Last night was a very tragic night for everyone in law enforcement. DeKalb Co. (GA) PD officers Ricky Bryant, Jr. 26, and Eric Barker 33, were working an off-duty job at a high-crime apartment complex in the county. They were in their POVs, but they were in uniform. DKPD Chief Bolton is being mum about the investigation, but all accounts indicate both officers were ambushed and shot in the head.

“They had no chance,” quoting Chief Bolton. From Officer.com:

Patreka Anderson, a resident of the complex, said she was awakened by the gunshots but did not think anything of it because the neighborhood around the Glenwood Gardens apartment complex is a high-crime area with a lot of drug activity and prostitution.

“We always hear shooting,” she said. “I didn’t think that was any big deal.”

Teofil Taut, who said he has owned the 176-unit complex for about two years and lives in one of the buildings, said he hired police as part-time security officers in December to keep homeless people from breaking into the apartments.

Another resident, nurse’s assistant LaShawn Corbin, said she is considering moving, even if it means paying more for an apartment.

“We don’t expect the people who try to protect us to be hurt so seriously,” she said. Corbin said she would fear leaving her children there “because the person who did it has no conscience for human life.”

No conscience for a human life. Very well said. It takes hideously inhumane cowards to ambush cops to achieve whatever purposes they may have. I have no sympathy for these bastards, and I hope they want to go out “in a blaze of glory.” The glory will not go to you, you pussies. You deserve nothing but immediate death. You owe that to the two widows and eight children you’ve left fatherless. Punk-ass bitches. That’s what you are.

(Sorry for being so raw, but this hurts deeply.)

The earliest beliefs were that there were two suspects, but now there’s a possibility that there were up to 4. The reward as of this writing is at $55,000, but the Chief (and other LEOs) know that won’t help. Folks who live in projects like this very rarely “talk” about anything to which they might be a witness. But as Chief Bolton said, as he encouraged folks to come forward, stating that “today you are not my brother.” Chief knows who his brothers are, and they are the ones wearing blue.

Hey, Step… I know Ricky and Eric are already with you. Please give them the grand tour of heaven, and welcome them into the guard. Love you and miss you, brother, but you’ve got some more backup now when you need it. I miss you, Dennis Stepnowski… I really do, but I’m glad you’re there to be their welcoming committee at the gates of heaven.

Rest in peace, Officers Bryant and Barker. Rest in peace.

I’ve got local news reaction here, here and here.