Springfield Police Department Officer Kevin Ambrose was murdered while doing the most dangerous job a police officer has: attending a domestic dispute call. Ambrose, a 36-year veteran of the department, is survived by his wife, two children and a granddaughter.
My condolences and prayers go out to the family of Officer Kevin Ambrose as they try to come to terms with the senseless and untimely loss of their husband, father and grandfather.
My prayers also go out to Charlene Mitchell as she fights for her life in hospital, and to her family as they do whatever they can to help her in her hour of need.
The deranged murderer, Shawn Bryan, had a restraining order placed against him by his former girlfriend Charlene Mitchell. The two had been separated for 11 months according to news reports, but despite his being employed by the New York City Department of Corrections, Shawn Bryan felt violence was the only way to resolve his differences with Mitchell.
As a result a good man is dead and a woman is in hospital fighting for her life. The only upside here is that the murderer himself is dead. That fact is little consolation to the family of Kevin Ambrose or Charlene Mitchell, however.
Springfield Police Commissioner William Fitchet said,
“It is with great regret and remorse that I announce a Springfield police officer was killed this afternoon.”
Commissioner Fitchet related the known facts at a press conference announcing the death of Officer Ambrose.
According to Fitchet, Mitchell called 911 at 12:47 p.m. to report that she had seen her estranged boyfriend, Bryan, near her apartment in violation of a restraining order and she was in fear for her life.
The restraining order had been issued roughly 30 minutes earlier by Springfield District Court.
Fitchet said Ambrose, who was patrolling that sector of Sixteen Acres in a one-man car, was the first officer to arrive on the scene. Other cars were also responding to the scene but had not yet arrived.
When Ambrose arrived on scene, Mitchell and Bryan were outside together. After a brief discussion, Ambrose escorted Mitchell and Bryan inside to Mitchell’s apartment on the third floor. The court order allowed for Bryan to remove some of his belongings from the apartment, Fitchet said.
Once at the door to the apartment, Bryan suddenly turned violent, Fitchet said.
He shoved Mitchell inside the apartment and barricaded himself inside, Fitchet said. Ambrose tried pushing the door open from out in the hallway.
It was at that point, Fitchet said that Bryan “shot officer Ambrose through the door, striking him once,”
He then opened the door again and shot Ambrose again.
Bryan then went back inside, shot Mitchell once, and then left the building. He went to his car, got inside and shot himself in the chest.
Please contact the Springfield Police Department to send condolences or to obtain funeral arrangements:
Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet
Springfield Police Department
130 Pearl Street
Springfield, MA 01105
Phone: (413) 787-6302
NYC is a jurisdiction where the woman who was in justifiable fear for her life would not have reasonable legal access to a C.C.W. to protect her own life.
If she had a concealed handgun then she would have been able to shoot the violent ex-boyfriend after he shot the officer through the door the first time, perhaps saving the officers life.
At the very least she could have shot him when he re-entered the apartment door after shooting the officer the second time. At that point she surely knew he meant to kill her, too.
Even a uniformed armed police officer was unable to protect her, though he arrived before she was attacked.
The killer must have presented a low threat persona to the seasoned officer, otherwise he would have kept them separate until another squad car arrived.
The major mistake the officer made was not frisking the boyfriend for weapons outside before offering to escort him and her into the apartment. I’d wager that would be normal protocol.
He would have known the boyfriend was a Corrections Officer, and may have viewed him more as fellow Peace Officer than a threat. Though that should have also alerted him to a high likelihood that he would be armed.
It is rare to encounter an individual who is intent on both murder and suicide but those few are truly dangerous.
Larry, as a Springfield Police Officer its hard reading things by people like you who have no clue what you are talking about. First you talk about NYC’s law with respect to a CCW permit, this happened in SPRINGFIELD MASSACHUSETTS.
So I don’t know why you complain about NYC laws when they don’t apply in this story since, and here it come again, this happened in SPRINGFIELD, MASSAHUSETTS. Now that we have established that.
She could have easily gotten a CCW here. So if she had one and then had a gun, I guess your right about that. And on a quick side note the notion that a woman cant get a CCW in NYC is foolish, NO ONE CAN, they even give cops a hard time about carrying guns if they are not on duty.
Check your facts and don’t bring your complaints about NYC into this story, try to separate the two. You dare say my freind Kevin didnt protect her, I wish you could say that to my face or to his wife’s face, you dont know what you are talking about.
Kevin no doubt saved her life and probably her child’s life. You think you know how do the job so much beter than Kevin, a 36 year vetern Police Officer. We can’t just pat frisk people because we feel like it, there are certain factors that have to be present. You have clearly established that you know nothing about the law in Massachusetts or New York, go read a book.
Its good that you talk you crap on here and not to the face of one of Kevins freind’s, family or co-workers. You are clearly an ignorant and foolish person.
Thank you to the springfield officer who wrote in response to larry. I had the same exact feelings reading his sickening hear say story. If you don’t know facts please for everyone who knew kevin keep ignorant comments to yourself. This is honestly the first comment i’ve read in a few weeks that actually makes my skin crawl. There is no changing what tragic loss has happened and our lives forever no doubt are changed and my heart is empty….and it does not help anyone when total strangers and complete assholes talk about ny laws to make some “justified”point and a police officers mistake at the time of his untimely death. Shame on you larry