STATEMENT #1 of JOHN E HAJASH
The defendants refused to disclose the statement John made after the shooting 4 July 2006 when he arrived at the sheriff's office at approximately 4 am.

STATEMENT #2 of JOHN E HAJASH III,

RALEIGH COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE DETECTIVE BUREAU

STATEMENT OF DEPUTY J. E. HAJASH

PRESENT: This is Detective Canady with the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department. I’m present with Sgt.Lilly and Deputy Hajash.

REF: We’re going to be speaking about an officer involved shooting that occurred in early morning hours of July 4th. It’s Sheriff Department number 2006-29168. I have spoken to Deputy Hajash the day of the shooting, sort of an informal interview to try to get a grasp on what went on there. This is going to be Deputy Hajash’s formal statement, and that he understands this statement is recorded.

CANADAY: I’m going let you speak now Deputy Hajash and take me through the scene, and we’ll start at the time that you were talking to Deputy Kade at his off-duty job.

HAJASH: I was up on Harper Road at the new hotel site, near the Country Inns and Suite talking to Deputy Kade, he was working off-duty security there since they’re still working on it. A shot, or a call went out of a man shooting a handgun at his own residence, that’s what the call was, the 911. They advised LT. Williams of that call and every unit was busy on other calls, so I was the one that got dispatched to that. Deputy Kade said he couldn’t let me go in there by myself so he said he was going to log off duty for that and log on regular duty and go with me to back me up. We loaded up from there and we left Harper Road, we took the Interstate and got off the MacArthur exit down 16 up old Eccles Road. Once we got to Cabell Heights Primrose Intersection. We weren’t familiar – is it Primrose?

CANADAY: Yeah, It’s Primrose.

HAJASH: We weren’t familiar with Primrose Lane, so we parked at the intersection of Old Eccles Road and Cabell Heights Road, because they said it was two blocks in. We parked at the first house on the left in their driveway, and Deputy Kade got his shotgun and I got my pistol – that’s the only weapons we had with us – and he had his pistol. We went down the road looking for his residence it was quiet, didn’t hear nothing. We got probably about 3 or 4 or 2 or 3 or something like that, just a couple of houses down from the house that ended up being the subject’s house that was on the shooting. We could hear real loud music just blaring as loud as you could imagine. Then we got to the house right next door – well first I asked EOC to call the complainant and asked ‘em if that was the house we was going to and they confirmed that was the house.. We got to the house next door, there’s a big pine tree in the front yard and right as we was standing there Deputy Kade said there he was behind the house so we took cover just in case he did see us, which apparently he did not, because it was a little dark and he was under a street light – the subject was. We observed him going from the garage to his vehicle and back and forth a couple times, so we started walking. Once we got in front of the house the music just cut off, just a dead standstill, no noise whatsoever. As we was passing the house I looked up through the yard in between the house and the row of hedges that he had or shrubbery and you could see him standing on the driver side of his vehicle – I’m looking from the passenger side. The passenger door was shut I could not see what his hands were doing, but he was standing outside the vehicle on the driver side with the driver’s side Lane – that’s where his driveway was, right off Primrose.

CANADAY: Primrose.

HAJASH: Primrose – I can’t remember what it was. So we walked up that way and Deputy Kade was just a couple feet in front of me. Deputy Kade had his shotgun in an up ready position, I had my pistol out – we didn’t know if the suspect was still armed or not. Once we got there Deputy Kade was where he could get full visual of the subject and I was just a couple of feet behind him, like I said. And Deputy announced our presence, he said “police let’s see your hands”. The subject turned around and he had his hand stuck out like he was holding something, which I couldn’t see at that time, and then when he went and raised his hand it appeared to be a rifle, because I was looking for a pistol but it appeared to be a rifle, and that is when Deputy Kade and I fired our shots.

CANADAY: Deputy Kade, how many shots did he fire?

HAJASH: He fired one with his .12 gauge shotgun.

CANADAY: Okay. How many rounds did you fire?

HAJASH: I fired two while he was still standing and then one he fell and hit the ground he started rolling over in a fast motion and I could not see his hands, it was like he was going to shoot again, as we were trained to do I shot one more time until I could see his hands. Deputy Kade told me that he was unarmed to quit shooting.

CANADAY: Okay. So basically what you’re saying is you fired two shots in pretty close succession and then a third shot. The third shot there wasn’t a large amount of time between your second and third shot was it; I mean, you weren’t talking 10 or 15 seconds are you?

HAJASH: I’ll say the max 2 seconds.

CANADAY: Okay. And you said that you fired your third shot again because when he went down you couldn’t see his hands and you still felt that he was a threat because of his movement and you couldn’t see his hands?

HAJASH: It was like he was rolling over to shoot under the vehicle and I could not see his hands.

CANADAY: Is that what you thought he was going to do?

HAJASH: Yes, sir.

CANADAY: Okay. After you all disengaged what did you do?

HAJASH: We then approached the subject and realized that his firearm was at his feet and he could not reach it, and he appeared to already be deceased and that’s when I radioed for 911, shots fired send an ambulance up here for his care. We secured the scene, I cleared out the garage and Deputy was watching the immediate area to make sure nobody came around behind us.

CANADAY: Was he – whenever you all engaged him the first time, I understand there was no music, but was he inside the cab of his truck?

>HAJASH: No, he was standing outside of it and he was facing in the cab, and when he turned around he turned around to his left. Do you understand that?

CANADAY: That would be – it seemed like he would turn to his right.

HAJASH: As I recall it he turned to his left.

CANADAY: So he would have turned all the way around?

>HAJASH: He turned a long ways around?

CANADAY: So he turned the wrong way – he was facing his truck and he actually did more like almost a 360 rather than just turn and face you all directly?

HAJASH: That’s the way I recall it, yes.

CANADAY: Okay, Back to when you disengaged, do you remember Deputy Kade cycling another round through; do you know anything about that?

HAJASH: I was too zoned in on the subject watching him at the time.

CANADAY:Okay. Did you have any contact with anybody else after the shooting?

HAJASH: After we disengaged with the subject I went and made sure the garage was clear and nobody setting in it, because the garage door was open, like the car door bay was open. After I cleared that a female came out of the house where he lived at, and she asked what was going on and we advised her she needed to go back in the residence we would get back with her in a minute. She asked again and we told her it was a crime scene and that we would speak with her in a minute. She could see the subject on the ground, her next words were “who shot who” and we told her to go back in the residence and she did.

CANADAY: Okay. After you had cleared the garage and you had spoken to the female, who I think turns out to be Mr. Webb’s wife, did you all – obviously you walked up and checked on Mr. Webb, but aside from that, did you all have anything to do with the crime scene; did you move anything – speaking for you as far as you know, you or Deputy Kade, did you all do anything like that?

HAJASH: No, we didn’t do anything, we just set back and made sure nobody came out there and grabbed his firearm or did anything with him until Deputy Bircham arrived to assist us.

CANADAY: So you pretty much just secured the scene as is?

HAJASH: Yes.

CANADAY: I don’t think I have anything else, do you?

LILLY: Just briefly. When you guys were walking in prior to any of this going down, and I’m talking in the area of Mr. Webb’s house on Primrose Lane, did you see any neighbors whatsoever; did you see anybody or hear anybody?

HAJASH: No. There was no one that we seen or heard, just dogs barking, that’s the only thing we heard.

LILLY: Did you notice any lights on at any of the residences in the area?

HAJASH: I think there was a porch light on a couple of houses before his on the left, just a porch light not an inside light.

LILLY: That’s all I have.

CANADAY: Okay. I don’t have any other questions, we’ll conclude the interview..