Bailey
A Minden man is facing multiple charges after allegedly shooting at police following a fight in which he managed to take away an officer’s gun.
During the course of the scuffle, the officer was able to eject the clip of his duty weapon, which prevented the suspect, Tommy Bailey, 25, from firing multiple shots.
“We almost had two police officers get killed this weekend,” Minden Police Chief Steve Cropper said. “It was a wild weekend.”
The incident happened Saturday afternoon at a home in the 600 block of Lewis Street when Sgt. Joel Kendrick and Lt. Kirk Morgan went to the home searching for Bailey. Bailey escaped officers Friday at a Shreveport Road motel by kicking through a boarded up window and fleeing on foot when detectives attempted to arrest him on four warrants, Cropper said.
“Saturday, one of our captains got a phone call that (Bailey) was at this home,” the chief said. “He got the information to Sgt. Kendrick and Lt. Morgan to go see if Bailey was at the house, and to bring officers because he would try to run.”
When the officers arrived, Kendrick made contact with someone inside the home at the carport door. The female said Bailey was not in the home, and she would have to check with the homeowner to see if the officers could check inside, Cropper said.
“The officer could hear scuffling inside the home and it took her forever to come back to the door and say the owner was not there,” Cropper said. “Based on hearing the running around inside the house and the time it took, the officer felt like Lewis was in there.”
Once the female returned to the door, she told Kendrick the homeowners were not home, but eventually let the officers inside the home, Cropper said. While Morgan was talking to two people in the den, Kendrick was looking through the house.
As Kendrick was trying to open the closet in one room, someone was pulling the door back, Cropper said.
“At that point and time, (Kendrick) assumes it’s Bailey and orders him out of the closet,” Cropper said. “Kendrick draws his weapon because he is refusing to come out of the closet.”
At that time, Morgan hears Kendrick telling Bailey to get on the floor and enters the room. Cropper said Bailey refused to get onto the ground initially after exiting the closet, but eventually did before fighting the officers.
“As the two officers were holstering their weapons to take him into custody, he lunged at Kendrick,” Cropper said. “Before Kendrick was able to get his weapon secure, he was fighting this guy with his gun still in his hand.”
During the struggle, Bailey reached for Kendrick’s duty weapon and began fighting the officer for control of the gun, Cropper said. As the struggle ensued, the chief said Kendrick knew he was about to lose control of the weapon.
“By the grace of God, Kendrick was able to depress the clip button and knock his clip out before Bailey got ahold of his gun,” Cropper said.
Bailey gained control of Kendrick’s gun and ran past Morgan back toward the den, where two people and a baby were sitting, the chief said, adding that Morgan did not know Bailey had Kendrick’s gun. As Morgan was chasing Bailey, a gunshot rang out, but Morgan was unsure where Bailey went, Cropper said.
Morgan then reportedly saw Bailey in the kitchen with Kendrick’s duty weapon in his hand.
“(Morgan) draws his weapon at him and orders him to put the gun down,” Cropper said. “(Bailey) spins around and tosses the gun, because by then, he knew he only had one shot.”
Cropper said as Morgan was trying to handcuff Bailey, another struggle ensued, but Kendrick, along with two officers that were watching the back of the residence, were able to take Bailey into custody.
“It took all four of them to get him into custody; it was a pretty good fight,” Cropper said.
While investigating the shooting, Cropper said the officers learned Bailey fired Kendrick’s duty weapon and the bullet landed about 2 or 3 feet from where Morgan was standing.
The chief said the shell casing jammed in the chamber of the gun, but officers were able to locate a bullet hole and lead from the bullet in the carpet of the den.
Bailey was booked into Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center on charges of two counts of attempted first-degree murder of a police officer, four counts of battery on a peace officer, disarming a peace officer, as well as the warrants for two counts of resisting an officer, felony trespassing, and possession of a schedule one controlled dangerous substance.