Oakland Cop-Killer Had Long Rap Sheet

He threatens mayhem in 911 call

(NEWSER) - Economic hard times took a deadly turn when a soon-to-be-fired 60-year-old California man apparently torched his foreclosed home and shot himself and his wife. Authorities found the remains of two people in the ashes of the suburban San Diego home after the man called 911 to report that he had shot his wife and was going to burn down their home. A neighbor thought the homeowner was joking when he threatened to set his house ablaze, but then "we're smelling gasoline, so we knew that he wasn't messing around," he told the San Diego Union-Tribune . More»

Intended target was group lambasted by Beck

(NEWSER) - The man charged with firing on Oakland cops in a highway shootout was on a rampage against liberals and hunting down Glenn Beck enemies. Unemployed carpenter Byron Williams was after the ACLU and the Tides Foundation, a particular favorite villain of Glenn Beck, who has repeatedly lambasted the organization as part of President Obama's "liberal cabal." Williams opened fire on cops earlier this week while on his way to "start a revolution" because he was upset about Congress' "left-wing agenda," according to his mom. More»

(NEWSER) - Charles Mason has reached out to former music producer Phil Spector, sending the actress-killer fan mail in the California prison they now share, reports the New York Post. Manson, a mediocre musician before he turned cult leader, sent Spector a note via a guard that he wanted to meet and thought he was the greatest producer who ever lived, said Spector's wife, Rachelle. "It was creepy," she told the Post. "Phil didn't respond." More»

(NEWSER) - Law enforcement officers from across the country descended on Oakland today for the funerals of four cops gunned down by a fugitive last weekend, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. All 815 members of the Oakland force attended while officers from other jurisdictions patrolled the streets in their stead. An overflow crowd that included 19,000 officers from as far as New York and Boston filled two stadiums. More»

(NEWSER) - Three Oakland police officers were shot to death today and a fourth is on life support after two separate incidents with the same man, the Oakland Tribune reports. The first two officers, both motorcycle cops, were shot and killed about 1:15pm after making a traffic stop. The suspect fled on foot, and police tracked him down about two hours later. When they stormed his building, two more officers were shot and the suspect was killed. It's not clear what prompted the original shooting. More»