Posted by Nicholas Stix
“The citizens of Washington have lost a humble public servant”
Posted: 4:25 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012
KIRO-TV
GORST, Wash. —
Investigators still don't know why a Port Orchard man shot and killed a Washington State Patrol trooper early Thursday morning and then took his own life later in the day.
The trooper, 44-year-old Tony Radulescu, had pulled over a green truck on State Route 16 near Anderson Hill Road Southwest around 1 a.m. and radioed dispatch to notify them of the stop, the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office said.
The State Patrol did not hear back from Radulescu for 15 minutes, so a Kitsap County deputy went to check on him, and found him slumped over the wheel of his patrol car, shot. Police said the suspect, Joshua Blake, had fled the scene in the truck.
Radulescu was transported to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, where he died of his injuries. A police procession escorted the ambulance from the hospital to the Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office.
Blake shot himself when police approached him at his home later in the day and died several hours later, leaving his motives a mystery.
"Every little detail we can find that's going to put that person back to 12:57 (a.m., the time of the shooting) with Trooper Radulescu on the freeway, we're going to look for," Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Ken Dickinson said.
Police found Blake's vehicle, a dark green 1999 Ford F350, at about 4:30 a.m. in some bushes in the 4200 block of Sidney Road in Port Orchard.
Radulescu's death set off a manhunt that culminated with police closing in on Blake's house on Southeast Scofield Road in a secluded, heavily wooded, rural area of Port Orchard. As officers approached, they heard a single gunshot. They found Blake inside soon thereafter, suffering from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Blake was taken to Tacoma General Hospital "to make sure every possible chance to resuscitate him [was] made by doctors," KIRO 7 reporter Richard Thompson said. Blake died at about 1:30 p.m., sources told reporter Kevin McCarty.
Video from Chopper 7 showed multiple buildings, trailers, shacks and vehicles in various states of decay. Debris was scattered around the property.
A neighbor said she did not know the people who lived on the property, but said she knew there were "various living situations" there.
Another neighbor, Theresa Meyers, said she had just returned home when she "heard the SWAT team guys saying, ‘Get down! Get Down! Get down now!’ and there were shots fired. It was very surreal."
As Meyers was watching KIRO 7's live coverage and speaking by phone with KIRO 7 news anchors live, she said saw the green truck associated with the trooper's shooting at the property before. Meyers said there had been "drug busts" and other police activity there in the past. She described the residents as "odd" and "paranoid," and knew that several people were living there on and off.
Chopper 7 video showed numerous officers at the scene and a SWAT vehicle.
Remembering Trooper Tony Radulescu
Trooper Radulescu, assigned to the state patrol office in Bremerton, was popular among coworkers and was well-known in the community for visits and presentations he did at local schools.
“We’ve lost a co-worker, and the citizens of Washington have lost a humble public servant,” said WSP Chief John R. Batiste. “Tony was the kind of person everyone wanted to be around, including me. I truly enjoyed working with him.”
Kitsap County Sheriff Steve Boyer had close ties to Trooper Radulescu.
"Never saw him without a smile on his face," he told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Kevin McCarty.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Batiste said Radulescu is the 27th officer lost since 1921.
Batiste said he had a “real sense of humor,” was highly thought of in the community and was in high demand for talks at local schools.
The Kitsap County Sheriff's Office is the lead agency investigating the shooting.
Six people now held in connection with trooper's murder
By Drew Mikkelsen
Bio | Email | Follow: @Drewmikk
KING5.com
February 27, 2012 at 5:30 a.m.
Updated yesterday at 5:21 p.m.
PORT ORCHARD, Wash. - When a member of law enforcement dies, there is usually an outpouring of support. But police say a group in Kitsap County took a different route following the death of Trooper Tony Radulescu.
Hours after his shooting, when police asked 18-year-old Megan Mollet if she knew the trooper's killer, Josh Blake, detectives say "she replied snidely that she knew lotsa Josh's.’”
Police say she not only knew Blake, but was with him when he pulled the trigger. She was in the passenger seat when the trooper pulled over Blake's truck, possibly for speeding.
Mollet later told police she was told to “roll down her window and turn her head.”
She said Blake grabbed a gun from the glove box and shot Trooper Radulescu in the face.
Mollet’s brother-in-law says she lied to police out of fear.
"She's a victim… she's traumatized by all of this really,” said Ray White.
Dan Carter is accused of finding a ride for Blake, and Andrew Bartlett and Corinne Nelson are accused of giving him a lift while he was on the run - with full knowledge of what he had done.
"It's just flat wrong. It can't be tolerated in a society,” said Kitsap County Sheriff Steve Boyer.
As the memorial for Trooper Radulescu grows, so does the anger for those who tried to help his killer.
"I think it's just senseless… and I think it's just tragic. The good guys aren't supposed to lose… and the good guys lost,” said Port Orchard resident Celia Murray.
Five of Blake's friends were arrested last week. Police picked up the sixth on Monday. It’s not yet known what role that man played.
Other than Josh Blake, the one thing police say all six have in common: methamphetamine use.
No additional information was released on the sixth person arrested. The other five include Blake’s ex-girlfriend Jessi Leigh Foster, who appeared in court Friday.
Investigators say she actively tried to help Blake get out of the area. The two are parents of a young girl.
Also arrested were a 26-year-old woman, a 30-year-old man and a 37-year-old man. These four face charges of rendering criminal assistance. Bail for each is set at $500,000.
A public memorial for Trooper Radulescu will be held Thursday at 1 p.m. at the ShoWare Center in Kent. Those wishing to attend are encouraged to carpool.
You can make a donation to the Anthony Radulescu Memorial Fund at any Key Bank branch.
Leave condolences on the Officer Down website
Man who lived where shooter in trooper slaying died charged with assistance
Kitsap County prosecutors on Tuesday charged a 43-year-old man for allegedly helping Josh Blake in the hours after he killed Washington State Patrol Trooper Tony Radulescu last week.
John de Leon
February 28, 2012 9:52 p.m.
The Seattle Times/(Tacoma) News Tribune
Kitsap County prosecutors on Tuesday charged a 43-year-old man for allegedly helping Josh Blake in the hours after he killed Washington State Patrol Trooper Tony Radulescu last week.
Steven M. Banks is the sixth person to be charged with rendering criminal assistance in the wake of the trooper’s death early Thursday. All six are being held in Kitsap County Jail on $500,000 bail each.
According to the certification of probable cause, Banks lived at the residence on Scofield Road where Blake, 28, and his ex-girlfriend, Jessi L. Foster, 32, hid as they tried to find a ride for Blake from the area.
Banks told investigators he had not invited Blake nor Foster to his home and that he suspected Blake was wanted by police, court documents say. However, prosecutors say he placed more than 30 calls during the approximately four hours Blake was there.
Banks told investigators he just “wanted them gone,” according to the documents.
Blake shot himself in the head as SWAT teams surrounded the home. He died at Tacoma General Hospital several hours later.
Radulesco was fatally shot after he pulled Blake over on state Route 16 near Gorst shortly before 1 a.m. on Thursday, according to the according to the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators say Blake told his 18-year-old passenger, Megan Mollet, to roll down the window and turn her head before shooting Radulescu.
Mollet has been charged with rendering criminal assistance.
Two other people, Corinne Leah Nelson, 26, and Andrew William Bartlett, 30, gave Blake a ride from a Port Orchard house, where he abandoned his truck, to the mobile home where he shot himself, authorities said. Another person, Daniel Lee Carter, 37, helped provide the getaway car, police said.
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