AMU Emergency Management Original Public Safety

EDM Monday Briefing: Two Police Officers Shot in Alabama

Emergency and disaster management briefing for Jan. 14, 2019: One police officer in Alabama is dead and another is in critical condition after being shot; a massive overdose in California leaves one dead and 12 hospitalized, a gas leak caused an explosion at a bakery and killed four people, including two firefighters, and injured dozens of others; multiple suspects are still at large after two people were shot outside a mall in Utah; PG&E announced that it will be filing for bankruptcy protection following the devastating 2018 wildfire season; the massive winter storm that swept across the Midwest has left nine dead, including one state trooper; a Delta flight slid off a taxiway at Cincinnati’s Covington field early Sunday morning; and residents in Alaska were jolted awake by a 5.0 earthquake early Sunday.

  1. [link url=”https://www.foxnews.com/us/one-police-officer-dead-another-critically-injured-in-shooting-outside-birmingham-nightclub” title=”Two police officers were shot”] in Birmingham, Alabama early Sunday morning, one fatally, while investigating a suspected car burglary. Police were undercover in the area due to recent car burglaries, and after seeing at least one suspect checking car handles, two uniformed officers approached two suspects. During a pat down, a weapon was found on one of the suspects, [link url=”https://abcnews.go.com/US/police-officers-shot-killed-responding-report-cars-broken/story?id=60343328″ title=”who armed himself and fired at the officers”], striking and killing Sgt. Wytasha Carter, 44, and critically injuring a second officer who remains in the hospital.  
  2. One man died and twelve adults were hospitalized–[link url=”https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/one-dead-12-hospitalized-mass-overdose-california-n958086″ title=”four of whom were in critical condition”]–following a drug overdose allegedly involving fentanyl at a home in Chico, California on Saturday morning. [link url=”https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/13/health/california-mass-drug-overdose/index.html” title=”Two police officers were among those who responded”], and they were also sent to the hospital after exposure to the drug.  The Chico Fire Department noted that is the [link url=”https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/13/health/california-mass-drug-overdose/index.html” title=”largest mass casualty incident they have seen in years”], with at least six people undergoing CPR at the same time.   
  3. A gas leak caused an [link url=”https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/body-found-rubble-brings-toll-paris-bakery-blast-60343572″ title=”explosion at a bakery in Paris, France, Saturday morning”] that killed a total of four people and injured at least 54 others, nine of whom were critically injured. Paris firefighters were already on scene investigating the reported gas leak when the explosion occurred. [link url=”https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/body-found-rubble-brings-toll-paris-bakery-blast-60343572″ title=”Two firefighters were among those killed in the explosion”], which also damaged 12 neighboring buildings, and forced the evacuation of their residents.  
  4. Two people were shot outside a mall in Utah, and according to authorities, [link url=”https://abcnews.go.com/US/suspect-large-injured-utah-mall-shooting-police/story?id=60349118″ title=”multiple suspects in the shooting remain at large”]. A man and woman in their twenties were shot outside an entrance of the Fashion Mall in Murray, a shooting which reportedly may be gang related. The mall was [link url=”https://abcnews.go.com/US/suspect-large-injured-utah-mall-shooting-police/story?id=60349118″ title=”evacuated after the shooting”], and security footage shows three suspects in light colored sweatshirts or hoodies and dark pants, fleeing the scene.  
  5. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) announced Monday that it will [link url=”https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/pge-facing-colossal-liability-seeks-bankruptcy-protection-60359532″ title=”file for bankruptcy protection”] after the latest round of catastrophic wildfires that swept through California. PG&E was found at fault for at least 12 of the wildfires that began in 2017, and is [link url=”https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/pge-facing-colossal-liability-seeks-bankruptcy-protection-60359532″ title=”likely to face additional liabilities–according to analysts, up to $30 billion–for one or more of the fires that began in 2018″], including the most deadly and destructive wildfire in California history, the Camp Fire. The announcement follows the[link url=”https://abcnews.go.com/Business/ceo-california-utility-pge-resigns-firm-faces-liability/story?id=60354751″ title=” resignation of the company’s CEO”], Geisha Williams, just days earlier.  
  6. The winter snow storm that swept across the Midwest and into the East Coast beginning on Friday through Sunday, [link url=”https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/wireStory/latest-north-carolina-gov-issues-state-emergency-60349529″ title=”has left nine people dead”], including a state trooper in Illinois responding to a traffic accident. Missouri received the brunt of the storm, with the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) [link url=”https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/01/13/least-dead-including-state-trooper-after-snowstorm-batters-midwest/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e189bcc0bc4d” title=”responding to 878 crashes that left 57 injured and killed four people”]. As the storm pushed eastward, locations in Illinois broke decades-old snowfall records, while areas of Maryland and Virginia received upwards of 6 to 7 inches of snow. The winter weather also caused hundreds of flight cancellations, along with power outages across multiple states.  
  7. Early Sunday morning, a Delta flight traveling from Las Vegas to Cincinnati, [link url=”https://local12.com/news/local/plane-skids-off-runway-at-cvg-airport-cincinnati-burlington-kentucky” title=”skidded off the pavement while taxiing after landing”]. Delta Flight #1708, which landed at Covington Field outside Cincinnati, at around 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning, [link url=”https://local12.com/news/local/plane-skids-off-runway-at-cvg-airport-cincinnati-burlington-kentucky” title=”was taxiing to Concourse B”] when it slid off the pavement and onto a snow-covered grassy area. None of the more than 120 passengers onboard the aircraft were injured, and an investigation into the incident is underway.  
  8. Residents in and around Anchorage, Alaska were [link url=”https://www.reuters.com/article/us-quake-alaska/magnitude-5-4-quake-strikes-near-anchorage-alaska-usgs-idUSKCN1P70O8″ title=”jolted awake Sunday morning by a magnitude 5.0 earthquake”]. The earthquake was centered 9 miles northwest of Anchorage, and according to the U.S. Geological Survey, was more than 20 miles deep, [link url=”https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/shaking-felt-moderate-alaska-earthquake-60346379″ title=”but no injuries or damages were reported”]. Originally, the quake had been estimated at a 5.4 magnitude, but was downgraded by the USGS to a 5.0 magnitude, although [link url=”https://www.reuters.com/article/us-quake-alaska/magnitude-5-4-quake-strikes-near-anchorage-alaska-usgs-idUSKCN1P70O8″ title=”shaking was felt up to 120 miles away”].  
  9. https://twitter.com/JeffreyPorterPM/status/1084493129556869120

Kimberly Arsenault serves as an intern at the Cleveland/Bradley County Emergency Management Agency where she works on plan revisions and special projects. Previously, Kimberly spent 15 years in commercial and business aviation. Her positions included station manager at the former Midwest Express Airlines, as well as corporate flight attendant, inflight manager, and charter flight coordinator. Kimberly currently holds a master's degree in emergency and disaster management from American Public University.

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