More on the Utah SWAT Shooting

Just found this interesting.

Police continued Friday to seek answers as to why Stewart opened fire when a total of 12 officers arrived to serve a “knock-and-announce” search warrant on a red brick home at 3268 Jackson Ave. Police say no one answered, but the officers came under heavy fire when they entered the home. Police have not released details about the firearms Stewart had, but the suspect reportedly was armed with multiple guns.

According to this it was a standard warrant, not a no-knock. Also this was a bit fishy:

Stewart, 37, the oldest of five children, served as an Army multichannel transmission systems operator in North Carolina and Germany for four years. He was awarded the Army Achievement Medal and a National Defense Service Medal before leaving the military in 1998, an Army spokesman said. He worked as a security guard for the IRS before getting a warehouse job on the graveyard shift at Walmart in Riverdale three years ago. A check of Utah court records shows only a traffic ticket for driving without insurance.

However, his father, Michael Stewart, said his son, who has “issues,” may have been growing marijuana to “self-medicate.” The father said they are estranged, but maintained that Matthew Stewart was not a drug dealer and may have been surprised by police.

According to this he was not a combat vet, and served honerably, also had no criminal background. Also no claims he was dealing drugs, or using anything worse than Marijuana. As for “self medicating” I’ve heard of people using weed for everything from Anxiety to sleep troubles. I do know that a dozen men with automatic weapons in ninja-garb would make me a might bit anxious.

Could it have been he just didn’t want to open the door, or was taking a nap? There is nothing about this that smells right.

Also, no disrespect for the fallen officer, but this story is disgusting.

Ogden officer Jared Francom died early Thursday at a hospital, hours after he and a team of bulletproof vest-wearing officers rapped on the door of a small, red-brick Ogden house to serve a search warrant in a drug investigation.

When no one responded, the officers burst inside only to meet a hail of gunfire, authorities say.

“Jared died doing what he loved,” brother Travis Francom said. “He worried at times, for his safety. I don’t think so much for himself, but for his family, his two little girls and his wife … but I don’t think he was ever afraid.”

So you’re saying he loved kicking down the doors of stoners? This is either a sad story of the Police State, or a Newspaper trumping up a bad story to glorify a man who died doing something VERY stupid, and very bad.

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0 Responses to More on the Utah SWAT Shooting

  1. bluesun says:

    I don’t see how a guy could have killed one cop and wounded 5 others or whatever it was and still get off with only “minor injuries.” I don’t like this whole story one bit.

  2. PISSED says:

    Hi Weer’d,

    I will never understand this SWAT team kicking in door stuff. Especially when you look at the house with google STREETVIEW.. put in the address 3268 Jackson Ave ogden utah
    its a little single story home on a quiet street. How much pot could he have been growing? They go through all this trouble for what? Death and destruction. I can’t believe they go thru this when I’m sure there are much bigger drug operations other than this guy.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      Wow, nice find. Yeah this doesn’t smell right. Plus there aren’t any claims he was a dealer, or that he was growing plants, but even if he was how much pot can he smoke?

      I’d be willing to overlook my libertarian feelings on this if he was the Pot Barron of Utah and was smuggling happy-weed around the state in Barges on the Great Salt Lake under cover of darkness. But from all I can tell is he was a regular citizen who honoerably served his country who’s only failing was possibly having some “Personal issues” (That’s a REALLY loaded term….and given that he served with honors, he wasn’t psychotic or mentally disabled in any way) and allegedly enjoying a little weed.

  3. Rooney says:

    Last night ABC news reported that Utah LEO’s were saying that that officers were in fear of their lives due to being “outgunned”. The police chief in Philedelphia was also shown affirming the same thing. Personally, given the the weapons provided to the police by the feds, I’m a little dubious about that claim.

    AWB 2012 anyone?

    • Weerd Beard says:

      It’ll a hard fight for a new AWB, as they won’t have a multitude of Fudds to draw from, nor a complete media monopoly to spread a dishonest message.

      Also given that the majority of rifles sold these days are of the EBR variety, and the most popular handguns eat from boxes that hold 15 or more.

      I’d put more stock in people getting sick of sending out the Goon Squad to murder Sammy the Stoner.

      Of course most likely is simply status quoe, as people are lazy and complacent by nature.

  4. Bubblehead Les says:

    In the story I read, the Father claims the Son suffers from PTSD. Now, being ex-Military, I find it hard to see how a Guy who served in the Army as a Commo Tech in Germany in the mid 90’s under Clinton had any chance of seeing what very little Combat the U.S. Military was engaged in during that period. So where did the PTSD come from?

    On the Flip side, I thought the Drug Task Force did the Raid, and the Swat Team only showed up later. So, this smells a lot like “Friendly Fire” to me.

  5. Are they coming for me next? Old NFO? Brigid? They seem to be targeting Vets with guns.

  6. And just because they wear the right uniform doesn’t mean they’re on the right side. If invaded and fired on, I’m shooting back, I don’t care who does it. Major Nidal Hasan is still fresh in my mind.

  7. Sailorcurt says:

    From what I’ve seen, SOP is to knock and have everyone shout at the same time so there’s no chance that anyone inside hears anything other than a ruckus.

    Wait about 10 seconds.

    If there’s any movement inside the house, assume that you’ve lost the element of surprise and the subjects are destroying evidence…kick the door down go in like gangbusters.

    If there’s no response after the 10 second wait, assume that the subjects are preparing for you and intend to resist…kick the door down and go in like gangbusters.

    Once they’ve decided to raid your house like they’re storming Omaha beach, there is no scenario wherein you do not end up with your door broken down, your home invaded and your pets killed.

    This raid sounds eerily similar to one here in the Tidewater area a few years ago wherein a Chesapeake cop was shot and killed. Google Ryan Frederick. Same kind of scenario…suspected “grow operation” wake the suspect up from a dead sleep by beating on the door forcefully and then kicking it down 13 seconds later, and then act all surprised when the guy defends his home.

    In that one only one cop was shot (and killed) and the suspect suffered no injuries.

    Seems to me that, when the homeowner actually does decide to fight back, the cops don’t have a very good record of success. Perhaps they should rethink their tactics a bit since they seem to have a pretty vibrant track record of getting themselves killed using the current tactics.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      Furthermore they seem to do these armed force raids when they suspect they WON’T encounter any armed resistance.

      Thugsley the crack dealer who’s also wanted on a murder rap gets free tickets to local sports team, or a coupon for a free TV from Best Buy…only to find that it was just a ploy to get him out the front door so the PoPo could arrest him without violence.

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