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Regional Organized Crime Information Center Special Research Report • Police Ambush By ROCIC Publications Manager Mark Zimmerman, ROCIC © 2014 here are times when law enforcement officers feel as if there’s a target on their backs. It’s open season Ton cops. Police work is dangerous enough; then there is the real possibility of a preplanned surprise attack by the criminal element from concealment, i.e., an ambush. There were five ambush deaths in the first half of 2014; five in all of 2013; and 15 ambush deaths in 2012, according to the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Fund (NLEOMF). The number of law enforcement professionals killed nationwide jumped 31 percent during the first half of 2014, compared to the same time in 2013. Twenty-five officers were killed by gunfire — a 56 percent increase over last year’s figures — including five in ambush attacks. According to the FBI, 49,851 officers were assaulted while performing their duties in 2013, one-third of which were disturbance calls. Thirty percent sustained injuries. Between 1990 and 2000, police murders that were attributable to ambush assaults was about 12 percent of the total; from 2001 to 2012, that figure was 21 percent. Disturbing statistics, to say the least. This report will detail several case studies in which Police Ambush • Special Research Report police were ambushed, in hopes of discerning the methods by which these assailants operate Case Study 1 so that preventative measures can be taken. Ambush in Bardstown, Ky .............................................3 Such measures are elaborated in the last Case Study 2 section of this report. Pennsylvania Trooper Shootings .................................7 The FBI defines ambush killings into Case Study 3 two types. One is by entrapment and Sovereign Citizen Traffic Stop ....................................11 premeditation, which is a scenario where the Case Study 4 officer was lured into danger as the result of NYPD Officers Assassinated ........................................13 conscious consideration and planning. These attacks are generally accomplished from Case Study 5 First Responders Targeted .........................................14 cover or hiding; however, they can occur without cover or hiding. Other Case Studies ........................................................15 There are also ambushes of unprovoked Preventing, Avoiding, Surviving Ambushes .............23 attacks, which are generally accomplished ROCIC Resources ............................................................28 Sources of Information .................................................29 without hiding; however, they can occur with or without cover, the FBI said. DISSEMINATION RESTRICTED TO LAW ENFORCEMENT 1 Regional Organized Crime Information Center Special Research Report • Police Ambush • Entrapment ambushes are premeditated. This Source: Ambush Factsheet (IACP) sort of attack is what many police consider to be the “traditional” ambush, where the offender lures an unsuspecting officer into a location to execute an attack. • Spontaneous ambushes are unprovoked attacks without long-term planning. These types of attacks are often considered “crimes of opportunity.” The assailant makes the decision at the time of the officer’s approach and surprises the officer. Generally, four factors define an ambush assault: including personal interactions and previous arrests. 1. Element of surprise The vast majority (83%) of assailants acted alone. 2. Concealment of the assailant, their intentions, or Nine percent of the time, there are two assailants. In weapon eight percent of ambush incidents, there are three or 3. Suddenness of the attack more assailants. 4. A lack of provocation Overall, firearms have been the weapon most The International Association of Chiefs of Police commonly used by assailants in ambush attacks. (IACP) has studied police ambushes and released However, a significant proportion of assailants the following findings: use only their hands as weapons. Knives and other Officers ambushed are most likely to be patrol sharp objects are the least frequently used weapon. officers (38%), deputy sheriffs (17%), or sergeants Interestingly, a substantial proportion of ambush (15%). The vast majority (82%) of officers are assaults are carried out using “other” deadly alone at the time of the ambush. More than half weapons, which include anything from a blunt (55%) were assigned to one-officer patrol vehicles object to a motor vehicle. Over time, the proportion at the time of the assault. About 12 percent were of ambushes in which hands were the assailant’s on foot patrol, and 10 percent were in two-officer weapon has increased, whereas the proportion of vehicles. The rest were detectives, undercover, on firearms as weapons has generally decreased. In special assignment, or off-duty. 2012, hands and firearms were used almost equally The assailants in ambush incidents are 30 years to carry out ambush assaults. old, on average. Three-quarters of the assailants Clearance rates for both assaults and ambushes have a criminal record. A sizable minority (40%) have increased over time; however, ambush have a violent criminal record. More than a quarter clearance rates remain considerably lower than are under judicial supervision at the time of the assault clearance rates. In 1990, ambushes were assault. Close to one in four have some sort of cleared in just 49 percent of cases; this increased to prior relationship with the officer in the incident, 83 percent by 2011. DISSEMINATION RESTRICTED TO LAW ENFORCEMENT 2 Regional Organized Crime Information Center Special Research Report • Police Ambush Ambush in Bardstown, Kentucky [Compiled from various news and police accounts] t is the worst kind of unsolved mystery. An agonizing year-and-a-half after Bardstown, Ky. Police Officer Jason Ellis was gunned down in cold blood on a highway exit ramp in the middle of the night, Ihis killer is still at large. “We have a cop killer who’s gotten away with it,” said Bardstown Chief of Police Rick McCubbin. Officer Ellis, 33, left behind a widow, Amy, and two young sons, Hunter and Parker. “We’re just trying to put our shattered lives back together,” said Amy Ellis. “I lost the love of my life; the boys lost their daddy. We’re trying to stay positive, trying to heal, as best we can.” In 1998 as a police officer in Jefferson County, Ky., McCubbin was forced to shoot and kill an assailant in the line of duty. “I always said that was the darkest moment in my 26 years in law enforcement. But it doesn’t even compare to this, this planned assassination. I lost an officer on my watch.” Deliberate assassination Early on the morning of Sat., May 25, 2013, Officer Jason Ellis clocked off his shift at the Bardstown Police Department (a force of 27 officers in a town of 12,000 inhabitants) and headed home. He and his family resided in Bloomfield, about 15 miles east off the Bluegrass Parkway. It was 2:00 am. Nearing home, Officer Ellis took the Exit 34 ramp off the parkway leading to Hwy. 55 North. In the middle of the ramp, which is bordered by steep rock ledges on each side, was a large tree branch blocking the roadway. Officer Ellis got out of his Ford Crown Vic cruiser and began removing the debris. Out of the darkness came several blasts from a 12-gauge shotgun, knocking the officer to the pavement before he could reach for his .40-caliber Glock service pistol. His body armor did not save him. Officer Ellis expired on the scene. A half hour later, a vehicle pulled up to the police cruiser, its blue lights still flashing. Then a pickup truck approached on the ramp, a man just getting off work at a local whiskey distillery. He stopped, approached the patrol car on foot and then found Officer Ellis in Bardstown Police Officer Jason Ellis front of the vehicle. Meanwhile, a frenzied passenger from the first stopped vehicle climbed in the cruiser and tried to radio for help — “Officer down, officer down!”— but gave the dispatcher a wrong address. Finally, the distillery worker grabbed the portable radio on the patrolman’s belt and called in the correct location. He told the dispatcher that the officer’s body temperature was cold. The route of the funeral procession stretched 17 miles, from the church to the cemetery, dotted every 20 feet with an American DISSEMINATION RESTRICTED TO LAW ENFORCEMENT 3 Regional Organized Crime Information Center Special Research Report • Police Ambush The Crime Scene Bloomfield Exit 34 Bardstown Sat., May 25, 2013 at 0200 hours flag, 2,973 in total. Thousands lined the route. games for the Patriots, snagging the school’s all- Police cars from throughout the U.S. lined up for time record for hits with 246, the all-time career the drive, so many that by the time the first car leader in doubles with 60, all-time career leader in reached the cemetery, the hearse still sat parked 17 home runs with 34 and all-time runs batted in with miles back at the church. 183. On Valentine’s Day 2001, he spotted a pretty Ellis was a seven-year veteran of the department redhead from Bardstown at a friend’s party. He and its main police dog handler. In a touching got her number from a friend and started calling. moment, the officer’s German Shepherd dog, Figo, He and Amy were married three years later and put his paw on his master’s casket. Now the dog started a family. Jason signed with the Cincinnati resides with Officer Ellis’ family. (Figo was not Reds’ minor league team in Montana, playing with Officer Ellis the night of his death.) three years. Their first child was born with Down’s syndrome, and Ellis decided to forfeit his major An exceptional citizen league dreams and go home. He promised her Jason Ellis grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, a baseball he’d never regret it, she said. Hunter Ellis is now star at Glen Este High School (he was a first team 8, and his brother, Parker, is 7, a tiny replica of all-city in 1998 and player of the year in the Queen his dad.

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