US Marshals Involved in Multiple Shootings This Week

US marshals were involved in multiple shooting incidents over the past week, according to several law enforcement press releases. Shootings occurred in Cleveland, Ohio; Portland, Oregon; Millen, Georgia; and New York City.

On Dec. 4, members of the US Marshals Service Violent Fugitive Task Force tracked 31-year-old Dewayne Taylor to Albuquerque, New Mexico. According to a Cleveland Division of Police press release, Taylor was wanted for a “parole violation with an underlying burglary charge.”

When deputy marshals attempted to arrest Taylor, the press release details that he allegedly threatened the officers with a firearm before fleeing. Taylor, a Pennsylvania resident, was tracked to a Walmart parking lot in Cleveland, Ohio, on Friday. When officers attempted to arrest him there, Taylor allegedly threatened them with a firearm again. 

Officers fired shots at Taylor and wounded him with an unknown number of gunshots. According to the press release, medical personnel from the Cleveland Emergency Medical Service treated and transported Taylor to the Metrohealth Medical Center. 

A firearm was recovered by law enforcement, and CDP said Taylor’s wounds are non-life-threatening and he remains “confined” while receiving treatment in the hospital. Officers from the CDP Violent Fugitive Task Force, the USMS, and the Euclid Police Department were involved in the shooting incident. 

Officers from the CDP Police Force Investigation team are investigating the shooting incident. No law enforcement officers were hurt during the incident. 

According to a US Marshals Service press release, members of the USMS Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force were searching for Jonathan Crowley, 31, in Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday. The Oregon Department of Corrections issued a warrant from the Oregon Department of Corrections. He has been a wanted fugitive since Sept. 24. 

The task force located Crowley, and officers attempted to arrest him. The press release states that “Initial reports indicate the suspect threatened the lives of law enforcement officers with his vehicle, whereupon he was shot by a Deputy U.S. Marshal.”

Crowley was treated and transported to a local hospital following the shooting, and no officers were injured during the incident. He was later discharged from the hospital and is now booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center. 

The Portland Police Bureau said it is conducting an investigation into the shooting and clarified that it had no officers involved with the shooting incident.  

On the same day, US marshals from the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, the Jenkins County Sheriff’s Office, and the Millen Police Department were searching for 29-year-old Larry Jackson, a wanted fugitive, in Millen, Georgia. 

Officers from the combined agencies were carrying out an arrest warrant that was issued for charges of “aggravated assault and strongarm robbery,” according to a USMS press release. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the charges were in connection with a previous domestic dispute.

According to both GBI and the US Marshals Service, two deputy marshals located Jackson after Millen police officers were in a foot pursuit of him. The USMS said that Jackson threatened the officers with a firearm and one of the two deputy marshals fired a single shot, striking Jackson.

Jackson was transported to Augusta University Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, in critical condition. No officers were injured during the incident, and both the USMS and the GBI confirmed a weapon was recovered from the scene of the shooting. The GBI is leading the investigation into the shooting. 

Deputy US marshals with the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force and officers from the New York Police Department were searching for 35-year-old Andre Sterling in the Wakefield section of the Bronx in the early morning of Dec. 4. 

Sterling was wanted for the shooting of Massachusetts State Trooper John Lennon on Nov. 20.   

At some point while officers were searching the area, an exchange of gunfire occurred between law enforcement and Sterling. Two deputy marshals and Sterling were struck by the gunfire.

Sterling was pronounced dead at the scene. One deputy marshal was shot in the leg, and the other was shot in both his arm and his leg. Both deputy marshals were taken to a local hospital for treatment and are expected to recover.

Out of hundreds of warrants served throughout the year, some of them result in fugitives and/or law enforcement officers shot. 

Law enforcement from both local, state, and federal agencies carry out warrants regularly. Some warrants are issued for smaller charges like failure to appear in court, but others can be issued for murder, rape, sex trafficking, and/or armed robbery. When it comes to dangerous fugitives wanted by the law, they won’t always let law enforcement bring them in peacefully.

“You’re not going to get everybody to surrender. Those that are wanted for very violent situations, they’re never going to try to turn themselves in, more than likely, no matter what — and they haven’t,” Peter Elliott, Northern Ohio US Marshal told Coffee or Die Magazine in a previous interview. “They’re going to shoot it out with the police. They’re not going to want to go to jail — they don’t care. They’ve murdered, they’ve raped, they’ve robbed. They, you know, in their minds, they’re not going to put down their guns and surrender.”