Jose Simms has seven arrest warrants and is being sought after failing to appear in court.
US police are searching for a fugitive who failed to honour an agreement and surrender once enough people responded positively to his wanted poster on social media.
Jose Simms has seven arrest warrants and is being sought as a fugitive after failing to appear in court on charges ranging from breach of peace to risk of injury to a child.
He is believed to be somewhere in New York.
Lieutenant Brett Johnson, of Torrington Police in Connecticut, posted on the department’s Facebook page on Wednesday that Simms had contacted him through the social media site and agreed to turn himself in if the post containing his poster received 15,000 likes.
The page has easily passed that number, but still no sign of Simms or another fugitive, Kristopher Waananen, who has outstanding motor vehicle and failure to appear warrants.
He was mentioned in the same post, but without a similar agreement to surrender.
“Regardless of the number of ‘Likes’ this post receives, we will continue to utilize the resources we have available to us to locate both suspects and take them into custody,” wrote Lieutenant Bart Barown.
The deal led to some criticism. Maki Haberfeld, an expert in police ethics and procedure at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said Simms is using social media to manipulate the news media and police, who she said have no business negotiating a deal with a suspect, never mind one that involves likes on Facebook.
“It turns this into a joke,” she said. “People will start looking at these various violations of law as a game.”
On Wednesday, Simms had written he was a “man of my word” and he had decided to negotiate his surrender because “looking over your shoulder every 5 seconds can cause a lot of stress”.
He also responded to the original Torrington Police post, complaining about his mugshot on the site, calling it a “trash pic”.
“Jose, it’s the only one we had.hopefully we will get a ‘good’ one soon,” the department replied.
SEATTLE (AP) — A former Washington state police officer wanted after killing two people, including his ex-wife, was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound following a chase in Oregon, authorities said Tuesday. His 1-year-old baby, who was with him, was taken safely into custody by Oregon State Patrol troopers.
The troopers began chasing the ex-Yakima officer, Elias Huizar, when they saw him driving southbound on Interstate 5 near Eugene, Oregon, at about 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Huizar sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head; his condition was unknown, the West Richland, Washington, Police Department said in a Facebook post. The southbound highway lanes were closed and traffic detoured for the police response.
Huizar went on the run Monday afternoon after killing two people, including his ex-wife, Amber Rodriguez, 31, whom he shot eight times outside a West Richland elementary school in front of their 9-year-old son and other witnesses, police said. Rodriguez had recently obtained a protection order against Huizar.
Rodriguez worked at the school, while Huizar had recently worked as a substitute teacher in the Richland School District, the district confirmed in a Facebook post Tuesday.
Police did not identify the other victim, whose body was found later Monday at Huizar's house, except to say she was Huizar's girlfriend.
According to court records, Huizar, 39, had at least until early this year been living with a 17-year-old girl whom he met when she was 11 and he was a middle school resource officer in Yakima. He impregnated her when she was 15; their baby recently turned 1, Rodriguez wrote in seeking a protection order against Huizar.
The Yakima Police Department said in a Facebook post Tuesday that Huizar left the department in 2021 “after receiving discipline." It did not provide any other information.
In February, the 17-year-old girl reported to police that Huizar sexually assaulted a 16-year-old friend, who had passed out at their house. Huizar was charged with rape of both the teen and her friend. He was out on bail pending trial, authorities said.
Rodriguez wrote in her petition for a protection order that her divorce from Huizar became final last year and that she had not been aware that he was having a relationship with the same teen he had met as a resource officer until he was charged with rape.
She said she feared for the safety of her children and that she would be seeking a modification of their parenting plan. She filed for the modification last Friday, court records show. The protection order was issued in February and was to remain in effect for a year; under it, Huizar was barred from possessing firearms.
The Richland School District said it terminated Huizar's employment following his arrest in February. It said it had received recommendations from the Yakima School District before hiring him in 2022, and that he had passed background checks.
“We are extremely disheartened that information about Mr. Huizar’s past was not disclosed to us through the various processes we have in place to vet RSD candidates for employment,” the district said. “It is the expectation for individuals who apply for employment with RSD to be forthcoming and truthful in their applications.”
Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska.
This image provided by the West Richland Police Department shows Elias Huizar. Huizar, a former Washington state police officer, was on the run Tuesday, April 23, 2024, after killing two people, including his ex-wife, who had recently obtained a protection order against him, authorities said. The Washington State Patrol late Monday issued an alert that the ex-Yakima officer had fled with 1-year-old Roman Huizar. (West Richland Police Department via AP)
This image provided by the Washington State Patrol shows an Amber Alert poster with an image of Elias Huizar on it. Huizar, a former Washington state police officer, was on the run Tuesday, April 23, 2024, after killing two people, including his ex-wife, who had recently obtained a protection order against him, authorities said. The Washington State Patrol late Monday issued an alert that the ex-Yakima officer had fled with 1-year-old Roman Huizar. (Washington State Patrol via AP)
This image provided by the West Richland Police Department shows Elias Huizar. Huizar, a former Washington state police officer, was on the run Tuesday, April 23, 2024, after killing two people, including his ex-wife, who had recently obtained a protection order against him, authorities said. The Washington State Patrol late Monday issued an alert that the ex-Yakima officer had fled with 1-year-old Roman Huizar. (West Richland Police Department via AP)
