Four weeks before he was to retire, Humboldt County sheriff Gene Wheeler Cox was shot to death while attempting to aid his father-in-law in a dispute with a former mental patient at a trailer park.

Also killed were the father-in-law and a bystander who rushed to their aid. The carnage ended when the alleged gunman was fatally wounded in a shoot-out with police.

Eureka Police Chief O.R. Shipley said those killed were Cox, 56; his father-in-law, park manager and former sheriff’s deputy, Jack Alton, believed to be in his late 60s; and retired park resident Claire Montgomery, 71.

Shipley identified the gunman as Clarence Eugene McCutcheon, 50, a resident of the park who listed a permanent address in Santa Monica.

He said federal officers arrested McCutcheon late last year in New York City after threatening to bomb an airplane he was on, as well as other flights.

Shipley said his officers were called to the Ebb tide RV Park on Highway 101 at the edge of Eureka about 3:55 p.m., where they were met by McCutcheon, who opened fire on them with a large-caliber rifle.

He said the officers returned fire and wounded McCutcheon, who died at about 6 p.m. at Eureka General Hospital.

Shipley said eyewitnesses told officers the gunman was responsible for the deaths of Cox, Alton and Montgomery.

He said he had no idea what prompted the shooting or any leads as to a possible motive.

He said McCutcheon had been hospitalized at a federal prison following the airport incident, but was released in February. He was not prosecuted because of his mental condition.

According to deputy police chief Murl Harpham, Alton had telephoned the sheriff seeking help in dealing with McCutcheon, Cox promised to stop off on his way home.

Harpham said Cox, unarmed and known not to have carried a firearm for the last several years, was found shot to death on the ground about 15 feet from the front of McCutcheon’s trailer. The door to his automobile was still open and the motor was running.

Harpham said the sheriff’s office at about the time Cox was shot received a telephone call – possibly from Alton – indicating that Cox might have been shot.

Harpham said evidence and testimony from witnesses indicated that after Cox was shot, the killer reloaded his rifle and “stalked” Aton to his office and shot him there.

Alton’s body, bearing numerous gunshot wounds, was found outside the office, Harpham said.

He said it appeared Montgomery had come to Alton’s aid and was attempting to shield Alton’s wife, Hannah, when he was shot, moments before police arrived.

Harpham said Humboldt officials first encountered McCutcheon Oct. 27 when they placed him in a mental hospital after he threatened to kill a group of people at a campground.

He was subsequently diagnosed as being “very dangerous, capable of anything,” but was released because he was not so disabled he could not care for himself.

Alton and Cox were known to be longtime friends, having worked together as sheriff’s deputies. Cox married Alton’s daughter, Shirley, in 1976.

They were active members of Bethel Church in Eureka, where Cox served as a deacon.

Cox’s police career began in the early 1950s with the Arcata Police Department in Humboldt County. In 1954, he joined the sheriff’s office, where he rose to under sheriff in 1962. He was elected sheriff in 1966 and was re-elected in 1970, ’74 and ’78.

He chose not to seek re-election this year. Shipley said Cox only last month had addressed a police chief’s association and looking ahead to his retirement, encouraged the chiefs to “get out of law enforcement as early as you can.”

Deputy David G. Graves joined the Fresno Co. Sheriff’s Department in 1979, having served as a volunteer in the Search and Rescue Unit for some two years prior to becoming a deputy. Assigned to the Patrol Division, he was a dedicated officer who served this community and loved his profession. On November 5, 1982, while on patrol in the northwest area of the metropolitan district, his patrol vehicle was struck broadside (left side) by another vehicle, drivin by a three-time convicted drunk driver, who had failed to heed the stop sign. A passenger in the other vehicle was also killed. The driver was charged with two counts of 2nd degree murder in addition to felony drunk driving.

Graves was a Christian man who was a third generation member of the Calvary Presbyterian Church of Fresno, serving as an elder and following in the steps of his father and grandfather.

His wife, Karen, whom he married in 1972, survives him. They were engaged on Thanksgiving Day 11 years ago, having met at their church in 1965. He and Karen have two little girls; Kelly is 7 and Christy is 4. His parents are the late Joanne Dahlberg Graves and Gordon Graves, and he is also survived by his stepmother, sisters Mary Jo Pratt, Carol Elder and Ruth Kraushaar; and brother, Stephen Graves, and step-brothers, Eric and Harold Onsum.

Officer Dale Eric Newby, 36, was shot and killed by a motorist he had pulled over for speeding and erratic driving along Interstate 5 north of Stockton. Newby scuffled with the motorist, an ex-mental patient, who opened fire with a .357 magnum handgun, shooting Newby in the hand, then twice in the back as the officer retreated toward his patrol car. The tragedy multiplied when the gunman took a hostage, whom he subsequently shot and killed. Newby, 36, was a 15-year CHP veteran and had served in the Baldwin Park and Contra Costa Areas before transferring to Stockton in 1972.

Reprinted from the San Francisco Tribune

They buried police Sgt. John Scott Macaulay Tuesday, July 20, in a funeral fit for a hero, full of pageantry and the mournful dirge of bagpipes, with a cortege led by more than 100 motorcycle officers.

It was the city’s largest police funeral, and it brought police from more than 100 towns and cities, from as far away as Kentucky.

More than 3,000 police and civilians came to St. Mary’s Cathedral to hear Macaulay eulogized as a bible-reading, dedicated officer who gave his life to make the city “a better and safer place.”

“John’s death has once again brought into focus the ills of society,” said the Rev. John P. Heaney, a police chaplain, “and the inadequate manner in which we attempt to control them.”

“The cause for which he struggled is good and just,” Heaney told a standing room-only crowd, “and his efforts were total.”

The Mass was conducted by Archbishop John R. Quinn and Monsignor James Flynn, pastor of Macaulay’s parish.

Macaulay died of wounds received July 6 when he was shot by a shoplifting suspect whose car he stopped at Van Ness Avenue and Willow Street.

David Arien, 41, who had a history of mental problems, escaped in a hail of bullets from police backup units and drove to Franklin and Post streets, where he shot and killed his 36-year-old wife, Jonelle, and then turned the gun on himself.

Macaulay was shot twice. One bullet lodged in his brain, and he never recovered from a coma.

Had he lived, doctors said, it would have been with his left side paralyzed and his vision impaired.

He is the 87th San Francisco police officer to die in the line of duty.

A native San Franciscan and a bachelor, the 35-year-old Macaulay joined the department in 1971 and was assigned to Northern Station when he was shot.

The oldest of 10 children, he three times won the Medal of Valor for heroism, and had five police commission commendations and more than 100 captain’s commendations for outstanding work.

Gary Moss had wanted to be a police officer since he used to pedal his kiddy car around the neighborhood, using his best Broderick Crawford voice as he yelled out, “10-4! 10-4!”

Moss realized his ambition a little more than a year ago when he became a motorcycle officer with the Hermosa Beach Police Department. His colleagues said it was all he ever wanted to do.

But 20 minutes before his shift ended in the early morning hours of June 20, death ended his police career.

The 26-year-old Moss and his partner, Paul Wolcott, were chasing two men who were speeding on their motorcycles near the intersection of Aviation Boulevard and Harper Street when a compact car drove into the officers’ path, witnesses told police. Both officers broadsided the car at full speed.

Wolcott, 27, a good friend of Moss who went through training with him, broke both his wrists, his left hand, shattered his right kneecap and separated his pelvis. He is listed in stable condition at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance.

But Moss suffered fatal head injuries in the accident, and was pronounced dead by hospital doctors.

In front of the 1,000 law-enforcement officers from all over the state, Moss’ ashes were cast into the sea by his family in a solemn but graceful memorial service marked by its precision and emotion.

Three police helicopters circled a large boat, led by three smaller boats, as the ashes were dropped into the strong wind and the rocky sea. One of the helicopters, symbolizing the dead man, veered off in the opposite direction after the ashes were cast as the boat returned to port.

The mass of policemen, including officers from Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach police departments and the California Highway Patrol, silently saluted the boat from a parking lot at Torrance Beach Park. The officers, who had arrived by motorcycle and car, formed a procession that stretched about 2 ½ miles along Catalina Avenue.

Earlier, a photo of a smiling Moss, the picture surrounded by a ;yellow wreath of flowers, looked out at the gathering of family and friends in front of the Hermosa Beach Civic Center as his superiors and friends expressed sorrow at his loss.

Nigel Geoffey Brewster, 23, of Redondo Beach, who was driving the car the officers ran into, was arrested at the scene of the accident by Redondo Beach police and charged with felony drunken driving, officials said. He was released on $2,500 bond pending the filing of drunken driving and manslaughter charges by the Hermosa Beach Police Department.

Moss, a Hermosa Beach resident, was unmarried and had been on the force for 15 months. Friends at the police department described Moss as a very active person, involved in a variety of sports activities.

“Gary was a very good friend of mine – to the point he was like family,” says Sgt. Tony Altfield. “That’s the kind of loss we’re facing here. There’s a pall over the agency. The mood is grief-stricken, with a very real sense of loss.”

Moss is survived by his parents, Mildred and Charles of Long Beach, and two brothers, Charles Jr. of Mission Viejo and Tom of the Long Beach area.

On Thursday, May 13, 1982, at about 8:30 a.m., Riverside police officers Philip N. Trust and Dennis C. Doty were killed in the line of duty while attempting to serve an arrest warrant on a convicted bank robbery suspect who had failed to report to begin serving a 13-year sentence. The incident the suspect had been convicted of involved a 1980 robbery of a Riverside bank and a high-speed chase that culminated in a shoot out with police officers. The suspect had been wounded during the shoot out and paralyzed from the waist down as a result of his wounds.

The suspect had been out on bail pending the outcome of an appeal for the conviction of the bank robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

Both officers were working in plain clothes, assigned to the warrant detail. They had responded to an address on Wolfe Street in Riverside on the basis of recent information that the suspect they were looking for was at that location. When the officers arrived, a gun battle ensued and both officers were killed. The suspect was wounded, but managed to escape and remain at large for approximately 60 hours. He was subsequently arrested in Ribidoux, California by Riverside police officers.

Officer Trust, 36, was a 10-year veteran of the Riverside Police Department. He is survived by his wife, Rhonda, and four children, Tammy, Jason, Jeromy and Joshua.

Officer Doty, 35, was also a 10-year veteran of the Riverside Police Department and is survived by his parents and two sisters who live in Riverside.

Both officers have served with distinction during their time at Riverside and they will be missed very much by their fellow officers and friends.

On Thursday, May 13, 1982, at about 8:30 a.m., Riverside police officers Philip N. Trust and Dennis C. Doty were killed in the line of duty while attempting to serve an arrest warrant on a convicted bank robbery suspect who had failed to report to begin serving a 13-year sentence. The incident the suspect had been convicted of involved a 1980 robbery of a Riverside bank and a high-speed chase that culminated in a shoot out with police officers. The suspect had been wounded during the shoot out and paralyzed from the waist down as a result of his wounds.

The suspect had been out on bail pending the outcome of an appeal for the conviction of the bank robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

Both officers were working in plain clothes, assigned to the warrant detail. They had responded to an address on Wolfe Street in Riverside on the basis of recent information that the suspect they were looking for was at that location. When the officers arrived, a gun battle ensued and both officers were killed. The suspect was wounded, but managed to escape and remain at large for approximately 60 hours. He was subsequently arrested in Ribidoux, California by Riverside police officers.

Officer Trust, 36, was a 10-year veteran of the Riverside Police Department. He is survived by his wife, Rhonda, and four children, Tammy, Jason, Jeromy and Joshua.

Officer Doty, 35, was also a 10-year veteran of the Riverside Police Department and is survived by his parents and two sisters who live in Riverside.

Both officers have served with distinction during their time at Riverside and they will be missed very much by their fellow officers and friends.

Reprinted from the Stockton Record

Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Arthur Coleman, 30, who was shot and fatally wounded during a narcotics raid recently, died five minutes after his father succumbed to a heart attack.

Coleman was shot while assisting members of a Metro Narcotics Task Force team serving a search warrant.

Coleman’s father, Floyd Woniger Coleman, 70, an auxiliary sheriff’s deputy, died of a heart attack shortly after learning his son had been shot.

The senior Coleman was pronounced dead five minutes before his son by the doctor who then moved to another room at St. Joseph’s Hospital and made the same pronouncement of the injured officer.

The shooting of Coleman was almost a carbon copy of the fatal shooting of Police Officer Nicholas Cecchetti, son of Police Chief Julio A. Cecchetti, four years ago. It too took place when a narcotics search warrant was being served.

Coleman was shot, homicide investigators said, by Karen Frances Allen, 31, when a four-man Metro team attempted to serve a search warrant on her common-law husband, Renoldo Black, 31, at their residence at about 2:45 p.m.

A single .38 caliber bullet, one of three reportedly fired by Allen, hit Coleman under the right arm and then careened through his body to strike his aorta, a heart artery.

Allen, now under guard at San Joaquin General Hospital, was shot twice by police gunfire. She was wounded in the groin and in the arm.

Metro officers found a small amount of cocaine, placidly and amphetamines at the home. Black was charged with possessing the drugs in quantities sufficient for sale.

The dead deputy’s father was being transported from the Sheriff’s Office shooting range on Mathews Road to St. Joseph’s Hospital when he collapsed. Deputies Jerry Nakamura and John DeLeon, who had been sent to pick him up, said the father collapsed in their sheriff’s car.

After an all night investigation, homicide Detective Sgts. Wilson Stewart and David Knickerbocker and Metro Capt. Dennis Perry believe the following took place at the neatly kept Acacia Street residence.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Junker and Police Officers Larry Moore and David Bentz, armed with the search warrant, went to the Allen-Black residence. They were wearing bulletproof vests.

Coleman who did not have a vest joined them at the scene.

It was decided that Coleman, because he was not wearing a bulletproof vest, would handle the reading of the search warrant and assist the other officers in the search once the residence had been secured.

He was to stand back away from the door when the officers approached.

Bentz and Moore said the front door to the home was open when they arrived but a screen door was closed.

Because they believed the people inside might be arming themselves or destroying evidence, Moore and Bentz attempted to kick open the door.

After three unsuccessful tires, the door was opened from the inside and Allen, standing back several feet, opened fire using a two-handed pistol-firing stance.

Coleman was standing in the yard, several feet away from the door.

Two mysteries surround what happened next:
Which one of Allen’s bullets struck Coleman is unknown.
Exactly where he was standing also is unknown.

Detectives are speculating that the first bullet she fired might have hit him, yet he still was able to fire six shots from his service revolver.

In all, 10 shots were fired by the police officers. It is not known which officer’s bullets struck Allen and incapacitated her.

After the shooting which lasted only a matter of seconds, Coleman turned to Sgt. Junker and said, “I’ve been shot.”

He staggered about 10 feet and collapsed.

Paramedics worked over the injured officer in an effort to restore vital functions before Coleman was rushed to the hospital. Doctors there continued emergency treatment until he was officially pronounced dead.

Capt. Perry, who paid high tribute to Coleman as an officer, said he still does not know how he became involved in the shooting.

“Perhaps he reacted as any good police officer would. He may have seen his fellow officers were having trouble getting into the home, and he went to help them. Maybe there were shots fired before he moved in.

“The officers who were there said everything happened very, very fast.”

Coleman, who requested a transfer from sheriff’s patrol duties to the Metro Narcotics Task Force, joined the team last July.

“He was a good all-around officer,” said Sheriff’s Inspector Jerry Krein, also a member of the Metro unit.

“I was very happy to see him come over here. He was a damn good cop.”

Sgt. Stewart, who questioned Allen at the hospital, said she admitted having “given herself a fix” of heroin about 30 minutes before the police officers arrived.

She denied closing the door, Stewart said, and Black reportedly admitted later that it was he who saw the officers approaching and shut it.

He denies, Stewart said, hearing the officer knock at the door or announce loudly, as is custom, the service of a search warrant.

Allen told Stewart she was in the bedroom, heard her dogs barking, and walked into the living room where she could see the uniformed officers approaching across her lawn.

Claiming she did not know who they were, she went back to the bedroom, picked up the .38-caliber pistol off of a dresser and returned to the living room.

She denied to Stewart that it was she who opened the door, but she did say she fired after it was opened.

Investigators checked the door during the night, and said it had not been forced open by the police despite their efforts to kick it in.

Reprinted from The Sacramento Bee
February 26, 1982

Two Highway Patrol searchers who were killed while responding to reports of a downed military helicopter apparently were victims of a hoax, authorities said Thursday.

California Highway Patrol rescue pilot George R. Carey, 46, and observer Kenneth L. Archer, 43, died Wednesday night, when their chopper crashed while they searched Harper Dry Lake, 30 miles from Barstow, said fellow officer Charlie Page. The cause of the crash was not known.

Military officials in the area 125 miles northeast of Los Angeles reported no aircraft missing Thursday and said none reported any problems Wednesday night.

“It appears like it may have been a hoax,” San Bernardino County sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Mahoney said of the reported military helicopter crash.

“The original report – we got three, to the CHP, the Fire Department and the Sheriff’s Department – came in from truck drivers who had monitored a CB call,” Mahoney said. “The report was that there was a military helicopter crashed and four people were injured . . . near Black Canyon.”

Sheriff’s ground crews searched all night for the military chopper and were joined by two helicopters at daylight, but found nothing.

“We have not found anything. All local (military) aircraft are accounted for,” he said.