On 15 January, someone loaned Police Chief Louis Ross a bullet resistant vest. After donning the vest, Chief Ross raided a home in Sentinel, Oklahoma. Homeowner Dallas Horton shot Ross three times in the chest, and once in the arm. The vest stopped three of the bullets. Horton wasn’t charged for the shooting. There are many details about this case that have not been widely reported . . .
1. Police Chief Ross is the police force in Sentinel. It is a one man force; he ‘s on call 24/7. So when someone called-in a bomb threat to SPD at 4am on the morning of the shooting, Chief Ross was called out of his home for the raid.
2. The police did not have a warrant.
3. The bomb threat did not originate from the house; the person who called the police simply said that he was Dallas Horton.
It was, essentially, a crude “swatting” that the police should have figured out.
No bombs, explosives, or bomb making materials were found, even though UPI wrote that a device was allegedly found. From upi.com:
Law enforcement officials allegedly found an explosive device at Horton’s home. Horton and his wife were arrested.
I have not found any other source that corroborated this allegation. The fact that no “bomb making materials” were found probably has more to do with the peace officers integrity than anything else.
I have seen everything from fireworks and lengths of galvanized and PVC pipe, and reloading supplies, characterized as “bomb making materials”. It is hard to find a household in rural America that does *not* have “bomb making materials* if the police are inclined to find them.
Neither Dallas nor his wife Esther Marie Horton were arrested.
The real story is that this was a swatting. There are three victims of this swatting incident. Dallas Horton and his wife Esther Marie have had their lives turned upside down, came close to being killed, and have been defamed around the world. Chief Ross was wounded in the arm. He came close to being killed as well.
Perhaps the bomb hoaxer/swatter will be found and prosecuted. Dallas and Esther Marie Horton will not be. Knowing a bit about small town politics, I do not see Chief Ross losing his job either.
This is another case in a series where homeowners have shot police and have been found to have been justified in doing so. The last one was in Texas, where a Grand Jury “no billed” Henry McGee, who killed a deputy in Burleson County.
A resident of Sentinel summed it up well. From ksmb.com:
“This is country, this ain’t Oklahoma City,” Jimmy Rhoades told KFOR. “You’re taught from a young age that if somebody comes into your house to shoot.”
©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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