Tough Enough

[EricW]

From: http://www.policeone.com/policeone/fronten...l_news&id=86107

(I'm not happy she or her fellow officer were shot. It's a damn shame she left her shotgun/AR in the patrol car so she could have off'ed every one of those aholes. But, dammit, she is one tough cop. I hope she can recover and get back on the job.)

Seven Bullets Couldn't Stop Fla. Deputy in Attack; She Shoots Back, Kills 1, Injures Another

05/06/2004

She and another injured patrol officer outgunned three home invaders who had ambushed them.

Related Story:

Men in Gunfight With Orlando Deputies Were Wanted in S.C.

By Pedro Ruz Gutierrez, Henry Pierson Curtis and Rich McKay, The Orlando Sentinel

Pine Hills, Fla. -- Wounded and worried about three children a few feet away, Orange County Deputy Sheriff Jennifer Fulford emptied her .45-caliber pistol and then reloaded during a fierce shootout Wednesday with three home invaders in Pine Hills.

An assailant's bullet hit her gun hand, forcing her to use her left hand to continue fighting.

Before the shooting ended, she and Deputy Sheriff Dwayne Martin had killed one of the attackers and shot another one in the head. A third was arrested when other deputies arrived.

"I heard she went through one clip and reloaded, which is totally unbelievable," said Steve Jones, chief spokesman for the Sheriff's Office. "It's just by the grace of God we're not burying two more deputies."

Fulford, 31, was shot at least seven times in her hand, arms and legs before she could return fire. Martin, 30, was hit once in his shoulder during the gunbattle at a home where authorities later found at least 340 pounds of marijuana.

Both deputies were in stable condition after surgery at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Fulford and Martin rushed to the home on Medford Drive after a frantic 911 call at 7:50 a.m. from an 8-year-old boy, whose mother had been forced into their home by the would-be robbers.

When deputies arrived, the suspects made the woman go outside to tell Fulford and Martin everything was OK.

Instead the woman told deputies about the attackers and begged Fulford to rescue her children who were inside her vehicle in the garage.

As Fulford approached the van, she was ambushed, and the shooting started, Jones said.

Both deputies trained their semiautomatic Glock pistols on George Jenkins, 25, and John Dzibinski, 25. Jenkins was killed, and Dzibinski was in critical condition Wednesday evening with a gunshot wound to the head. A third man identified as Shaun Byrom, 20, was taken into custody and was arrested on charges of felony murder. All three were in Central Florida from South Carolina.

The boy and his 2-year-old twin siblings stayed in the van during the gunbattle. Neither they nor their mother were hurt. Sheriff's officials did not identify the woman.

Deputies later went to the Enterprise Motel on Vine Street in Kissimmee where the South Carolina residents had been staying and seized two AK-47 semiautomatic assault rifles.

Those weapons match several used during a similar home invasion in North Charleston, S.C., police reports show.

Spencer Pryor, a spokesman for the North Charleston Police Department, on Wednesday said Jenkins and Dzibinski were wanted on charges of first-degree burglary, armed robbery and possession of a firearm while committing a violent crime Jan. 6.

In that crime, the suspects fled in a burgundy Honda Passport that matches the sport utility vehicle found Wednesday outside the home that is owned by Clinton Allen. The South Carolina victims also reported the suspects carried semiautomatic handguns and an AK-47.

In Pine Hills on Wednesday morning, bursts of gunfire rattled the neighborhood shortly before 8 a.m.

"It sounded like 10 or 15 shots, going back and forth," said 13-year-old Alexander Roundtree, a neighbor who watched the shooting unfold from his window across the street. "Then I saw this man fall down. He was the man in the white shirt. He didn't get up."

Sheriff's investigators were stunned when they found the marijuana and said the drug appeared to be the motive for the attack. It also cast suspicion on what initially seemed a random act of violence against a mother and her three kids.

Sgt. John Allen, who heads the sheriff's homicide squad and is no relation to Clinton Allen, said the suspects had loaded some marijuana into their vehicle when deputies arrived. Deputies later used a search warrant to confiscate more marijuana in the garage area and inside the home. No drug-related charges were filed.

Sgt. Allen said late Wednesday that an unidentified person helped the suspects set up the robbery of drugs at the house.

Investigators said the mother was leaving the house to take her son to school when the three men burst out of the SUV and forced her back inside her home. Her alert son then picked up her cell phone and dialed 911.

"Apparently one of the heroes in this story is the 8-year-old boy," said Jim Solomons, a sheriff's spokesman. "He was able to get his mom's cell phone and make a critical call."

Minutes before the shooting, residents reported seeing the burgundy SUV in their neighborhood.

Near the intersection of Hastings Street and Balboa Drive, the driver spoke to a school crossing guard and then waved down a local resident to ask for directions to Medford Drive.

"He asked me where the street was and I said, 'I don't know for sure,' " said the woman, who would identify herself only as Tonya.

A burgundy SUV could be seen parked backward in the driveway outside the Allens' house after the shooting.

Two large bags that appeared to be plastic lay on the ground next to the vehicle. Neighbors said deputies pulled them from the SUV. Each bag contained a large amount of marijuana, sheriff's officials said.

The emergency prompted the sheriff's SWAT team to surround the house and evacuate neighbors, who later reported seeing tear gas fired into the house.

"We saw the bodies getting dragged out," said Crystal Cosson, a friend of Tonya's who described two wounded suspects being carried by deputies.

The single-story house is the only one in the neighborhood with burglar bars covering every outside window and door. Clinton Allen is a friendly but quiet man, a commercial painter who keeps an immaculate yard, neighbors said.

A woman, who identified herself as Clinton Allen's sister but did not give her name, said her brother was visiting Jamaica on Wednesday. Her brother had lived on Medford Drive for more than five years. He has four children, she said.

As deputies searched the area for other possible suspects, several nearby schools were locked down for about two hours. They were Hiawassee, Oak Hill, Pine Hills and Pinewood elementary schools and Robinswood Middle School.

Althea Jackson, Hiawassee's principal, said her staff locked all the doors and kept children in their classrooms but didn't tell the 700 students anything about the incident.

Fulford has been a deputy since 2001 and works as a road-patrol officer. She's a field training officer and was training another deputy, Jason Gainor, at the time of the shooting. Gainor was not injured; it's not clear if he was involved in the shootout. Martin joined the agency in 1999 and also is a patrol deputy. Last year, he spent several months in Iraq as a reservist.

[rhino]

Very impressive! That was one determined individual who was also obviously well trained and prepared both mentally and emotionally to prevail under adverse conditions.

[Chutist]

Bad guy dead, good guys survive. Good job Deputy Fulford!