Crime Time

Local blotter: homicides in Benbrook, FW; police suspect 'Louie' of nearly hitting officer with car

A 22-year-old man was shot to death Thursday in Benbrook -- the second homicide in that city this week.

Gary Crenshaw of Fort Worth was shot about 1 p.m. in the parking lot of a town home complex in the 3800 block of Coates Circle, according to authorities.

Police were looking for the shooter on Friday.

The earlier homicide happened late Tuesday night at an apartment complex in the 3800 block of Levee Circle. Police, responding to a report of gunfire, found Patrick Danley, 20, dead outside an apartment.

Another man was wounded in the incident.

Have you seen this man? Fort Worth police on Friday were looking for him.

He is William "Louie" Melear, 55, who is suspected of trying to run down a police officer early Thursday in an alley in the Stockyards.

The officer was unhurt.

However, a man believed to be a passenger in the car was wounded by gunfire, either from the officer or a citizen, who thinking the officer had been killed, reached for his own gun and opened fire at the gold four-door Mercedes.

The wounded man was dropped off at a convenience store from a car matching the Mercedes' description, police said. From there he was taken to the hospital.

Police were still looking for Melear Friday afternoon. They could be heard on radio scanners sharing information about the car.

An unidentified man was found gravely wounded shortly before 1 a.m. Friday in east Fort Worth.

The man was found slumped in a car bullet-riddled car on Tarrant Road, police said. He was in critical condition as he was taken to the hospital, but his medical condition was unavailable Friday.

Witnesses told police they saw a gunman running from the scene. Officers arrested a man fitting that description about a half-mile south of the crime scene.

They also found a semiautomatic handgun in some bushes nearby.

-- Compiled by Bill Miller from his own reports and the works of Deanna Boyd, Mitch Mitchell.

Mom fatally shoots herself while driving with daughter on Interstate 10

A California woman driving on Interstate 10 in New Mexico fatally shot herself in the chest while barreling down the highway after failing to get her 9-year-old daughter to pull the trigger for her, according to reports.

The car came to a stop on the side of the road and the girl rushed out of the car where she was assisted by other passing motorists.

She told witness that her mother had begun having breathing problems and pleaded with the girl to shoot her. The daughter refused, so the mother pulled the trigger herself.

Family members said the woman, a medic in the Army Reserves, and her daughter were on their way Oklahoma to visit relatives, the Las Cruces Sun News reported.

-- Lance Murray

Naked hiker wins court battle over fine

A hiker who went au natural in the Swiss countryside has won an appeal of his fine for walking through the woods in the buff.

He had been fined the equivalent of $87 for "indecent behavior" for his little jaunt.

Nude hiking away from busy trails is not illegal in Switzerland, the AP reported, but this guy took a path past a Christian rehab center where a woman reported him to police, the AP reported.

The man's legal representative, also a nude hiker, said "We're not exhibitionists, we just want to be free," the AP reported.

-- Lance Murray

Cop arrested for allegedly head-butting Little League coach

You're out!

A police officer in Mentor, Ohio, has been arrested on charges that he head-butted a Little League baseball coach following a game, according to Fox News.

Officer Matthew Collins, 37, faces assault charges in the incident.

Acccording to the report, coach Andrew Bagdonas' wife called 911 and told the dispatcher, "The guy opened his mouth at a Little League game. He (her husband) said 'let coaches be the coaches' and they confronted each other afterwards."

That's when the confrontation occurred, Fox reported.

-- Lance Murray

Texas teen gets state jail time for killing puppy

We've had a bevy of animal-related crimes lately and the AP is reporting another one out of Brownsville in which a teen was given 18 months in state jail for killing a neighborhood puppy.

Mario Alberto Gasca, 19, pleaded guilty as part of a deal to cruelty to non-livestock animals, the AP reported.  Another teen also faces trial in the case in which police say the puppy was kicked and stabbed, the AP reported.

-- Lance Murray

Police: Dad chained 8-year-old son to post, tried to sell him

Police in Wuhan, China, had to intercede when a crowd became enraged at a father who had chained his 8-year-old son to a lamp post and tried to auction him off as a slave.

The fearful child watched as his father lauded his ability to work hard.

Police said the boy's mother died three years ago and that the unemployed father couldn't afford to care for the boy any longer.

The boy is in the care of the police, The Sun reported.

-- Lance Murray

Man pleads guilty to stabbing 29 pigs

You may recall a couple weeks ago that we wrote about a man in Minnesota who was charged with stabbing 29 pigs while he was drunk.

On Tuesday, Curtis Lee Adams pleaded guilty to animal cruelty in the porcine assaults that occurred in late April.

Adams originally was arrested on drunken driving charges. Arresting officers said he had blood on him and smelled of pigs and pig manure. Later a hog farm worker reported the pigs had been stabbed in a barn and officers determined that the knife that was found belonged to Adams.

He said he didn't remember stabbing the porkers, all of which had to be euthanized, according to reports.

-- Lance Murray

Teen convicted in hate killing of Ecuadorian immigrant

A man in New York has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the 2008 hate crime killing of an immigrant for Ecuador who was targeted by a gang of men who were "beaner hopping," a derogatory term they used for hunting Latinos who would not fight back.

Jeffrey Conroy, 19, earlier this year was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime, but was not found guilty of murder as a hate crime, a more serious charge. He also was convicted of gang assault and conspiracy.

Conroy was among a group of seven men who attacked Marcelo Lucero and a companion. According to testimony Lucero resisted the gang's attack and was stabbed by Conroy.

When the sentence was announced, Conroy's father jumped to his feet and screamed at the judge. He had to be escorted from the courtroom and held in a room to gain control of himself, according to reports.

-- Lance Murray

Report: Mexican cartel leader killed in shootout with federal forces

CNN is reporting that the leader of one of Mexico's biggest drug trafficking organizations has been killed in a shootout with federal forces.

Pedro Roberto Velazquez Amador was killed Wednesday morning in Monterrey, shortly after a military convoy patrolling the city's San Pedro area came under fire by gunmen. Velazquez died in a subsequent shootout, CNN reported.

-- Lance Murray

Local blotter: homicides in Benbrook, Dallas; educators accused; funny money in Keller

Today, Wednesday, May 26, is what we call a busy news day at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Check out these reports:

One man was killed and another wounded in a shooting at an east Benbrook apartment complex Tuesday night.

Benbrook police were called out to the River Glen Apartments in the 3800 block of Levee Circle shortly before 11 p.m. on a report of shots fired. There, officers found Patrick Danley, 20, dead outside an apartment on a sidewalk. Fort Worth police a short time later found a wounded man nearby.

Police officials said it appears that both men had been shot at the apartment complex. They were still trying Wednesday to figure out what prompted the shooting.

...

A former Keene High School teacher faces four allegations of having sex three high school students, including sexual assault of a child.

Math teacher Michelle Reed Daniel, 40, was indicted in April by a Johnson County grand jury after being accused of having sexual relationships with the young men between January 2009 and October 2009.

...

Two men face capital murder charges in connection with the slaying of a Dallas man who was found stabbed to death Tuesday in his burning apartment, police said.

Ricardo Beltran, 18, and Victor Ramos Jr., 20, were arrested Tuesday morning after they wrecked in a sport utility vehicle belonging to the victim, 33-year-old Sheldon McKnight.

Firefighters Tuesday morning responded to a fire in the 2600 block of Arroyo Avenue, said Senior Cpl. Kevin Janse, police spokesman. They found McKnight's body in the apartment after the fire was extinguished, Janse said.

The suspects reportedly knew McKnight, who was "cut and stabbed"when firefighters found him, Janse said.

...

A teenage girl in Garland, fearing she would be harmed, waited nearly five months to accuse a teaching assistant of raping her in January, according to a court document.

Dennis Connor, 27, of Garland, was being held Wednesday at Dallas County jail, charged with aggravated sexual assault of child. The girl told police that Connor, in January, removed the girl from class, took her to an office and allegedly raped her, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

The girl told police that Connor "threatened her with telling anyone what happened and that she was too scared to say anything until now," according to the affidavit.

...

A Fort Worth woman and man have been arrested on suspicion of manufacturing and passing out fake cash in Keller and Fort Worth, authorities said Wednesday.

Investigators have confiscated almost $1,500 in fake bills that were made on computers, scanners and printers -- but with no finesse.

“These were not quality bills,” said Keller police Sgt. John McGrew. “One other investigator looked at them and said we could do better with crayons.”

-- Compiled by Bill Miller from his own reports and the works of Deanna Boyd, Elizabeth Campbell and Domingo Ramirez Jr.