April 17, 2002
Page A2
Burglar
Suspect
Killed
(AP) - Police shot and killed a
suspected burglar Sunday after­
noon. The 29-year-old man, was
shot after he appeared on the front
porch o f a southeast Portland home
waving a gun, said Officer Henry
Groepper.
Officers were called to the house
afierthe owner returned In>ina walk
with his two young children and
saw blood in the garage, Groepper
said.
The hom eow ner thought he
heard two men’s voices coming
from inside the house, Groepper
said. When the owner called out,
one of the men said: “Don’tcome in
or I’ll shoot.”
When officers later saw the sus­
pect on the porch, they repeatedly
told him to drop the gun, Groepper
said. When the man refused and
pointed a gun at police, one officer
fired several shots.
Concerned about another bur­
glar, police left the body on the
porch for several hours. Officers
eventually fired teargas to try tolure
the possible second suspect from
the house, but no one appeared.
Ecstasy Dealer Sent to
Prison for Rave Death
Jeremy Tomsha found criminally
responsible for drug’s deadly result
(A P) - A M ultnom ah C ounty
ju d g e sentenced a P ortland m an
to four years in prison for selling
drugs to a w om an w ho died fol­
low ing a rave party.
J e r e m y M ic h a e l T o m s h a
pleaded guilty tocrim inally negli­
gent hom icide last W ednesday
and accepted the sentence in the
death o f 19-year-old M elissa Joy
Flaherty.
Flaherty died M arch 3, 2001,
the m orning after taking a drug
called M D A, a m etham phetam ine
derivative that is sim ilar to E c­
stasy, the w idely p opular club
drug.
T om sha, 21, w as charged last
fall w ith seco n d -d eg ree m a n ­
slaughter for selling Flaherty the
drugs that killed her.
H is conviction m akes him the
first person in M ultnom ah County,
and possibly all o f O regon, to be
held crim inally responsible for
selling the drugs that caused a n ­
other person to die.
P ro secu to rs had o b tain ed a
photograph o f T om sha taken by
Flaherty and her friends right after
h e ’d sold them the drugs. The
w om en told police th ey ’d snapped
the photo in case som ething w ent
w rong or the drugs w ere bad.
U ndercover officers eventually
set up five drug deals and bought
100 E cstasy pills from T om sha.
O n M ay 11, they w ere set to buy
another2 0 0 pills but instead raided
T o m sh a’s apartm ent and arrested
him.
By pleading g uilty, T om sha
avoided a trial and a possible 75-
m onth m axim um sentence for sec­
o n d -d e g re e m an slau g h ter. Six
counts o f m anufacturing and d e ­
livering a controlled substance
w ere dropped as part o f the deal.
Flaherty was among about 2,000
people w ho attended the rave in a
rented w arehouse in the so u th ­
east P ortland w aterfront district.
She w as w ith tw o friends w ho
bought four gold tablets that they
thought w ere Ecstasy. She took
one at about 11: 30 p.m . and an ­
other h alf at about 1 a.m ., the
w om en said.
An hour later, she w as found
slum ped outside near a portable
toilet. Security guards took h er to
a m edical tent, w here volunteers
m onitored her. T hey called 911 at
about 6 a.m. when Flaherty ’ s oxy­
gen levels dropped and her com ­
plexion changed. She died at a
local hospital ju st after 8 a.m.
Flaherty, who m oved from H a­
waii to P ortland in 1998, w as a
nu rsin g stu d en t at C lack am as
C om m unity C ollege. She left b e ­
hind a 2 -year-old daughter.
M ultnom ah C ircuit Judge Julie
F rantz called F lah erty ’s death an
avoidable tragedy and adm on­
ished T om sha for his behavior.
“ It cau se d a se n se le ss and
m eaningless death o f a hum an
being as well as yo u r being sent to
p riso n ,” she said.
L.A. Police Cleared
in Actor’s Death
Portland Police Chief Mark Kroeker
Kroeker Considers
L.A. Chief Job
(A P) - P ortland Police C h ief
M ark K roeker says he m ight ap ­
ply fo r the Los A ngles police
ch ief job.
K roeker says h e ’s happy in
Portland, w ith a position h e ’s
com fortable in. But he adds that
(quote) “I will look it over. 1 am
considering it.”
K roeker, w ho is 58, is in his
third year as P o rtlan d 's top cop.
He unsuccessfully sought the
L os A ngeles police ch ief’s jo b
tw ice during his 32-year career
w ith the departm ent. He retired
in 1997, then spent a year in
S arajevo w orking to build a p o ­
lice force in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
He and his w ife, D iane, still
ow n a hom e in Los A ngeles that
they rent out.
T he L os A ngeles jo b opened
A pril 9 w hen the Los A ngeles
Police C om m ission rejected cur­
rent LA Police C hief B ernard
P arks’ bid for a second term.
Woman Attacked Near
Clackamas Town Center
sto c k y b u ild . T h e
P o lice are lo o k in g
w o m an sa y s he
fo r a su sp e c t a fte r a
w as w e a rin g a
w o m an re p o rte d b e ­
w h ite je r s e y s h irt
in g a tt a c k e d n e a r
w ith a n u m b e r on
C la c k a m a s T o w n
th e b a c k - p o s s i­
C en ter.
b ly 56.
T he v ictim to ld
D e te c tiv e s b e ­
C la c k a m a s C o u n ty
liev e the m an m ay
deputies that she was
be the sam e su s ­
w alking around 3:30
p ect w ho sex u ally
p.m. A pril 2 on S o u th ­ An a rtist's sketch
a s s a u lte d
a
east I4 7 ,hju s tn o r th o f o f the attacker.
5 2 -y e a r-o ld
S u n n y sid e R oad. A
C lack am as w om an in h e r hom e
man passed her and then grabbed
last N o v em b er.
h er from behind.
T h e first v ictim d id n o t g et a
T he u n arm ed su sp e c t p u lle d
g o o d lo o k at the a tta c k e r, but
h er to w ard the b u sh es, bu t she
th e s u s p e c t ’ s m a n n e r is m s
y e lle d fo r h e lp . T w o p e o p le
m atch.
h e ard h er cries and the su sp e c t
A $ 1 ,0 0 0 rew ard is o ffe re d .
ran aw ay .
A n y o n e w ith in fo rm a tio n is
T h e s u s p e c t is d e s c r ib e d as
a sk ed to c all 5 0 3 -8 2 3 -H E L P o r
a C a u c a s ia n m a le b e tw e e n 15
the C lack am as C ounty S h e riff’s
an d 19 y e a rs o ld , n o m o re th a n
O ffice at 503-655-8218.
5 fe e t, 7 in c h e s ta ll w ith a
(A P) — T he L os A ngeles d is­
trict attorney, follow ing an 18-
m onth investigation, concluded
that a policem an w as ju stified
w hen he shot and killed a black
actor at a H allow een party after
the actor pulled a realistic looking
m ovie prop gun and aim ed it at the
officer.
T he report also said A nthony
D wain Lee, a rising star in Seattle’s
theater scene before he m oved to
Los A ngeles, had alcohol and
cocaine in his system and w as
clutching fragm ents o f apill found
to be the drug know n as E cstasy
w hen he w as killed in O ctober
2000.
T he conclusion w as essentially
the sam e one reached by police
C h ief B ernard P arks shortly after
the shooting.
Parks said O fficerT arriel H op­
per w as ju stified in believing the
w eapon brandished by the 39-
year-old actor w as real.
Seeking to explain why Lee was
killed by shots to his back, the
report said that five o f the shots
m issed him and he w as turning to
his left and "ducking dow n” w hen
the other four shots found their
target.
“W hen M r. Lee turned, drew
the replica gun from his w aist­
band, pointed it at and advanced
on the glass doors, O fficer H op­
per w as faced with a situation that
posed, on its face, a grave danger
to his safety and the safety o f his
partner and the civilians nearby.”
W h ile liv in g in S e a ttle from
1988 to 1994, Lee w on praise for
sev eral stag e p e rfo rm a n c e s , in ­
c lu d in g ro le s in S h a k e s p e a re ’s
“O th ello ,” L orraine H a n sb erry ’s
“R aisin in the S u n ” an d “T h e
K e n tu c k y C y c le ," a P u litz e r
P riz e -w in n in g d ra m a stag ed by
ln tim a n T h eater.
He had a sm all role in the film
“L iar L iar" and appeared in epi­
so d es o f su c h T V sh o w s as
“N Y PD B lue” and "E .R .”
His friends described him as a
devout B uddhist and a p eace­
m aker w ho taught theater arts to
inner-city youth.
Man Wanted for
Church Carjacking
Tigard Police and the
Washington County Inter­
agency Gang Enforcement
Team, in cooperation with
Crime Stoppers, are asking
for your help in locating and
apprehending 20-year-old
Luis Manuel Fuerte-Coria,
street-name “Gremlin.”
F u erte-C o ria and tw o
other men are charged in
connection with an armed
car jacking, robbery, as­
sault and kidnapping that
occurred on Easter Sun­
day in the parking lot o f a
church in Tigard.
The other suspects, 18-
year-old Edgar Filadelfo
Hernandez, street-name “Si­
lent,” and 18-year-old Juan
Torres, have been arrested.
Fuerte-Coria is approxi­
mately 5 foot 4 inches tall.
Edgar Filadelfo Hernandez
115 pounds, with black hair
and brown eyes.
Crime Stoppers is offering
a cash reward of up to $ 1,000
for information, reported to
Crime Stoppers, that leads to
an arrest in this case, or any
unsolved felony crime, and
you need not give your name.
Call Crime Stoppers at (503)
823-HELP (4357).
t