Pubdate: Sat, 19 Jan 2008
Source: Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)
Copyright: 2008 The Virginian-Pilot
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/28BOIHpy
Website: http://www.pilotonline.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/483
Author: John Hopkins

FATAL SHOOTING OF OFFICER LEAVES NEIGHBORHOOD NUMB

Portlock residents who saw a deadly police shooting unfold on their 
"quiet street" are finding it difficult to return to normalcy. The 
man accused of killing Detective Jarrod Shivers said he had no idea 
the man he shot was a police officer until it was too late.

Redstart Avenue, a street that dead-ends at a church, still was 
reeling Friday after a police officer was fatally shot there the 
night before. The residents say they are in disbelief after realizing 
that a 28-year-old neighbor is a suspect.

"It shocked me to death," said Mavis Cosner, who has lived on the 
street since 1960. "I'm still a little nervous."

Shivers, a 34-year-old father, was shot as was trying to enter at the 
house in the street's 900 block around 8:30 p.m. He and several other 
officers were there with a search warrant as part of a drug 
investigation, police said.

Shivers was pronounced dead at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. He 
left behind a wife and three children - ages 2, 8 and 14.

After the shooting, detectives on scene retreated for their safety. 
The home, which sits in the middle of the block, remained surrounded 
until the SWAT team arrived and entered.

Police arrested 28-year-old Ryan David Frederick, who lived at the 
home, and charged him with first-degree murder and use of a firearm 
in the commission of a felony. He is being held in the Chesapeake City Jail.

Frederick said in a jailhouse interview Friday he had no idea a 
police officer was on the other side of the door when he opened fire.

"No, sir," he told WAVY-TV. "I just wish I knew who they were," he 
said. "I didn't want any trouble."

Frederick said he was in bed when he heard someone trying to come 
into the home.

"I thought it was the person who had broken into my house the other 
day," he said.

Frederick said his home had been burglarized two or three days earlier.

Frederick's family could not be reached for comment, and he declined 
to speak to The Virginian-Pilot.

Police did not say whom they were investigating when they executed 
the search warrant. Other than a few misdemeanor traffic violations, 
Frederick has not been convicted of any felony crimes in Chesapeake, 
according to online court records.

Chesapeake police spokeswoman Christi Golden said she could not 
comment on specifics of the incident, including whether the officers 
who tried to serve the narcotics warrant were in uniform.

"They are undercover detectives," Golden said. As such, they would 
typically be in street clothes. But, when serving warrants, even 
undercover officers "usually have something that says 'police,'" she 
said. "They are identified in some way, shape or form."

Cosner described Frederick as "a quiet boy."

"Goes to work every day and comes home every night," she said.

Frederick made local news in 2005 when he sued Dr. Sidney Loxley for 
$1.7 million, accusing the Chesapeake physician of medicating his 
mother to the point that she became addicted and later died of an 
overdose. Frederick's mother, a former Chesapeake Sheriff's 
Department employee, died in 2003.

"It does make you very nervous," said Sandra Brooks, a Redstart 
Avenue resident. "Last night I had a hard time sleeping. I just feel 
so sorry for the poor police officer doing his job."

The last Chesapeake officer to die in the line of duty was Michael 
Saffran, 45, on Oct. 8, 2005. Saffran was shot after responding to a 
bank robbery.

"Our work is inherently dangerous," said Jack Crimmins, president of 
the Chesapeake Coalition of Police. "I think a lot of people take our 
work for granted. Unfortunately, these types of events are increasing 
instead of decreasing. And it's a very sad trend."

Jack Bider, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said all 
attention now turns to Shivers' survivors.

"The FOP will pull together," Bider said. "We're concerned about the 
family, and we're making sure they're taken care of."

The thought of not making it home is in the back of every officer's 
mind, he said.

"Every time we wake up in the morning, with a weapon on our hip and a 
badge on our chest, we think about it." 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake