Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-01-21
Police Fusillade
Kills Slayer
OF Detective
Bullets Rip House
Of Man Resisting
Sanity Warrant

hideout.
Detective Russell C. Petite, 80,
Of 1916 North Seventeenth street.
Arlington. died Of q single bullet
wound In the head.
He had gone with other police
men to the home Of Jack Carl
Parks. "a, Of 1908 North Taylor
street, to take him into custody
for q sanity hearing.
Police had been warned that
Parks was armed and dangerous.
County Court Judge Paul D.
Brown said Parks mother. Mrs.
Nora Mae Parks, Is, a depart
ment store cashier. had come to
the Courthouse about 8 am.
yesterday, asking that her son be
committed to q mental 4institu-
ton. She said her son had
threatened her with q pistol I'VE
times since Thanksgiving and.
on Tuesday night, had beaten
her with q pistol.
Was Crack Shot.
Mrs. Parks warned that her
son was q crack shot and carried
o loaded pistol at all times.
Judge Brown signed q warrant
for arrest Of "a person alleged
to be mentally unsound." A sani-
ty commission was to have met
today to consider whether the
man should be committed.
The warrant went to Deputy
Sheriff Theodore w. Frederick.
This is Mr.. Frederick'S report
to Sheriff Carl Taylor late yes
terday:
"As our other men were all
In court or on the road, went
to the police department for q
man to go with me. Detective
Sergt. Russell Runyon was in
charge of the detective bureau.
and he detailed Detectives Rus
sell Petite. Bernard Reyes and
Robert Payne to this assignment.
LOCASO III DG0BOOl1e
1--WE went to 1908 North Tay-
Ior street with Mr.. Parks mother.
Mrs. Nora Mae Parks. She I'M
locked the front door. We went
In. His bedroom was just OF
the kitchen. His bedroom was
locked with hook. which left
about q one-ineh space took
through. Parks seemed 10 be
asleep, so we tried to open the
door with q knife but failed:
At that time, Parks awuke, rolled
of the bed and got q sawed-oh
shotgun, dropped the shotgun
and picked up pistol.
HE backed on into . corner
and pointed the pistol at the
crack in the bedroom door. I i'm
mediately backed away. Detec-
tive Petite took a look, and !
told the other officers that we
should go back to the courthouse
Immediately and get q ruling,
because I felt somebody was go
ing to get hurt.
I'VE came back to the court
house, got in touch with Assist
ant Commemorative Attorney
Louis KoutoulakoS. and he ruled
that the man had to be gotten
out of the house but to try not
to hurt him and by no means to
get ourselves hurt. We then got
in touch with Capt. (Walter) Bell
of the police department and
told him what we needed.
Argue Over Loudspeaker.
Major civilian g. Fawver.
Capt. raymond So Cole, Capt.
Bell, Sergt. ernest A. Summers
and Detectives Petite, Reyes and
Payne and myself then armed
ourselves with ShotgunS, tear
gas ETC., and went back
to 1908 North Taylor street.
We tried to talk Parks out with
q loudspeaker. It was impossi-
BILE. Then we shot tear gas into
the basement and into the bed
room. After that, We went into
the house. We could hear him
up in the attic, and we tried
again to talk him out. This also
failed.
Detective Petite walked out in
the front yard with Capt. Bell
right beside him. I was about 6
feet from him, but was protected
by the caves Of the porch. Sud-
denly Capt. Bell shouted for
Petite to please get back because
the man was up in the attic and
could probably see through the
louvres. In the same instant,
we heard the gun report and saw
Detective Petite fall, MORALLY
wounded.
Maj. Fawver then took charge. 4
The police started Kidding the
house from basement to attic.
Park Police and Fairfax County
Police arrived with machineguns
and they just about tore the
place up. The officers then went
into the basement, through the
first floor and UP into the attic,
where they found Jack Carl
Parks lying on the floor shot"
Policemen Praised.
One witness said that as police
cars whirled up to the area. sit
looked like an army"
County Manager A. r. Lund-
berg praised Mr.. Petite and the
work Of other policemen at the
scene. The manager said police
men faced a difficult task in pro-
.tecting residents Of the thickly
settled area.
No policeman had drawn a
weapon at the time Detective
Petite was shot.
Capt. Bell pulled the detective
toward the porch to shield him
from further bullets, but saw
that he was dead.
Police said Parks fired only
one shot besides the one he fired
ct Detective Petite. The second
shot was wild.
When the house was quiet
police rushed In and aearched