BY SHARON COOLIDGE • SCOOLIDGE@ENQUIRER.COM • DECEMBER 7, 2009
COLLEGE HILL - A SWAT team stand-off with a killer ended Sunday night when a bullet-resistant helmet saved one officer’s life and the killer shot himself in the head.
SWAT team Lt. Doug Ventre was right behind Officer Daniel Kowalski when Leetae Williams – who hours earlier killed his estranged girlfriend Kaniesha Dangerfield – fired two 9mm bullets at Kowalski’s head inside an apartment at 1714 Casey Drive.
The two shots pierced a curtain that Williams was hiding behind. Both bullets hit Kowalski’s helmet, lodging in the Kevlar, he said. The force of the bullet knocked Kowalski off his feet, falling back into the arms of Spc. Andrew Nogueira.
“I immediately pulled his head around and saw it hit the helmet,” Ventre said. “I knew they didn’t go through.”
Instead, they lodged in the black material.
Williams was still armed and in the apartment.
“I was thinking we have to get him out of there and still deal with the incident,” Ventre said.
Officers pulled Kowalski to safety.
SWAT team members waited outside the apartment, urging Williams, 28, who had a long record of 48 arrests and four stints in prison, to give up. Twice this year officers had to intervene in fights between he and Dangerfield, 22, court records show.
Ten tense minutes of silence later, Williams shot himself in the head, police said.
“Think about whether this is luck or divine intervention, whatever you want to call it,” Chief Tom Streicher said during a press conference that ran more than an hour Monday. “These would have been fatal shots (to Kowalski) if he didn’t have this helmet on.”
Streicher and Ventre outlined the incident in great detail Monday, showing locations in the apartment, where officers were standing and how they responded during the standoff.
Streicher, who modeled Kowalski’s battered and dimpled helmet, said that one little piece of equipment bought for $200 with Homeland Security money was the difference between life and death.
The incident started Sunday afternoon when Dangerfield, who had a child with Williams, went to an apartment to retrieve her belongings. Police said she feared for her safety and got a friend, 62-year-old Cornelius Tooson – who had a concealed-carry permit – to go with her to the 1718 Casey Drive apartment.
Tooson went upstairs first, at about 3:30 p.m., and Williams confronted him with a gun.
Tooson and Williams left the building, Streicher said.
Tooson hopped in his car, locked the doors and turned to Dangerfield in the passenger seat. “We have to leave,” he told her.
Tooson tried to call 911 as Williams walked around to the car’s passenger side, ordering Dangerfield to open up.
When she refused, Williams shot her through the window, police said.
Tooson pulled out his own gun and fired. The shot missed and his gun jammed. Williams ran.
A warrant was issued for Williams.
Four hours later, a woman called police, pointing officers to an apartment at 1714 Casey Drive. The building was evacuated.
Officers unsuccessfully tried to talk to Williams. He was so quiet they weren’t even sure he was in there.
After an hour, police pried open the deadbolt. A remote-control tractor with camera attached was sent into the apartment.
Kowalski and Nogueira were the first inside.
Kowalski looked to the left. Nogueira to the right. A curtain across the hall entry blocked much of their view.
“Suddenly, they heard shots,” Streicher said.
Kowalski crumbled. Nogueira – shot himself during the riots in 2001 – caught him.
Adrenaline coursed through him Sunday, but by Monday morning reality had set it.
“He’s shaken up,” Streicher said.
Kowalski was treated at University Hospital and released.
He’s on paid leave for at least the next seven days, Streicher said.
“This is a story about two people losing their lives, which is no doubt tragic,” Streicher said. “But there is another story. We’re lucky we didn’t lose a third person, a police officer.”
“This was a tremendously heroic effort,” Streicher said.
No comments:
Post a Comment