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Cop's 3-year-old son shot at home with handgun

Our thoughts and prayers go out to this officer and his family.

10-7B

I'm taking a small hiatus from a few things as I try and regroup. My Grandpa suffering from Alzheimer's/Dementia recently came to live with us at my parent's house. Over the past two weeks he just continued to deteriorate at a rapid pace until he eventually passed away early Friday morning. His funeral service is next Friday and we'll be busy accomodating family that'll be flying in during the week.

As for me, I'm doing okay. I'm extremely exhausted though and everyone has been very supportive.

A dog has one aim in life. To bestow his heart. - J.R. Ackerley (part 2)

(photo by Lisa Pembleton / Getty Images)

Article by: Scogg Stump, TODAY.com contributor; updated 8/25/11 9:54:58 AM ET

Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson lay in a coffin, draped in an American flag, in front of a tearful audience mourning his death in Afghanistan. Soon an old friend appeared, and like a fellow soldier on a battlefield, his loyal dog refused to leave him behind.

This picture reminds me of the ending scene to Where The Red Fern Grows, in the movie...coinicidentily its the only part of the movie I did see.

"The U.S. led coalition said in a statement that 30 American service members, a civilian interpreter and seven Afghan commandos were killed when their CH-47 Chinook crashed in the early hours Saturday. A current U.S. official and a former U.S. official said the Americans included 22 Navy SEALS, three Air Force air controllers and a dog handler and his dog."

A dog has one aim in life. To bestow his heart. - J.R. Ackerley

He is your friend , your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be ours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion. - Unknown

Another great tragedy has befallen the law enforcement community. Ike, 2-year veteran K9 for the Palm Springs Police Department in California has died in the line of duty doing what he does best - chasing down criminals.

It all started slightly after 1am Sunday when two officers recognized and attempted to make contact with a wanted parolee. The man fled when the officers tried to stop him. One of the officers, a K9 handler released Ike for the chase through a residential area.

What probably should have been an easy take down erupted into chaos when the parolee began to fire his gun, hitting Ike's handler, a 5-year veteran in the right side of his body striking his vest. Ike sustained fatal injuries during the exchange and died at the scene. He is the first K9 to die in the line of duty in the history of the Palm Springs police K9 program. The suspect also died from sustained gunshot wounds.

Both officers were treated for their injuries and released on paid administrative leave while an investigation is conducted.
 
Further information regarding donations can be found at this site: Donations Accepted For Fallen Palm Springs Police Dog
 
I personally wanted to include Ike in the roll call post for the end of month as I feel he should be recognized and remembered alongside his human brothers and sisters in blue. Thus far, I haven't seen anything posted on the ODMP page. So I have place his name along with department, end of watch, cause of death and news article of what took place. My thoughts and prayers go out to his department, his handler and his handler's family. They have all suffered a great loss.

(photo courtesy of Palm Springs Police Dog "Ike" Remembered as a "Hero")

Hero of the week

I was just browsing the news while at work and I happened upon this story: Firefighter To Run In Uniform In Boston Marathon. At first, I'm thinking this guy has lost his mind. If you are familiar with the run, the distance is 26 miles long. If that isn't long enough, firefighter James Gefke is adding 30lbs of additional weight because of his gear. So far though, he's been trudging along strong as this will be his 4th marathon with the gear attire.

The scary part is that he states that "It doesn't allow my body to breathe really well, so I end up sweating quite a bit more than I probably normally otherwise would."

But the reason he's running is much more important. "I'm doing it in memory of a very close friend...John Harrington...He was riding into work that day and was actually my relief. Unfortunately, he was involved in an accident and passed away that day."

Harrington, 25, died after a truck hit his bicycle...Every year, a bike ride in his memory raises money for charity. And as the 7th anniversary of death approaches, Gefke will also be raising money for the Wisconsin Burn Survivor's Network.

Run strong and proud James Gefke. Good luck on Monday!

News Release: Child Death Investigation

So I had been keeping this to myself for quite a few months and the truth is I figured we would have heard more about this by now. However I guess not everything can move as fast we would like. My mom had received a phone call from my Uncle (her brother), who has been keeping in touch with my brother, that in they had gotten news of my brother's child's death. My parents received a letter from him some days earlier explaining that a priest had come forth with the news, but no really news about what was going on. The police department put forth a news release, again with no information - not until after the autopsy so they can rule out foul play and such.

I've been keeping track in the shadows of his child's mother's facebook and myspace (since both are public profiles), mainly to see if she had released anything. There is nothing. Not one mentioning, even the slightest hint that something had happened. You'd think if her child had died, someone would say something. But nope. She actually posted pictures to her myspace site, but no captioning about anything. So I'm hesitant to believe that it was her child that actually died but if it is an ongoing investigation then I suppose she may have been instructed not to say anything on the matter. We'll just have to wait on that autopsy report, which seems like forever and a day.

I'll be keeping a close eye on her page since one of her friends, who I guess hasn't seen her in a while, asked how the baby is doing. I'm hoping she answers to the matter.

3.14.2011 EDIT: Yes the baby was hers. I just saw she had replied to her friend's comment. Via her facebook statuses...she seems to be taking it well. But that's just what I can observe through the internet.