Berks County 2011 homicides

[Zeke2A]

Berks in 2011 had the highest amount of homicides since 2005.With them spread throughout the county and not just centered in Reading. article was in today's Reading Eagle.

All the more reason why I carry.

[donotknowme]

link http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=357786



[QUOTE]The 21 homicides in Berks County in 2011 were the most in six years, a review of yearly statistics shows.

Berks hasn't had more than 20 homicides in any year since 2005, when 25 people were killed.

Of the 21 homicides in Berks last year, 12 occurred in Reading and nine were in other municipalities. That's in sharp contrast to the distribution in 2005, when 24 of the 25 killings occurred in the city.

Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams said the statistics underscore what he has been saying: No area is immune to serious crimes such as murder, robbery and rape.

"If there's any trend I think this gives you an example of the fact that serious crime can extend well beyond the city," Adams said. "We've had some serious crime not only in the city but in very rural areas."

The highest-profile slaying of 2011, the June 29 shooting death of Deputy Sheriff Kyle D. Pagerly in Albany Township, is a good example, said Adams, adding that it doesn't get much more rural than that far northern corner of the county.

Pagerly, a K-9 officer, was shot in the chest with an assault rifle fired by Matthew Connor, who then was killed by other law enforcement officers.

Connor, dressed in camouflage, had been hiding in a sniper's den in the woods behind his residence near Hawk Mountain when a U.S. marshals task force, which included Pagerly, arrived to arrest him on a warrant for an earlier incident in which he fired weapons during a confrontation with his family.

Last year's homicide total includes the killings of Connor and two other men, all of which Adams ruled justifiable homicides.

On Jan. 25, Victor Cataquet, 28, of Reading was shot and killed by a city police officer outside the residence of Cataquet's girlfriend in the 1100 block of Buttonwood Street after Cataquet shot her during an argument, then refused to obey the officer's commands to drop the gun.

The other justifiable killing was committed by a family member in self-defense after his wife was shot and killed during a domestic dispute in the family's Hamburg home on Jan. 8.

Jeremy Krieger, 40, fired a rifle at police after they pulled up to the house. When they returned fire, he fatally shot his mother-in-law, Joan Wagner, 62.

Krieger's father-in-law, Clayton Wagner, then shot and killed Krieger, according to Adams, who ruled it self-defense.

The killings of Joan Wagner and Krieger were among six last year committed by a family member or domestic partner.

Adams said he's impressed that just three of the cases involving four victims, all in the city, remain unsolved.

The district attorney said it could be a result of cooperation between law enforcement agencies.

Last year he formed the county Major Crimes Task Force to bring together the investigative resources of various municipal police departments and the district attorney's detective bureau office for serious crimes.

"Our solvability I think was excellent, which was evidence of good teamwork between not only our violent crimes task force but the state police and local authorities," Adams said.
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