RALEIGH COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE DETECTIVE BUREAU

STATEMENT OF DEPUTY G. S. KADE

PRESENT: This is Detective Canaday with the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office. Present with me for this interview is Sgt. Lilly and Deputy Kade.

REF:We’re going to be talking about an officer involved shooting that occurred on July 4th. The service number is 2006-29168.

CANADAY: Deputy Kade, we spoke, I guess kind of a field interview the other day just so I could get a grasp on what was going on. This is going to be your formal statement, it is being recorded and you do know that. What I’ll ask you to do now is just recount for me what happen that night. You can start from – I understand that you were working off duty and were talking to Deputy Hajash. You can start there and just walk us through the scenario.

Kade: Okay. I was working off duty at the, I believe it’s going to be Holliday Express on Harper Road. I had started my shift at midnight, which would have been, you know the 4th, and Deputy Hajash had just answered – whether he had assisted or answered a call at Beckley West I’m not sure, but he come back through there and he stopped and was speaking to me – we were just outside talking and had been outside of our vehicles talking and while we were talking a call came out of shots fired on Cabell Heights and that a gentleman was shooting a handgun towards his residence. Deputy Hajash took the call and I advised EOC that I would be on duty and that I would be en-route to assist him. So I get behind following Deputy Hajash, we get on the Interstate there and get off at MacArthur and we turn up Old Eccles Road and that’s how we, you know, we come in on the Old Eccles Road into Cabell Heights. But while we were en-route I asked EOC if there was any family in the residence and they said yes there was, I think they said two children and a wife. I asked ‘em what kind of weapon he had and they said they thought he had a handgun. And then I believe the final question was about how far from the intersection of Cabell Heights on Eccles Road and they advised it was approximately two blocks. So, Deputy Hajash and I parked at the entrance – excuse me, intersection of Cabell Heights and Old Eccles Road. When we got out of the vehicle I asked John, I said are you taking anything and he said no I’m just going to take my handgun, so I decided to take a shotgun. We started walking down the road, and you know, we walked a little bit further than we thought two blocks was. So Deputy Hajash asked EOC a little bit better directions and, you know, they were trying to give us a housing description I believe. As we kept walking we heard – we started hearing music playing and, you know, which would have been, you know, we could tell it was very loud. So Deputy Hajash asked EOC to ask the caller if the music was where the suspect was and they advised it was. So we keep walking down Cabell Heights Road and the music is very loud. We get to the neighbors house – we get to the house beside of the suspect and there’s a large tree in the front yard so we kind of staged behind the tree and we was trying to observe if he was outside or not. I noticed that there was like some lights on in the back of the suspects house, or excuse me, the back – like would have been the garage light and possibly an outside light. I just set there a minute or so and I could see someone walking through the tree line there in the backyard because I could see his shadow breaking in and out of the light. So I advised Deputy Hajash that was the suspect more than likely. He had a large chain-link fence I guess was about 5 feet tall, so we started making our way down the chain-link fence and we was going to go through the front gate and come around the side of the house and engage the suspect there. Once we got about halfway down the chain-link fence the music stopped. I remember hearing the suspect say “what the hell” like he was surprised that the music had stopped playing. Well, once we get up to the chain-link fence the gate – excuse me, once we get to the gate there’s a padlock in the gate and it was locked. I told Hajash, I said with the music stopped I said, you know, we can’t climb the fence because he will hear the fence rattling on the poles. So, we walked on down to the corner of the house – we’re still out in the roadway – and we turn up Primrose Lane, which is the road that goes up the side of the house. There’s a large shrub – a large hedge on the side of the house and we started, you know, making our way up by the shrub, and we could see Mr Webb at his truck. The cab light inside of the truck was on and it appeared that he had the door open looking – he was standing at the truck with the door open. So, I had a weapons light on my shotgun and I took a couple of steps out from behind the shrub – we was out in the roadway and there was no cover or anything, and I identified myself as saying – myself and Deputy Hajash as saying “police, let me see your hands”. At that point the suspect raised a weapon, it was not a pistol, it was – I immediately identified it as an AK-47, because you could tell, I mean, that’s a very distinct weapon and the magazine hanging out of the bottom of it. He pointed the weapon directly at me and at this point I fired my weapon and pretty much simultaneously Deputy Hajash fired his handgun. I seen the suspect fall and at that point I side stepped I guess two or three steps there, I don’t know how many, to make sure that the offender was on the ground. I didn’t realize I had already cleared my shotgun and chambered another round – I don’t even remember doing it. Deputy Hajash walked up to the offender and, you know, within- not right up on top of him or anything but he was making sure the weapon was on the ground and then he backed off. I take that back, before he walked up he got on the radio and yelled at EOC and told ‘em shots were fired that we needed help and we needed EMS, we had one man down. I think they didn’t hear us I don’t remember, and then he tried it again and then I got on the radio and said the same thing. I think I told John that we needed to find some cover because there was no cover right there just in case the family was going to come out of the house on us, because we didn’t know if there was family that lived around him or anything. So I guess while I was in the street – stepping up the street there to try to find some cover I immediately thought I had better chamber another round, and then I chambered – that’s when I cycled my shotgun, that’s when pretty much we waited on help to get there. While we were waiting a female come out of the house, out of Mr. Webb’s house, it appeared to be his wife. She looked – the first thing I remember her saying, she looked at us and said who shot who, and that’s when I looked at her, I said, ma’am, you need to go back inside. She just stood there and then Deputy Hajash said, you now, ma’am, go inside we’re talk to you a little bit. Then she walked inside and then Deputy Bircham arrived on the scene. Immediately after he arrived on the scene it seemed like EMS arrived on the scene.When they got there I walked down to the intersection of Primrose and Cabell Heights, and then Lt.Williams arrived on the scene and I put my shotgun in the back of his vehicle and he told me to walk up and get my car at the intersection of Cabell Heights. So I walked back up the road and got in my car. I kind of stayed there because I really didn’t want to go back to the scene, you know, they really didn’t need any help, and that’s when I think the Sheriff drove by and talked to us – he come up and talked to us. By that point Deputy Hajash come up and the Sheriff told us to just hang out there. Chief Tanner and Detective Lilly come up to check on us there and I think then they wanted us to come back to the scene, well, not at the scene but in a general area so that’s when I went back to the area.

CANADAY: Whenever you engaged the suspect, I guess verbally the first time you said there was music playing and it stopped, was there music playing and it stopped, was there music playing at the time you engaged the suspect?

Kade:No. The music had stopped playing when we were in front of the house making our way down to the house and it never started back up after – like I said, it stopped while we were in front of the house. And from the time we were in front of the house to the time we engaged the suspect there was no music playing.

CANADAY: I guess proportionate, if you can remember back to that night your position and there was also a truck setting in the driveway and the suspects position, where was your position generally speaking in relation to the suspect and this truck?

Kade: Roughly speaking, I was at the left rear of the truck. Not up against it, further back out in the roadway and Deputy Hajash was off to my right, that would have put him somewhere towards the middle of the truck, the middle of the tailgate.

Canaday: Okay, Deputy Hajash shot – you said they happened pretty much simultaneously with yours. Was there ever a pause in his shot or were they relatively speaking pretty rapid in succession.

KADE: In my mind I thought they were in succession. I don’t remember a pause, but it’s possible there could have been I’m not 100% sure.

CANADAY: If there was a pause it wasn’t for any – it was for a negligible amount of time, it wasn’t, you know, shot twice and then moved around and then shot again or shot twice and then waited 5 or 10 seconds and shot again, it wasn’t anything like that was it?

KADE: No, no, they were pretty much within succession of each other. If anything it couldn’t have been no more than a second.

CANADAY: Okay, I don’t think I have any other questions right now. Sgt. Lilly, do you have anything?

LILLY: You may have already said this, I just want to clarify it, how many rounds did you fire?

KADE: I fired one round from my shotgun.

LILLY: Just one round?

KADE: Yes, sir.

LILLY: And then you said that you wanted to cycle another round, I guess in case there was another threat, Is that correct?

KADE: Yes sir.

LILLY: Apparently, because – apparently right after I shot I cycled a round, I didn’t realize it and then after the shots were fired, Deputy Hajash and I were looking for cover then it automatically in my mine it hit me to cycle another round, and apparently that’s where a live round I cycled and a live round, and apparently that’s where a live round I cycled and a live round had hit the ground unknowing to me I had already cycled a round.

CANADAY: Did you have any conversation with Deputy Hajash right after the shooting?

KADE: I remember looking at him and telling him that the offender was down. That was right after the shots were fired from both deputies, I advised Hajash the offender was down.

CANADAY: Was there any other shots fired after you guys seen he was down?

KADE: No, sir.

CANADAY: I don’t think I have anything else. We’ll conclude the interview.

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Q. Do you have a specific recollection of most of or any of the events that day before this call came in?
A. I'm not sure of what you're asking me?

Q. Do you recall what you did during the daytime hours on that July 3rd?
A. I don't.

Q. You heard Mr. Hajash this morning talking about the security job over at the Holiday Inn Express. I'm going to ask you some questions about that. How long had you been working that security position.
A. Not very long. I'm not sure.

Q. From what I understood this morning, was that a Department sanctioned job?
A. It was paid through the department.

Q. It wasn't a moonlighting job that the department didn't know about?
A. Oh, no.

Q. You were there wearing your uniform and with a cruiser on site. Am I correct?
A. That's correct.

Q. You were wearing your uniform and with a cruiser on site. Am I correct?
A. That's correct.

Q. So in essence, the Department was okay with showing a law enforcement presence over at the Holiday Inn Express?
A. Yes.

Q. How long would your shift there typically be?
A. I think sometimes we split up into four hour blocks and sometimes it was eight.

Q. Do you recall on July 3rd if you were on an four hour or an eight hour shift?
A. I don't recall.

Q. Was that a regularly scheduled day off from your normal Department duties as a patrol officer?
A. Yes. I was off duty through road patrol.

Q. Do you recall if you worked the day before July 3rd?
A. I don't recall.

Q. Have you ever gone back to look at payroll records or schedule records or anything?
A. No.

Q. Do you recall what time your shift started that day or evening?
A. At the hotel?

Q. Yes.
A. I don't. I don't.

Q. Do you know if you were planning on being there most of the night? Was it a night rotation for you?
A. Night rotation? What do you mean?

Q. The hotel security job on July 3, were you going to be there the rest of the evening?
A. I don't remember if it was a full shift or not. I know it would have been at least four hours.

Q. Without pinning you to a time, can you recall if it was daylight or dark when you started that security job?
A. I'm not sure.

Q. Okay. Do you recall if you were close to the end of the shift when this call comes in sometime after midnight?
A. It possibly could have been close if it was a four-hour block.

Q. Did you have any active responsibilities at the hotel security job other than just be a presence there?
A, Just maintain the security and that's it.

Q. Was it something where you had to make rounds every so often and make sure doors were locked oryou know, things weren't being tampered with?
A. You really couldn't make rounds, no, because it was a construction area.

Q. Just your presence there --
A. Just your presence and just try to see around the building as much as possible.

Q. Do you remember what time then Deputy Hajash arrived at the hotel site and began a conversation with you that evening?
A. I don't.

Q. Can you give us an idea how long you believe he was there before the call came in from dispatch?