|
|
| Inmate holding hostage shot dead |
| By The News Journal |
| Published: 07/13/2004 |
|
A nearly seven-hour standoff at the Delaware Correctional Center ended Monday when a law enforcement officer shot to death a convicted serial rapist who had taken a female counselor hostage at knife point. Authorities said a member of the Correction Emergency Response Team fatally shot 45-year-old Scott A. Miller from close range at 4:55 p.m. when it appeared that the female hostage's life was in "imminent danger." The 27-year-old hostage, who was not identified, was evaluated after her ordeal in the Smyrna facility and admitted to an area hospital. Prison officials would not say whether she was injured. State Department of Correction spokeswoman Beth Welch said officials had remained in constant contact with the victim's family throughout the day. An autopsy will be conducted on Miller. The New Castle man was serving a 699-year sentence for a series of rapes that terrorized women in Wilmington in 1997. In the first six months of that year, Miller assaulted eight women - tying them up and raping them inside their homes - and kidnapped a ninth woman. Welch said Monday's standoff began at 10:30 a.m. in the facility's medium-high unit, where Miller took the counselor hostage using a handmade knife. The support building houses two dining halls, kitchen facilities, a gym, a video court unit, education space, a law library, a commissary facility and offices for staff, including offices for counselors, mental health and medical staff, Welch said. About 535 inmates are housed in the unit, a step down from maximum security. Inmates incarcerated there have more privileges than those in maximum security but fewer privileges than the prison's general population, she said. "They were communicating all day," Welch said of the negotiators, who are trained to respond to all types of prison incidents, including hostage situations, riots and inmates who refuse to come out of their cells. Welch said late Monday the team was being debriefed and the state police and Department of Correction had begun a joint investigation. "It's too soon to talk about the hows and whys of what happened," she said. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think