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ANOTHER MURDERED L.E.O., MAY GOD BLESS HIS FAMILY
UNIVERSITY50
Member Posts: 1,705 ✭✭✭✭✭
Militia link found in killing of Massillon police officer
08/11/02
Karen Farkas
Plain Dealer Reporter
Massillon
- A 61-year-old man who shot a Massillon police officer to death after leading police on a 12-mile chase Friday night may have been involved in a state militia group, a State Highway Patrol spokesman said yesterday.
Police killed the man, Donald W. Matthews of Canton, in a gun battle in a parking lot after he shot Massillon Patrolman Eric Taylor.
Taylor, 31, who had been on the force four years, was wearing a bulletproof vest. But a bullet entered his buttocks, then went through a kidney, his pancreas, aorta, heart and lungs, said Stark County Coroner James Pritchard.
Pritchard did not expect to complete the autopsy on Matthews until late yesterday. Pritchard said Matthews was wounded several times.
Taylor, of Massillon, is survived by his wife and two children, ages 3 and 1.
"It is a pretty sad place around here," said Massillon police Sgt. James Mizeres. The department has about 50 officers, and Taylor is the first to be killed in the line of duty since the 1940s.
Patrol Lt. Gary Lewis said Matthews, who had no police record, had literature in his car related to the militia. Such groups reject much of government authority, are interested in gun owners' rights and believe the government is out of control and that order, based on the Constitution, needs to be restored.
"We have to establish or substantiate if in fact he is involved in the militia," said Lewis. "If so, then if that has any link to last night's incident."
Matthews made a comment about his constitutional rights when a state trooper stopped him for speeding on Ohio 21 in Wayne County at 8:28 p.m., Lewis said yesterday. Matthews then took off, leading the trooper on a chase to Massillon.
When he got to Massillon, four city police cars joined the chase as Matthews sped east on Cherry Street. Matthews came to a stop in a parking lot at First Street, after ramming into two cars, including one that Taylor drove.
Matthews jumped out of the car and began firing a semiautomatic Czechoslovakian military handgun at the officers, police said. Lewis said it is not yet known how many shots were fired. Taylor died at 11:45 p.m. at Massillon Community Hospital.
Pritchard said the bullet that hit Taylor was a fairly large caliber and was sent to a ballistics lab for examination. Mizeres said the gun can be purchased at gun shows and gun shops.
Massillon Police Chief Mark Weldon's voice cracked as he hailed the young officer he hired.
"He was one of the good ones," Weldon said. "He cared deeply about the job, about the community, about the people."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
? More From The Plain Dealer
Ohio News
Massillon patrolman's funeral is Friday
08/12/02
Massillon
- Funeral services for Massillon patrolman Eric Taylor will be at 11 a.m. Friday at House of the Lord Church, 1650 Diagonal Road, Akron.
Taylor was shot Friday night by Donald W. Matthews, 61, of Canton, at the end of a 12-mile chase that began when a state trooper stopped Matthews for speeding in Wayne County, authorities say.
Matthews was killed by police during an exchange of gunfire in a Massillon parking lot after he shot Taylor. Authorities say they found literature in Matthews' car related to militia groups, which resist most government authority.
Authorities are trying to determine whether Matthews is a member of such a group. Federal agents and police officers searched his apartment Saturday and left with at least three paper bags and a computer.
Calling hours for Taylor will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Stewart & Calhoun Funeral Home, 529 W. Thornton St., Akron, and from 9 to 11 a.m. Friday at the church.
A memorial service is also being planned in Massillon, but arrangements are not complete.
Taylor, 31, is survived by his wife and two children, ages 3 and 1.
He worked for the Twinsburg Township Police Department and the Warrensville Developmental Center in Highland Hills before joining the Massillon department in October 1998. He was a 1989 graduate of Buchtel High School in Akron.
c 2002 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
Edited by - UNIVERSITY50 on 08/12/2002 21:30:46
Edited by - UNIVERSITY50 on 08/12/2002 21:41:58
08/11/02
Karen Farkas
Plain Dealer Reporter
Massillon
- A 61-year-old man who shot a Massillon police officer to death after leading police on a 12-mile chase Friday night may have been involved in a state militia group, a State Highway Patrol spokesman said yesterday.
Police killed the man, Donald W. Matthews of Canton, in a gun battle in a parking lot after he shot Massillon Patrolman Eric Taylor.
Taylor, 31, who had been on the force four years, was wearing a bulletproof vest. But a bullet entered his buttocks, then went through a kidney, his pancreas, aorta, heart and lungs, said Stark County Coroner James Pritchard.
Pritchard did not expect to complete the autopsy on Matthews until late yesterday. Pritchard said Matthews was wounded several times.
Taylor, of Massillon, is survived by his wife and two children, ages 3 and 1.
"It is a pretty sad place around here," said Massillon police Sgt. James Mizeres. The department has about 50 officers, and Taylor is the first to be killed in the line of duty since the 1940s.
Patrol Lt. Gary Lewis said Matthews, who had no police record, had literature in his car related to the militia. Such groups reject much of government authority, are interested in gun owners' rights and believe the government is out of control and that order, based on the Constitution, needs to be restored.
"We have to establish or substantiate if in fact he is involved in the militia," said Lewis. "If so, then if that has any link to last night's incident."
Matthews made a comment about his constitutional rights when a state trooper stopped him for speeding on Ohio 21 in Wayne County at 8:28 p.m., Lewis said yesterday. Matthews then took off, leading the trooper on a chase to Massillon.
When he got to Massillon, four city police cars joined the chase as Matthews sped east on Cherry Street. Matthews came to a stop in a parking lot at First Street, after ramming into two cars, including one that Taylor drove.
Matthews jumped out of the car and began firing a semiautomatic Czechoslovakian military handgun at the officers, police said. Lewis said it is not yet known how many shots were fired. Taylor died at 11:45 p.m. at Massillon Community Hospital.
Pritchard said the bullet that hit Taylor was a fairly large caliber and was sent to a ballistics lab for examination. Mizeres said the gun can be purchased at gun shows and gun shops.
Massillon Police Chief Mark Weldon's voice cracked as he hailed the young officer he hired.
"He was one of the good ones," Weldon said. "He cared deeply about the job, about the community, about the people."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
? More From The Plain Dealer
Ohio News
Massillon patrolman's funeral is Friday
08/12/02
Massillon
- Funeral services for Massillon patrolman Eric Taylor will be at 11 a.m. Friday at House of the Lord Church, 1650 Diagonal Road, Akron.
Taylor was shot Friday night by Donald W. Matthews, 61, of Canton, at the end of a 12-mile chase that began when a state trooper stopped Matthews for speeding in Wayne County, authorities say.
Matthews was killed by police during an exchange of gunfire in a Massillon parking lot after he shot Taylor. Authorities say they found literature in Matthews' car related to militia groups, which resist most government authority.
Authorities are trying to determine whether Matthews is a member of such a group. Federal agents and police officers searched his apartment Saturday and left with at least three paper bags and a computer.
Calling hours for Taylor will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Stewart & Calhoun Funeral Home, 529 W. Thornton St., Akron, and from 9 to 11 a.m. Friday at the church.
A memorial service is also being planned in Massillon, but arrangements are not complete.
Taylor, 31, is survived by his wife and two children, ages 3 and 1.
He worked for the Twinsburg Township Police Department and the Warrensville Developmental Center in Highland Hills before joining the Massillon department in October 1998. He was a 1989 graduate of Buchtel High School in Akron.
c 2002 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
Edited by - UNIVERSITY50 on 08/12/2002 21:30:46
Edited by - UNIVERSITY50 on 08/12/2002 21:41:58
Comments
Let me tell you, if you got a militia group that "rejects much of government authority, are interested in gun owners' rights and believe the government is out of control and that order, based on the Constitution, needs to be restored," screw you, because you've twisted the Second Amendment and the rest of the Bill of Rights into something ugly if you reject government authority and adopt violent means to any such ends. If you get pulled over in this country, you find out why you've been detained and you take your medicine in court. You don't whip out a CZ and go outlaw.
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
It's not what you know that gets you in trouble, it's what you know that just ain't so!
CANTON, Ohio (AP) -- A man who was shot to death after leading city and highway police on a chase and killing a police officer was not normally a violent person and was impassioned about his constitutional rights, people who knew him said.
Federal agents and police searched for weapons and explosives Saturday night in the apartment of the man authorities identified as the gunman, Donald Matthews, 61, of Jackson Township, a Canton suburb.
Massillon patrolman Eric Taylor was shot and killed Friday night, after he and other police joined the State Highway Patrol in a chase of the car Matthews was driving.
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms joined the search of Matthews' apartment at the request of the FBI, said ATF agent Frank A. D'Alesio, based in Youngstown.
"What we're here for is looking for firearms or anything that might be related to the officer's homicide," D'Alesio said. Massillon Municipal Judge Edward Elum approved the search warrant and Matthews' family cooperated, he said.
Matthews and Taylor -- killed by a bullet from Matthews' imported gun when his back was turned -- died in a shootout that followed a 12-mile chase when Matthews twice fled a trooper who stopped him for speeding, authorities said.
D'Alesio said Matthews' wife, Catherine Matthews, told authorities a pistol found inside was her weapon. It was not seized because she had it legally.
Shortly before 8:30 p.m. Saturday, detectives emerged from the apartment with at least three packed paper bags and a small computer tower and placed them in an unmarked car.
Patrol officials have said they are investigating whether Matthews had ties to militia groups, who oppose taxes and most federal government restrictions.
Matthews was the leader of a Christian constitutional study group and abhorred violence, a fellow member told the Akron Beacon Journal.
"Don't try to tie us into a militia group. We are not," said David Gatto, 71. "We tie the laws in with God's law to show how they relate."
The group opposes most traffic laws and believes that state troopers do not have legal authority to stop a vehicle or demand a driver's license, he said.
Two years ago, Matthews began running the group, called the National Constitutional Academy. He had been involved with the study group since the early 1990s, Gatto said.
"This man is a strong defender of the Constitution," Gatto said. "This man is a teacher of it -- he's very thorough. He knows it backward and forward, as well as the Bible."
Gatto said Matthews led study groups several times a week at a restaurant in Massillon and at a diner near Magnolia.
In the mid-1990s, Matthews worked for about 18 months in the hunting department at Kame's Sports Center in Lake Township.
"Don was an interesting character," said his supervisor, Steve Brockway. "He felt back then that government was interested in taking his rights away."