Courtesy Gilchrist Co. Sherriff's office

Sgt. Noel Ramirez and Deputy Taylor Lindsey of the Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Department were eating dinner in a Trenton, Florida Chinese restaurant last night when John Hubert Highnote, of Bell, Florida shot both of them through a window. Both officers were killed.

The shooter was reported to have been “found dead” outside the restaurant, but how he died hasn’t been confirmed yet by police. While one report indicted he was shot by responders, other reports imply that he committed suicide after murdering the two officers.

As for the cause of the attack, Sheriff Robert D. Schultz III only had this to say:

We’re not going to make this a political issue, other than the fact: What do you expect happens when you demonize law enforcement to the extent that it’s been demonized? Every type of hate, every type of putdown that you can think of. The only thing these men were guilty of was wanting to protect you and me.”

 

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56 COMMENTS

    • To Sheriff Schulz and law enforcement everywhere, I say: What do you expect when you demonize the public and set yourself to lower standards than the public you demonize?

      Yes, I’m sorry two people were murdered. That doesn’t turn them into heroes.

        • Marty,

          No one is faulting any law enforcement officers for doing their best to capture thieves, rapists, and murderers.

          Having said that, there is plenty of fault with the overwhelming majority of law enforcement officers who routinely abuse their authority and who enforce unjust laws that are the result of legislative fiat — such as laws that prohibit the possession of firearms based on geographic location, ammunition capacity, barrel length, or how many times the firearm cycles with a single function of the trigger.

      • Hey Felix, anyone who goes to work everyday and puts their life on the line to protect you and me is a hero in my book douche bag.

  3. While I feel bad for the police officers killed by yet another psychopath with a gun. I also feel that deputy Schultz comment sounds like something else which has had the same hateful , trash talk , thrown at it lately. Its called the second amendment , and it has had many slurs ,and many disgraceful opinions thrown it’s way.

  4. I grieve for the two police officers murdered in Florida…
    I hope to God that this isn’t a case of “blowback”. I, like every other rationally sane person wants to see EVERY law enforcement officer go home alive to his family after his shift.
    There have been a number of questionable, and often blatantly obvious “mistakes” committed by police officers…shooting a crawling man for following police orders, shooting a man who was attempting to produce his identification, in both cases, the police officers “getting away with murder” because “they feared for their lives”–their standard “excuse” which almost always gets them off, without repercussions…
    All it takes is one mentally unstable, deranged individual or person with a “grudge” to see the uniform and not the person wearing it. Unfortunately, it is the majority of good cops who will be threatened by unstable individuals or those with a “grudge” for the actions of the few “bad” cops. By no means am I making excuses for anyone who assaults or murders a police officer. As I have stated previously, every police officer deserves to go home alive to his family after his shift.

    • There are some that deserve no such thing. These probably weren’t them though and that is a crime and a problem that should be attended to.

  5. BS, Schultz. Those deputies had no more obligation to protect any individual than any other government employee. I have no idea what their desire was, but the facts do not support your statement.

    I’m sorry they died, but they are no more subject to attack than anyone else… and had a great deal more discretion to defend themselves than many of the rest of us do.

    • He didn’t say obligation, he said desire, so stating “the facts do not support your statement” is superfluous and arguing for the sake of arguing at this point. Stop whining and give your inferiority complex a rest.

    • You’re also an idiot. The courts may have ruled law enforcement officers are not required to protect, but history shows us the vast majority do so without complaint. Out of the millions of contacts with the public every year, you take a few and turn it into many. Like I said you are an idiot.

      • The actual holdings are that there is a general “duty to protect the public” (i.e., do the job they are being paid to do, which is to respond as best as possible, to whatever situation arises), but no duty to protect specific individuals. (With some minor exceptions, of course.)

        • Do they actually say that some animals are more equal than others, or is it simply understood?

      • Well said.

        That’s 2 counties up from me and our Pasco county deputies have gotten a wake up call I believe.

    • This was left wing terrorism. Pure and simple. Failure to acknowledge that is helping to perpetuate it. This falls square at the feet of CNN, MSNBC, and all the other BLM and antifa supporting networks.

  6. The problem with the sheriff’s comments is that, while anti-police sentiment has certainly been revved up in the past decade, felonious killings of police officers have not. If there’s any causative effect, it’s so small as to be essentially undetectable.

    • There are more bad cops than there are good ones. The degree of how bad they are varies. It only takes a few bad people in leadership to turn the majority of the department into bad cops/people. Good people tend to quit being cops when they realize they are not helping Americans like they thought they would be. Eventually you end up with a police force of tyrants who are more worried about their own life and their co-workers’ lives over the people’s.

      Americans no longer like to fight and they are not brave. In the past Americans would have violently rebelled against the government if it was as it is today. Americans have just cause to engage the government with force of arms to return freedom to their State, but that’s not something Americans are willing to do anymore regardless of how much they claim that 1776 will commence if 2nd Amendment infringements are passed again. They can’t even bother to show up to argue with teenagers and inform them.

      Here and there a few black people have decided to sacrifice themselves to kill a few government agents. It doesn’t really help because they are attacking a pawn of no value. So they get killed, a cop gets killed and the dead cop is easily replaced. Now cops have a growing hatred for black men, white America starts to go back to their racists ways, black people lose the point of it all and the government controllers get more power.

      At the end of the day, a cop is a person in a government uniform. All the bad laws, all the bad politicians, all the bad cops, all the bad history, all the bad policies, all the bad protocols, etc, you represent all of it when you put on that uniform. The people (generally) won’t applaud you when you do the right thing because that’s what normal people do, it’s not special. Even if you are an awesome individual, while you are in that uniform you are still a physical representation of something that most people no longer think is a positive. It’s not surprising if you become part of a corrupt “brotherhood,” quit after a few years or eventually commit suicide.

      • Well said. Another thing I would add is that it’s is now well known that cops can commit murder with no consequences. I’m not referring to idiot gang bangers being killed after attacking cops, but the actual cases of legitimate murder. They are statistically still rather rare, but every time that happens with no consequences, more and more people who like the idea of being able to legally commit cold blooded murder are gonna be drawn to the only profession that allows it

        • Like you said, they are statistically quite rare, compared with the millions of contacts LEO’s make every year. Much more rare than criminals killing honest citizens with a gun every year. Yet, you make it sound like most of the cops are the bad guys most of the time. What I suggest, is folks like you put on a uniform even if just as a reserve officer in a large city. Then after maybe 6 months, tell me if you still think as you’ve written.

  7. “…What do you expect happens when you demonize law enforcement…”

    Sorry, but cops demonized themselves when they shoot dogs, tell the owner to behead it, cut the throats of pet cats, shoot kids, flash bang babies, illegally search your person, papers, and property, destroy your property, destroy evidence, take bribes for signing concealed carry licenses, trample the rights of Americans, bodyslam teenagers into the ground, I could go on and on.

    They are reaping what they sowed.

    • Some are sowing it for the rest. The problem is that the system is rigged to protect them and the majority of cops and officers of the court seem fine with that. Still, punishing person B for person A’s crime is not just, even if they did little to nothing to discourage it. I suppose that these two’s fate may in someway be partially a product of other officer’s negligence though. It seems that in too many places too many police don’t want to police or even have policed, their comrades. It is unfortunate that the innocent suffer either way.

      • Cops will charge you with murder if you happen to be hanging out with your friend when he decided to kill someone. Guilty by association (so to speak).

        If cops don’t want to be guilty by association they have to call out bad cops publicly, fire them and arrest them. Then the public will see they are not part of a gang of thugs, that cops are actually persons of integrity that are enforcing the law as it should be enforced [equally]. It will also help if cops didn’t go around writing tickets.

        • Local PDs were and still are recruiting. Just a few years ago, I was fresh out of the USMC and I passed on signing up with cops because I didn’t want to sign up with the criminals and the corrupt. There is also the fact that during EAS season, all the bullies were trying to get their foot in the door for LEO / base police, automatic discouragement for anyone with moral fortitude to sign up.

          I have very little if any sympathy for those that chose to sign up with organized gangbangers.

        • These arguments literally do not hold up at all. The only reason they are so prevalent here is cause “Gubbmit”. There is reform needed and any sort of department “wall of silence” needs to be smashed, but holding the whole as worthy of punishment and murder for the actions of others is unacceptable by any and all standards.

          This line of thinking is the exact same that justifies racism. It’s the same as saying black culture and values and upbringing causes their crime rate so they’re all to blame. BS

    • “cut the throats of pet cats” … wait what? I was with you until this, when did it happen?

      • We have some real nut cases/police hating/felon’s here commenting on the death of two human being’s. You sound like a bunch animals. You paint all police with a broad brush. Some of you have heard that distinct sound of ratching handcuffs and you probably deserve to hear it. Your hero’s must likely wear team uniforms or state correction serial numbers. You are the problem with our society

        • Hunter, thanks so much for your comments. To be honest, I was beginning to think most folks really did believe this crap. Agree, most of them probably are anti government and ex cons.

  8. And this story is buried so far below MSM headlines you need a pickaxe to find it. Two men get escorted out of a Starbucks, and it’s top news for days. Two dead cops? Meh.

  9. RIP deputies. And may your murderer rest in hell. And may the Broward cowards and their fearless leader sheriff Israel join you in hell.

  10. So were these guys in uniform, in public, sitting at a window, and so blissed out that they didn’t see a guy in time to defend themselves? Something seems fishy about that.

  11. I want to know more about this Highnote asshole. He sure as hell didn’t go out on a high note; that’s for sure.

    What was his causation – leftist asshole? On SSRI anti-depressant drugs? Antifa thug? “self-radicalized” Filthy Mohammedan Savage?

  12. Most cops are good guys, but they sometimes suffer because of the bad ones.

    Most gun owners are good guys, but they sometimes suffer because of the bad ones.

    That’s the way the world works, and it’s tragic.

    • I’m going to use what you said here when the subject of Gun owners or police comes up in conversation around work. They both need to be defended.

  13. Why should I give any thought to two cops who get shot dead compared to unarmed men in Arizona motels, Wichita front porches, or Sacramento backyards? Why should I give a crap about two people who sign up and ask for the danger to be shot at compared to men who don’t?

    You take the oath, you take the badge and gun, and you’re asking for it. When you get it and your family have to go to your funeral, that’s the choice you made to put on the uniform and act tough.

    I don’t care how many cops get blown away, they’re nothing but a burden on taxpayers who are held at gunpoint to pay up or get shot up. Police are just part of the inefficient system called government and need to be reigned in before more innocent Americans are killed.

        • Marty……Surprised that some of these weirdos haven’t said that they deserved to die because they were eating at a Chinese place. Some of these dudes have escaped the rubber room. It is a shame when society has lost it’s morals to where it’s o k to take out one’s gripes by committing murder. My condolences to the families of the deceased police officers.

          • Ed, I fear you’re right. To be honest I’m somewhat surprised to see so much anti law enforcement in these pages. I’m sure some are just the anti government idiots who are against all local, state and federal employees and whom feel they have the right to do whatever they want whenever they want. But you’re right, there are some real wack jobs commenting here. Many decades ago the saying was “If you don’t like the police, next time you really need help, call a hippie”. As a retired LEO, I appreciate your condolences to these officers.

        • Crack jokes all you want, I’ve already been assaulted by plain clothed thugs who had the wrong house and no warrant. Half of the family wanted to sue and the other half didn’t want the shit storm. I have to agree that they are both a taxpayer burden and blatantly evil. The gun and badge corrupts.

          • Never corrupted me or the vast majority of those I worked with. The department I worked in probably had the lowest corruption rate in the country. We actually had sgts who would go into restaurants to see if they gave discounts to cops. If they did, the restaurants would be told to knock it off or the department would put the restaurant off limits to officers. We weren’t even allowed to take a free cup of coffee from the local 7-11. Yea, we had a few cops go bad, but when caught would be criminally charged and brought to court. Yea, I know there are corrupt departments around the country, but from what I’ve seen, they are a tiny minority. But…One bad apple…

  14. It is unfortunate that wearing a badge is like wearing a target pinned to your chest, but these are not the first to be gunned down while eating. I recall incidents in Tacoma and Las Vegas off the top of my head.

    LEOs cannot afford to go to Condition White at any time while in public considering the concerted demonization of their function in society today. And they REALLY should not be sitting in window seats while they eat.

    RIP Officers. I hope you were some of the good guys and that some of the other good guys will learn from your misfortune.

    • Apparently the killer went inside, contrary to initial reports.

      As a rule, I don’t like eating in public, for multiple reasons (being shot at is low on that list). If necessary, it’s a good idea to take a position where you can see the entrances, etc. But even so it’s difficult to negate the risk of someone walking up, pulling out a handgun, and getting the drop on you.

      What’s more, every measure taken by the police to protect themselves from such an out-of-the-blue attack will tend to counteract the role many want them to play in society. It’s safer to isolate one’s self in mirrored shades with heavy body armor and an SMG at the ready but that’s not what people want of cops in the US and in many ways it would make the other aspects of policing (other than gunfights) more difficult.

  15. Farago’s cop hating stoner dumb@$$ might be absent from this forum after he sold out, but the low life cop hating losers he catered to over the years are still drawn to TTAG like stink on $#|T. Time will tell if the new TTAG ownership will carry on the Farago tradition of hating on the POLEECE.

  16. Waitress to cook..” It those two clops . won who shut us down flor duty florks. You whan spit in food this time?”

  17. “We’re not going to make this a political issue”…..but, I’m going to say something that is definitely going to make this a political issue. Lol

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