Friday, January 27, 2012

Gun instructor arrested, charged with shortening course & giving answers


51-year-old Richard Wykel of Cherokee County, South Carolina was certified as a concealed weapons permit instructor in 1996. But after an undercover investigation, Wykel has been arrested and charged with perjury and subornation of perjury in connection with improper training in his concealed weapons permit class.
South Carolina requires eight hours of training, including classroom instruction, firing a weapon, and showing proficiency in a weapon, before someone can obtain a concealed weapons permit. After receiving a complaint about Wykel an undercover agent signed up for his class. The agent reported that he paid $65 for the class, was fingerprinted, filled out the application and was then given the answers to the test. He also said the class lasted less than one hour and did not include firing the handgun.
Police are asking people who took Wykel's course to come forward and requalify for permits. They warn that anyone who applied for and received a concealed weapons permit without completing the eight-hour training course are subject to perjury charges for the falsification of the applications process.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Man breaks into home, terrorizes resident for hours before killing himself

Investigators have concluded that 30-year-old Jesse Cook of Central Falls, Rhode Island, committed suicide after breaking into a home in Warner, New Hampshire and terrorizing the resident there for hours. But they still don't know why Cook broke into the man's house.
Cook didn't have drugs in his system, investigators were unable to identify any mental illness, friends said he had never behaved violently, and he had no criminal record.
Yet one day Cook stole a car in Providence in an armed carjacking, drove to New Hampshire, and kicked in the cellar door of 82-year-old Gordon Smith. Cook terrorized Smith throughout the night, acting "paranoid and erratic." In the morning, while the two were in the kitchen, Cook put a .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun to Smith's head. But after Smith told Cook he would spend the rest of his life in prison for killing him, Cook took Smith's hand "and placed it on the gun with his own hand, pointed the gun at his own head, and the gun discharged."
Investigators were unable to determine where Cook got the gun. The gun was traced to a consignment shop in Louisiana but investigators were unable to trace it from there.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Michigan couple each fires gun in domestic dispute

Police do not know what the Jackson, Michigan couple was fighting about, but they do know that they both had valid concealed weapons permits.
Police received a report of shots fired around 9:20 p.m. They also received a call from a man who said his girlfriend had shot at his parked car. The man's response was to get his gun and shoot at his girlfriend's car as she drove away.
According to reports, the woman claimed she shot at her boyfriend's car five or six times. The man claimed he shot at his girlfriend six times.
Police said they both had been drinking and they both were arrested. Their semi-automatic handguns were confiscated as evidence.