Dragnet intensifies in officer's killing (Philly cop)

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 5/6/08 | Barbara Boyer and Andrew Maykuth

[Antoninus]

As the reward for the third suspect in the weekend slaying of Philadelphia Police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski grew yesterday to more than $123,000, authorities intensified their wide-reaching dragnet for a man they called "armed and dangerous." Police pursued leads from Lancaster, Pa., to Newark, N.J., in search of 33-year-old Eric DeShann Floyd, who they say was the "muscle" in a trio that on Saturday robbed a Port Richmond bank and then killed the pursuing sergeant.

But investigators believed Floyd, a convicted armed robber who in February escaped from a Reading halfway house, most likely was still hiding in Philadelphia.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey complained that the three men who gunned down Liczbinski with a high-powered semiautomatic rifle were repeat offenders who should not have been free.

"All three of them are career criminals," Ramsey said. "These guys aren't going to be rehabilitated. They need to be locked up – period."

[Antoninus]

Here's a quote from later in the story that was telling:

Two of the bank robbers allegedly donned Muslim garb and the third hid behind a dreadlocks wig and a dust mask. Investigators found the garments in an alley blocks from where Cain died.

Floyd, Cain and Warner all professed belief in Islam while they were in prison, according to corrections officials.

Prayers for the family of Sgt. Liczbinski.

I haven't seen this story getting much play on FR, but it's big news in the Philly area. Predictibly, the local Dem-flaks and their allies in the media are using the story to push gun control. Of course, none of these convicted felons should have been allowed to possess a gun under CURRENT laws.

As usual, the gun laws are for the law-abiding average citizen, not for the career criminal.

[prolifefirst]

Question: Is it right for cops to go outside the law to deal with cop killers?

Does this behavior provide a necessary shield for cops?

[swain_forkbeard]

I hope no innocent bystanders get hit when the lead starts flying.

[Antoninus]

Question: Is it right for cops to go outside the law to deal with cop killers? Does this behavior provide a necessary shield for cops?

No, it doesn't. Anyone who commits Murder 1 should be locked up forever, in my opinion.

[frogjerk]

Question: Is it right for cops to go outside the law to deal with cop killers?

They don't need to. These men are armed and dangerous murders. They can be killed, if need be, within the context of the law.

[prolifefirst]

They don't need to. These men are armed and dangerous murders. They can be killed, if need be, within the context of the law.

I didn't communicate well. I meant as a general proposition is it necessary for cops to go beyond the law to deal with cop killers to provide a powerful disinsentive going forward.

[Domandred]

Third suspect hasn’t even been caught yet and Nutter was already blaming the NRA and politicizing the bank robbery for his gun banning agenda.

[YOUGOTIT]

Why are they not after the police killers William Ayers and his Lawyer wife Bernadine Dohrn?

[frogjerk]

Why are they not after the police killers William Ayers and his Lawyer wife Bernadine Dohrn?

FBI botch job?

[Antoninus]

Third suspect hasn’t even been caught yet and Nutter was already blaming the NRA and politicizing the bank robbery for his gun banning agenda.

It's a shame. I actually had some hope for Nutter. Now I see it's just more of the same. More restrictions on the innocent. Let the guilty walk until they take down a cop.

I guess it would be different if the "convicted felon" demographic wasn't so staunchly Democrat.

[CRBDeuce]

Mo betta we push ‘prison muslim control’ than ‘gun control’! Prison Muslim conversion = Anti-American recruiting....plain and simple. With friends like muslim prison clerics, who needs La Raza!

[School of Rational Thought]

Nutter and Ramsey are sickeing. People are dying and they seek rather to distract from the issues with strawmen gun control, than face up to them.

Philadelphia needs change from the old liberal nostrums.

[American Infidel]

"Third suspect hasn’t even been caught yet and Nutter was already blaming the NRA and politicizing the bank robbery for his gun banning agenda."

The 3rd suspect was finally caught (hiding in an abandoned house in West Philly). Of course, the mayor and the police chief (joined by Gov. Ed Rendell) continued on their "its the gun's fault" crusade. No mention of the fact that this thug had 16 prior arrests and 7 convictions yet he was still out on the streets. Instead of blaming the NRA, they should be blaming - the criminal, or course - and the inept philadelphia justice system for not handing out harsh sentences for repeat offenders, and keeping them behind bars.