Last night, I was crocheting and watching something on TV,when Brother B came in the house and told me that one of our policemen friends had informed him that there was a shooting down in Greenland. At least one policeman,possibly three, were shot. I immediately turned the channel to Channel 9,WMUR,our NH station out of Manchester.
We stayed up until the wee hours watching and gathering info as it trickled in.At first,they revealed that one of the officers shot was the Greenland police chief Michael Maloney,who was due to retire on April 20th. Brother B,who used to be a cop with the University of NH police dept,knew him. Later, they also revealed that not three,but five policemen had been shot.
The officers went to the home of 29 year old Cullen Mutrie,with a search warrant regarding drugs about 6:00 PM last night. Mutrie had a history of breaking the law- fighting at a bar,domestic violence against a girlfriend,and,when police went to his house to confiscate his weapons because of that charge,found illegal steroids in 2010 or 2011. Neighbors last night stated that there was suspected "drug activity" going on at the house and the local authorities were investigating it. When the officers entered the home,Mutrie fired at them,killing Police Chef Michael Maloney,and wounding four others-detectives from Newmarket,UNH,Dover,and Rochester. Two were treated and released,two others are stable but have undergone surgery from gunshot wounds to the chest.
I have been reading various posts about his from various news sources,and I am quite disgusted and appalled by some of the comments,mostly by anti government and anti police folks.I can't wrap my head around their thought process.I'm sorry,but the police were doing their job. Anyone who says this pinhead had every right to defend himself is wrong. He shouldn't have even had weapons,since he was no longer allowed the right to have them. Some points:
#1- He had the right to defend himself since this is a Right to Defend state- WRONG. He was a criminal who was breaking the law. And they had a warrant. Enough said.
#2-They got hurt because they weren't wearing bullet proof vests so they deserved it- WHAT? Just because someone wears a bullet proof vest doesn't mean they can't get hurt.Vests do not cover the whole torso,and it is not hard for a bullet to find the right spot. Also,if a bullet is stopped by the vest at close range,then internal injuries are not uncommon. Also,heads are not protected,are they?
#3-The police were sneaking up to the house in a "nighttime raid"-WRONG. It was 6:00 PM,and still light outside.
Needless to say,the area was swarmed by State Police,and many local police depts. They kept trying to get Mutrie to come out to no avail. After their last contact with him they heard shots. They sent a robot in and discovered the bodies of Mutrie and a female.Whether it be double suicide or murder suicide is unclear,but my guess is the latter.
Things like this don't happen here in NH. We have homicides,yes,but nothing like this,ever. Not on this scale. Greenland is on the Seacoast,next to Rye and North Hampton.It has about 3,000 people,a small town where folks "know" each other.
I know, I am not sounding like my normal self,but I am very angry that this happened...and that people who refer to themselves as "patriots"( who to me sound bat shit crazy) are being idiots about it. Brother B,my father in law,and many members of their family have been in law enforcement. It hits a bit close to home.
Bless the policemen,their families,and their law enforcement families.Our state is mighty sad and shaken today.
Donna - i can hear (read) in your voice (written words) how shaken you are - this is truly terrible and very upsetting! i have worked very closely with different types of law enforcement for almost 20 years. and i want to present 2 different sides from my own personal experience. every last one of the RCMP officers that i worked with were incredibly professional and well-trained. however, some of the street level cops that i worked with were vulgar and not professional at all. i am not saying that all street level cops are this way - i am saying that some are. and for some people, they have only ever encountered the vulgar ones - and that may be why they dislike (hate) the police. there have been so many instances down in the US of cops being wrong, doing wrong and just wrong - that a lot of people can form bad opinions of them. or they have only met bad ones. that might be the reason why some people have commented the way that they have.
ReplyDeleteback to the other side - i have told jambaloney since i met him that if he is ever grabbed by 4 cops and thrown to the ground and told to shut up and gets handcuffed and maybe even kicked a few times - it's usually because the police suspect him of something terrible. most police officers don't go out rough-housing for fun. some may, but not the majority. the majority (in Canada, at least) are family men with a strong sense of loyalty, patriotism and a need to help. if they make a mistake, it will be discovered. if they thought that jambaloney was a suspect in the rape of a young child and grabbed him and did the above to him - well, you can understand why. when it is discovered that he was not the suspect, he will be released - maybe with a few bruises and whatnot. but if that was your child that was raped, you would want the police to jump on whoever they thought was a suspect!
one last thing - whenever you are in trouble - you call the police! only when you are in trouble - and i think that says a lot. you may hate "the pigs" and whatnot, but the minute someone breaks into your house or a child goes missing - you call the police!
i feel terribly for the officers that were hurt, and for their families as well. i also feel terrible about something so ugly happening in a place that isn't used to this type of crime. i am glad that you vented all of this out.
your friend,
kymber
Thank you,Kymber. I agree,there are certainly good and bad folks in this world,no matter what their job is.We have seen bad cops and good cops,that is for sure.Fortunately,there are far more good cops than bad cops,we just don't hear as much about them.
ReplyDelete--Big heaving sigh--
Thank you for your kind words,as always,Kymber-
Your NH friend,
Donna
Donna - wouldn't it be nice if every news source in the entire world devoted time to mentioning at least 5 police officers a day, who had done their job and done it well?!?!? newspapers would then have to include 20 more pages and the news shows would go from 1 hour to 8 hours!
ReplyDeletewe only ever hear about the police doing their jobs "improperly" - we never hear about them going to work every day and doing their jobs properly. it is a sad, sad thing!
i am so glad to hear (read) that big heaving sigh. you and your family have been through enough - you don't need this kind of additional trauma. and that's what it is, dear friend. it is additional trauma.
i am very glad to have a NH friend! your friend,
kymber
Donna - I'm sorry you're going through this. I agree. Bat-shit crazy is about right. I understand, to some extent, the strength of your feelings when it hits so close to home. We had a young man here (Grand Rapids, MI) a few years ago, who went on a rampage, killing seven people he knew in two different homes including children, then driving around town shooting at the police and others, and after a long standoff with hostages, killed himself. We are a big city, but with a small town feel in many ways, and having this happen here really shook everyone up. A pall seemed to hang over the city for quite awhile. This will take some time. Stick close, lay low, and take care of each other.
ReplyDelete