Collection of Articles about Police Officers Killed by Semi- Automatic ...

fired or weren't there? Did Beck fire a single shot or a volley of automatic weapon fire?
Were the officers attempting to gain forced entry into the home or were they still
approaching the house? Officials have offered nothing in the way of clarification.
Exactly when, and by whom, was Deputy Kuredjian killed?
The majority of the reports on the shootout implied, or stated outright, that Kuredjian
was one of the officers who made the initial approach to the house and was killed in the
first exchange of gunfire. A Times report, for instance, held that: “Beck ... opened fire
on a team of law enforcement agents, killing one of them, as they approached his house
to search it for illegal firearms.” (3)
The Daily News claimed that: “Kuredjian, 40, died in the first moments of the
confrontation when he assisted about a dozen U.S. marshals and agents of the federal
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in trying to arrest James Allen Beck on charges
of impersonating an officer and of being a felon in possession of weapons.” (5)
A separate report in the very same edition of the Daily News had a much smaller force
approaching the house: “Beck shot and killed Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Hagop
“Jake” Kuredjian on Friday while he and five other officers attempted to search Beck's
Stevenson Ranch home, believing Beck had been stockpiling weapons and impersonating
an officer.” (7)
The version of events presented by CNN.com was that: "Deputy Hagop “Jake” Kuredjian
was killed Friday morning as a man suspected of federal weapons violations opened fire
on agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and local authorities." (13)
ABC said that: "Deputy Jake Kuredjian was shot as he tried to serve Martin (sic) Beck a
warrant for his arrest at his Santa Clarita, Calif. home at 8:30 a.m. on Friday." (12)
In fact though, Kuredjian was not on the scene when the first shots rang out, but arrived
there, according to the L.A. Times, “after responding to a call of shots fired.” (1) The
same Times report explained that: “Kuredjian, on patrol in the area, was shot as he was
getting off his motorcycle, which was parked behind a large red sport utility vehicle
several houses away from Beck's home, authorities said.” (1)
Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Carl H. Deeley echoed that account: “He stopped four doors east
of the suspect's house. He took cover behind vehicles and was shot almost immediately
after getting here.” (1) A follow-up report by the Times verified the earlier report: “The
deputy arrived a few minutes after the shooting started and was hit almost immediately,
as he crouched behind an SUV four houses down from the Beck home, officials said.” (9)
What we are to believe then, apparently, is that the suspect opened fire on a group of
twelve or more agents from close range and yet failed to hit any of them [the Times
reported that there were “no other injuries,” (1) while the Daily News noted that “One
ATF agent suffered an injury to his wrist in the battle” (5)], and then proceeded to pick
off officer Kuredjian with a single shot to the head from some 150-200 feet away while
the officer was behind an SUV and, according to the Times, "wearing a motorcycle
helmet." (10)
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. A comment made by Kuredjian’s superior provided
further indication that the deputy was not initially a part of the operation. The Daily
News reported that: “[Santa Clarita Sheriff's station chief Don] Rodriguez said he was
unclear how or why Kuredjian was selected to accompany two U.S. marshals and two
agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in the attempted search of
Beck's Brooks Circle home.” (4)