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Sheriff: Soldier killed 2 Fla. deputies in arrest
2009-04-27
NICEVILLE, Fla. - More than 300 employees of a troubled Sheriff's Office in Florida gathered Sunday night to hear first hand how two of their own were killed a day earlier by a National Guard soldier they were trying to arrest for beating his wife. They joined hands in prayer and shared tears and hugs as Okaloosa County's Interim Sheriff Ed Spooner tried to explain what went wrong during the brief shootout that left deputies Burt Lopez and Warren "Skip" York dead. Their killer, Joshua Cartwright, was shot and killed soon after following a car chase into a neighboring county. Spooner said the deputies had no information to make them think Cartwright would turn his weapons on them. "This went from zero to 100 in a matter of minutes. In three minutes it turned from a passive discussion to a shooting, it was one heck of mess," the sheriff told the group. Spooner was appointed to take over the department in Florida's panhandle by Gov. Charlie Crist just eight weeks ago after the previous sheriff was arrested by FBI agents on corruption charges. Fellow law officers remembered Lopez for his calm demeanor and his love for his family. They remembered York as a free spirit who enjoyed riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle. Both men had retired from careers with the Air Force at nearby Eglin Air Force Base when they joined the department. Capt. J.D. Peacock supervised both men during his 20 years at the sheriff's office. Peacock said Lopez, a father of five, was especially good at defusing tense situations such as domestic abuse calls. "He was the person you would want in a confrontation because he calmed people down," he said. Peacock rode with York as part of a Harley Davidson motorcycle club that recently took a trip to the Florida Keys. He described him as "a fun-loving, free spirit," who loved talking about his 10-year-old son. Lopez and York went to a shooting range to arrest Cartwright after Cartwright's wife went to an area hospital for domestic abuse injures. Spooner said they stopped Cartwright near his truck as he left the shooting range and tried to arrest him. Cartwright began arguing and resisting arrest and York used a stun gun to subdue him. Cartwright began shooting while on the ground. "Within seconds he sat up and began firing a weapon that came out of nowhere, it was somewhere on his body we assume," he said. Spooner said York "unloaded his gun," in his exchange of gunfire with Cartwright. He said Lopez entered Cartwright's truck and was shot and killed there. Spooner said that between 30 and 40 rounds were exchanged between Cartwright and the two deputies. Officials are awaiting autopsy results to determine whether either of the slain deputies struck Cartwright before they died. Both deputies were wearing bulletproof vests but were shot in areas not protected by the vests, Spooner said. In the chase that followed, Cartwright's truck flipped on its side after the tires were punctured by spikes at a roadblock. The soldier came out shooting, Spooner said. Investigators say Cartwright and deputies at the roadblock exchanged about 60 rounds in 30 to 40 seconds before he was killed. It was the third death of a deputy at the department in less than a year. Deputy Anthony Forgione died in July after he was shot by a suicidal man who had barricade himself in a home. In another blow to the department, Sheriff Charles Morris was arrested in February by FBI agents while on a gambling trip to Las Vegas. Morris and his former office manager, Teresa Adams, were indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday on theft, money laundering and conspiracy charges. Larry Carter, the department's senior chaplain, said department employees had been preparing a May memorial service for Forgione trying to put Morris' arrest behind them when the shootings happened. "All the things that keep happening, it's like a scab that keeps getting peeled back over and over," he said. Investigators said Cartwright was not a war veteran. Spooner said the Florida National Guard soldier was interested in militia movements and weapons training. In November, authorities arrested him for domestic battery, and that charge was pending. Neighbor Aaron Walp worked as a bartender at a Fort Walton Beach bar where Cartwright was a bouncer two years ago. "He had a difficult time leaving his personal problems at home. If you gave him a chance he'd start talking," Walp said. And Walp said Cartwright's brooding ways made his fellow employees uncomfortable. "He had a violent side," he said. Cartwright carried a flashlight with a sharp attachment that he threatened to use on customers who got out of line, he said. Destiny Harder lived next door to the Cartwrights at the Fort Walton Beach apartment complex. Harder said she was often disturbed by their loud arguments and had banged on the wall between the two apartments Saturday morning after she was awakened by their fighting.
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