Arrest Made In Murder Of 2 Georgia Cops

(CBS/AP)  Police say they have arrested a 32-year-old man and charged him with murder in the deaths of two off-duty DeKalb County officers early Wednesday.

CBS News affiliate WGCL-TV reports that Herbie Deshawn Durham was charged Wednesday night with two counts of murder.

"The walls are beginning to fall down around the ones who committed this crime," said DeKalb Police Chief Terrell Bolton at a news conference Wednesday night.

At least one more person wanted by police is still on the run.

Police had combed the area in search of two gunmen Wednesday after two off-duty DeKalb County officers were killed in a possible ambush at an apartment complex in what residents described as a high-crime neighborhood.

The two officers, working as security guards at the complex, were investigating a suspicious person at the complex when shots were fired early Wednesday, DeKalb County Police Chief Terrell Bolton said.

Authorities had been searching for two males seen running from the scene. Police used dogs and a helicopter to search for the suspects, and schools were locked down during the investigation in the area about 6 miles east of downtown Atlanta.

He told reporters the dead officers were wearing their police uniforms.

Bolton said the shooting looked like "an ambush."

"They never had a chance," Bolton said, reports WGCL-TV. "What a horrible, horrible way to die."

At an afternoon news conference, Bolton called the shootings a "must-solve crime" and urged witnesses to come forward.

Bolton did not say whether the officers had a chance to return fire before they were killed and he did not say what led to the shooting.

Meanwhile, a reward offered for information about the slayings of two off-duty DeKalb police officers has increased to $60,000, police announced Wednesday night.

"These police officers were heroes, they were committed and dedicated to law enforcement," Jones said. "We will not rest until those folks responsible for this are apprehended and justice is served."

Patreka Anderson, a resident of the complex, said she was awakened by the gunshots but did not think anything of it because the neighborhood around the Glenwood Gardens apartment complex is a high-crime area with a lot of drug activity and prostitution.

"We always hear shooting," she said. "I didn't think that was any big deal."

Teofil Taut, who said he has owned the 176-unit complex for about two years and lives in one of the buildings, said he hired police as part-time security officers in December to keep homeless people from breaking into the apartments.

Another resident, nurse's assistant LaShawn Corbin, said she is considering moving, even if it means paying more for an apartment.

"We don't expect the people who try to protect us to be hurt so seriously," she said. Corbin said she would fear leaving her children there "because the person who did it has no conscience for human life."

The slain officers were identified as Ricky Bryant, Jr., 26, and Eric Barker, 33. Bryant was a two-year veteran of the department, and Barker had worked there for four years. Both were married and had four children each

"It's a challenging day for us," Bolton said. "However, today's act of senseless violence is a display of what we're seeing around the country where people will shoot down a police officer without regard to any repercussions."


© MVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report

[keithle1]

We can''t change now. The USA is stuck with all of these guns. 9 guns for every 10 people. They''re not going to disappear. They''re everywhere. Too late to do anything about it. Criminals can get them with no problem at all. Guns travel from state to state like an 18-wheeler full of Elmo dolls. It''s part of American culture. No country is like us when it comes to guns.

I''m not worried about the people that keep a gun in their bedroom to deal with intruders. I have thought about buying a gun not because I''m worried about burglars/murderers but because I thought it might be fun to shoot targets at an indoor range. Hand to eye coordination. I wouldn''t mind registering it with the police, buying a license & doing what I have to do to be 100% legal & above board.

If you''re a young black man involved in the drug trade, you should worry. If you have a brain in your head. Your chances of being shot & killed before you''re 30 are very high.

[downsteamjim]

In this discussion we need to remeber that if a gun is used to protect ones person or family, it is not news. Only when trash uses a gun is it news.

[Krazcarl]

Yes the war on drugs has failed and yes the tax revenue from pot would be imeance plus folks may have a little more faith in the goverment. The possibility of expanding the methodone clinics role in harder drugs is a possibility knew a former herion addict told me it was worse getting off methadone than herion much harder so these facilities could be used but with perhaps a different drug or drug combination. BUT the evangelical right will never let it happen it makes them feel better to pick up the pieces and attempt to inflict thier beliefs on others. I see no change in my lifetome. Another example of how this country isn''t really free just if you want a gun or watch porn.

[kindrox]

* Heavy narcotics should stay illegal just to save people from themselves. *

I see, we need heavy drug law enforcement to ensure large profits for gangs, and keep the associated murders and violence controlling drug profits brings.

All in the name of saving people from themselves.

I have to wonder what the USA violent crime/murder rate would do if there was zero profits for gangs in drugs, and the significant resources we spend enforcing drug laws and prosecuting/jailing offenders went into prosecuting and inforcing all the other laws.

It would probabably fall significantly below the UK.

[usbrit-2009]

Gunownerdan - Have to comment on this one as well. Stopping the war on drugs would be the 2nd best thing this country could (stopping the futility in Iraq being #1). 1) Criminals would have a lot less to fight over so crime would have to go down. 2) (Just to show the liberal in me) the gov''t could tax drugs at the same rate it does alcohol and tobacco, and probably get us out of debt and give the rest of us tax cuts by the end of the decade. I''m all in favor in legalizing marijuana - not so sure about cocaine. Heavy narcotics should stay illegal just to save people from themselves. (Eg if alcohol were a new commodity, beer and wine would be OK, spirits would not). Hey I''m sort of agreeing with gunownerdan again - must be time to sign off. Bye y''all.

[kindrox]

First, I see you only look at gun murder. So murder by other means must be ok with you. And all you appear to care about is murder, so I guess rape/robbery/assult is all good with you too.

And then your argument boils down to the totals are different, therefore guns should be banned. No point in looking at the MANY social differances between the USA and UK I suppose, that would probably be a complete waste of time.

And of course lets ignore that more than 70% of gun violence is criminals killing criminals. I need to give my gun up so the Bloods don"t shoot at the Krips. Good one!

And lets ignore the massive differance in drug laws and drug enforcement which gives significant profits to the US criminals willing to be the most violent. Nope, move along, nothing to see here!

No, like a fool all you can do is tell me to move to some crime free utopia and leave my gun behind.

[usbrit-2009]

OK - one more because kindrox is such a *** he can''t even read. Yes gun deaths are on the up in the UK. In 2005 there were 48 in 2006 there were 56. In a population of ~ 60,000,000 that''s 1 in 1,000,000. In the good ole USA gun deaths are steady at around 22 - 25,000 (36,000 if you include suicides which I would but you won''t, so forget about that). In a country of 300,000,000 this makes 1 in 12500. That''s is 80 times the rate. I mean forget that 36,000 is about 2/3 the number of deaths in the entire VietNam war killed every year by guns. This seems totally acceptable over here. It''s 80 times the rate of the UK, and I can assure you that that number is high compared to the rest of Europe and totally unacceptable in the UK. So before you denigrate any other country - repair thy own gun nuts.

[kindrox]

In the USA legal gun ownership increases by about 4.5 million guns per year.

http://www.atf.gov/firearms/stats/index.htm

And yet as I showed, the violent crime rate is falling dramatically over time. You say this is impossible, so please explain.

[gunownerdan]

COPS SAY LEGALIZE DRUGS!

After nearly four decades of fueling the U.S. policy of a war on drugs with over a trillion tax dollars and 37 million arrests for nonviolent drug offenses, our confined population has quadrupled making building prisons the fastest growing industry in the United States. More than 2.2 million of our citizens are currently incarcerated and every year we arrest an additional 1.9 million more guaranteeing those prisons will be bursting at their seams. Every year we choose to continue this war will cost U.S. taxpayers another 69 billion dollars. Despite all the lives we have destroyed and all the money so ill spent, today illicit drugs are cheaper, more potent, and far easier to get than they were 35 years ago at the beginning of the war on drugs. Meanwhile, people continue dying in our streets while drug barons and terrorists continue to grow richer than ever before. We would suggest that this scenario must be the very definition of a failed public policy. This madness must cease!

www.LEAP.cc

[gunownerdan]

Fight crime and violence:
END THE HARMFUL "WAR ON DRUGS"!!!

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
www.LEAP.cc