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Louie Gordon Mizelle
- Jun. 06, 1989 -
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(322)
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Resided: |
AK, USA
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Born: | Jun. 23, 1953 |
Fallen: | Jun. 06, 1989 |
Race/Sex: | Caucasian Male / 35 yrs. of age |
| Agency |
Dept: | Anchorage Police Dept.
4501 Elmore Rd Anchorage, AK
99507 USA (907)786-8500 |
County: | Anchorage |
Dept. Type: | Municipal/Police |
Hero's Rank: | Patrolman |
Sworn Date: | 1983 |
FBI Class: | Homicide - Ambush |
Agency URL: | Click Here
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Bio: Louie Gordon Mizelle, 35, was born on June 23, 1953, in Moorehead City, NC, to Gordon and Nettie Mizelle. He was one of five children and was raised with his three sisters (Sarah Louise, Muriel, and Katherine) and one brother (Alliston "Buddy"). Louie was raised in Hampstead, NC, and graduated from Topsail H.S. in that city in 1972. He was on the basketball team in H.S. and drove a school bus. Louie developed an interest in law enforcement as a teenager and rode with the police almost every night in the summer months during his high school years.
Mizelle joined the U.S. Air Force in 1973 at the age of 19 and spent 10 years on active duty with the Security Police. He worked in Anchorage at Elmendorf Air Force Base with the 21st Security Police Squadron at the end of his career and came to know (and be respected by) members of the law enforcement community in Anchorage. Sgt. Mizelle received numerous awards during his 10-year tenure with the Air Force including: The Commendation Medal, the Outstanding Unit Award with two oak leaf clusters, the Good Conduct Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the National Defense Service Medal, the Overseas Long Tour Ribbon and the Longevity Ribbon with two oak leaf clusters. Other honors and awards included the Air Reserve Forces Medal, the Non-Commissioned Officer professional Military Education Ribbon with one oakleaf cluster, the Security Police master Qualification Badge, and the Excellence in Competition Bronze Pistol Shooting Badge with Four Credit Points.
Mizelle transferred to the AK Air National Guard in 1983 (when he joined the Anchorage Police Dept.) and, at his death, held the rank of Master Sgt. and was the "senior enlisted military police officer" in the AK Air National Guard. He was a "Survival" and pistol instructor for the Guard. His AK Air National Guard Unit (the 176th Security Police Flight) won recognition as the top security unit in the entire Air National Guard.
Mizelle joined the Anchorage Police Dept. In 1983 upon his discharge from active duty in the Air Force. After graduating from the police academy he was assigned to the Uniformed Field Services Division. In 1986 he transferred to the Crime Prevention Unit and was assigned to oversee the Crime Stoppers program. He returned to patrol duty in March of 1989 (two months before his death) when budget cuts forced the closure of several crime prevention positions. Mizelle worked on the "graveyard" (midnight) shift for three months and transferred to the "swing" shift two days before his death.
One of Mizelle's last acts as a member of the Crime Prevention Unit was to hang four plaques on the wall honoring the four A.P.D. officers killed in the line of duty. Mizelle soon became the fifth (actually the seventh when two earlier deaths were later discovered) A.P.D. officer killed.
Officer Mizelle, a 5 & 1/2 year veteran, was likely the best known officer in the Anchorage Police Department at the time of his death due to his work in the Crime Prevention Unit where he made crime prevention presentations and public service announcements on behalf of the Crime Stoppers program. He was well known in the Anchorage schools as he frequently gave presentations on "Just Say No to Drugs." He served as coordinator of the Anchorage Police Dept. football game each year which donated proceeds to the AK Radio Reading Service (service for the blind). He was also active with the Special Olympics and was active in their fund raisers.
Lou Mizelle was a very active man outside of work and loved to go hunting, fishing, boating, bowling, golfing (he had a four handicap) and had even begun to take flying lessons before his death. In 1989 the Anchorage Police Dept. renamed its annual (each July) golf tournament the "Lou Mizelle Law Enforcement Golf Tournament."
Officer Mizelle had also been pursuing a college degree in criminal justice thru Wayland Baptist University and was only one semester from graduation at his death. He was also a graduate of the National Crime Prevention Institute.
Mizelle was not only well-known in Anchorage but was also well-liked by those with whom he came into contact. "He was a red-headed cop with the quick grin and a Kirk Douglas-cleft in his chin" and "had a contagious smile and a glint in his eye that would ignite a spark in your soul." He was the kind of person whom others instantly liked. |
Survived by: |
his daughter, Angel Mizelle, 15, of Sneads Ferry, his son, Brian Mizelle, 13, of Kirksville, MO; his parents, mother - Nettie Mizelle of NC; his sisters Sarah Louise Mizelle Shrum, 38, Muriel Mizelle Pawlik, 28, of NC, and Katherine Mizelle Coleman, 34, of TX; his brother, Alliston Wesley Mizelle, 24, of NC and his fiance, Sue McKenzie, of Anchorage.
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Fatal Incident Summary
Offender: |
Michael A. Washington
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Location: |
AK
USA
Tue. Jun. 06, 1989
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Summary: |
Louie Mizelle, 35, was fatally shot by a sniper in an "ambush" on June 5, 1989 and died 5 hours later (on June 6). His assailant, a mentally ill "drifter," was sentenced to 99 years in prison.
Around 9:30PM on Monday night, June 5, 1989, several residents of the Alaska Building Authority complex (a subsidized housing project) on N. Lane St. in the Mountain View section of the city, heard gunshots being fired from an upstairs apartment. One resident called police three times (9:28PM, 9:31PM & 9:37PM) before the police dispatcher broadcast a "non-urgent call" for an officer to respond at 9:45PM.
Officer Mizelle was at home when he heard the call for an officer to respond. He had already taken off his bullet-proof vest and had just finished dinner. He heard another officer (who was on a break) say that he had just ordered dinner and asked if someone else could respond to the call. Louie volunteered to go on the call and did not take time to put his vest back on.
Officer Mizelle arrived at the apartment complex at 9:49PM along with another officer, Walt Gilmour. Mizelle parked in the rear of the building in an alley while Gilmour parked in front allowing (according to procedure) the officers to approach the building from two different directions at once.
Just as Mizelle got out of his patrol car he was hit in the shoulder by gunfire from the second floor apt. His gun was already drawn and he got off at least two shots before he was hit again. He suffered "five gunshot wounds to his chest, stomach and leg." Unfortunately, Mizelle had failed to wear his bullet-proof vest that day. He was able to return fire with three rounds directed at the shooter in the apt. Mizelle's fire caused his assailant to stop shooting and seek cover and thus likely prevented other approaching officers from being shot.
Gilmour heard the shots and ran around the building and saw Mizelle on the ground. In an act of bravery, he drug the wounded officer to cover though he could clearly have met the same fate as Mizelle. The wounded officer was rushed to Humana Hospital-Alaska but died five hours later (at 3:00AM the next day, June 6) after unsuccessful surgery.
A force of approximately 75 officers soon arrived on the scene including the A.P.D.'s 19-member Crisis Intervention Team, canine officers, the explosives team and AK State Troopers. They closed off a six-block area while plotting their strategy from a command van. The mostly elderly and disabled residents of the complex were evacuated as the sniper remained in his second floor apt. "Then the long wait began."
Police first tried to negotiate with the gunman and to that end moved a robot with a telephone outside the apt. door. The gunman did not respond. Then A.P.D. Officer Kristin Miller, a trained negotiator, tried to talk to the gunman on a bullhorn. There was no response from the gunman. At 3:00AM word reached the "siege" force that Mizelle had died after surgery.
After it became clear that negotiations had failed, Miller announced to the gunman that they were going to "smoke him out." Police fired several rounds of tear gas into the apartment but the gas failed to force the gunman out. As morning began to break around 5:00AM, police decided "it was time to go in." Officers "fired in a device known as a 'flash bang' designed to stun its subject" and used a key to enter the apt. As the officers "burst" into the apt. they were led by a K-9 named Joker. The dog found the gunman on the floor and attacked, biting him on the arm.
The gunman, Michael A. Washington, 31, was taken into custody ending a seven-hour siege. He was first taken to a hospital for treatment and then held in the Cook Inlet Pre-Trial Facility on a $1 million cash only bail.
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Disposition: |
On Dec. 14, 1990, Superior Court Judge Karl S. Johnstone sentenced Washington to 99 years in prison and noted that Washington had "a history of contempt for law officers" and shot at Mizelle "knowing he was a policeman and intended to kill him." The restriction against any future parole was imposed by Judge Johnstone after he noted that Washington was an "extreme danger" to society "because he refused to acknowledge his mental illness and had a history of not taking medicine for it." |
Source: |
Book Excerpted in part or in whole from Dr. Wilbanks book-
FORGOTTEN HEROES: POLICE OFFICERS KILLED IN ALASKA, 1867-1998
By Dr. Wm. Wilbanks FL International University
To be published by Turner Publications in early 1999
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