yesterday, Logan's parents said that their son was normally "polite" and "well mannered" but that a radical personality change came over him a little more than a week ago.

His family sought advice from a psychiatrist after Logan told relatives he was hearing voices. He frequently referred to the Bible, particularly the New Testament's Revelations, and said "God was working through him as a messenger," his mother said.

Hours before the shootings, Logan's wife, Valencia Flood Logan, had petitioned the county District Court in Hyattsville to order an emergency psychiatric evaluation and hospitalize her husband immediately, according to court documents. She wrote that he was quoting from the Bible and stating, "We are in Revelations" – passages often construed to describe the end of the world.

At a news conference yesterday, Wilson, who was promoted to the county police force's top position this year, went to great lengths to emphasize that Logan sustained minor injuries and that officers showed restraint in his arrest.

The department has faced increased scrutiny and some prosecutions for excessive force, including arrests involving canine units, and accusations of coerced confessions by homicide detectives.

Police displayed an enlarged photo of Logan taken at the hospital, and distributed photocopies to reporters to show the extent of his injuries. Though Wilson offered no details from Logan's questioning yesterday, he stressed that the interview was audio- and videotaped.

Court documents show that Logan was arrested several weeks ago in St. Mary's County after being stopped for speeding. A search revealed small plastic bags of powder cocaine and crack cocaine, a large bag of marijuana, scales and a .38-caliber handgun. Charges were filed, but he was released on $25,000 bond.

In 1999, Logan was sentenced to five years' probation by a Prince George's court after pleading guilty to theft, court records show.

With the agonizing scramble to find Logan complete, Prince George's County Sheriff Alonzo D. Black said his department would shift its focus to supporting the Arnaud and Magruder families and making plans to honor them.

But the sheriff's office also plans a review of staffing shortages, which led to only two deputies, working overtime, attempting to enforce the court petition. General orders call for three deputies in such situations.

"I'm extremely pleased with the apprehension of James Ramiah Logan. . . . It is still a very solemn occasion," said Black, who helped escort Logan from police headquarters to the Upper Marlboro jail.

"This is a time of time of prayer for our family," said Michael Arnaud, one of Arnaud's two grown children.