ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 3, 1997 TAG: 9704030025
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DON PETERSEN THE ROANOKE TIMES
There was nothing extraordinary about the scene at Caru Apartments in Northwest Roanoke when I arrived Tuesday night. The building where Deborah Casey and her daughter, Sharon Casey, had been slain was roped off. Several dozen police officers were on hand. Some were interviewing witnesses.
I saw flashes through the curtains of the victims' apartment. Police photographers were at work, shooting the crime scene and bodies.
An angry crowd of 75 to 100 people had gathered, many of them friends of the victims. Some were upset that police hadn't been able to prevent the slayings. The alleged killer, Miguel Ortiz, had been showing his gun around the apartment complex all day, one woman said.
In 19 years as a news photographer at The Roanoke Times, I'd seen dozens of murder scenes.
Suddenly, a woman came up and screamed hysterically that the man the police were looking for was hiding behind another apartment building. She ran back toward the building, with three or four officers following. I ran along behind them. Chaos ensued as the police, unable to find him, ran to one building, then another. As I started to follow them to the second building, I heard a woman scream, "He's right there! He's right there!"
A policeman grabbed a man right beside me.
That's when I raised my camera with a short telephoto lens and started shooting the pictures on this page.
Standing 10 to 15 feet away, I held the photo drive down to shoot continuously and followed along as the officer tried to wrestle Ortiz down. With the strobe flashing and the shutter opening and closing three to four times a second, none of the action registered with me. I just knew there was a struggle, and I tried to keep my camera trained on it.
I didn't even realize both men had their guns drawn until Ortiz escaped from the officer and walked away with his hands raised. In one hand was a gun. The struggle had lasted 12 frames - possibly four seconds.
With Ortiz loose, three officers aimed guns at him from just a few feet away. I changed cameras to a wide angle to get more of the scene and kept shooting. Ortiz refused to turn around or put down his weapon. He kept moving away.
All of a sudden, the three officers scattered and I heard them shout, "Take cover! Take cover!"
I stopped shooting and got behind the corner of a building. I couldn't figure out why they'd broken off contact, but I think they were doing everything possible not to shoot him.
Ortiz kept walking. He stopped, bent over and put the gun to his head. Then he stood up and began to rave and stalk about. He screamed for his mother and sister and kept asking if the Caseys were dead.
I was pretty certain he was going to kill himself.
I watched for a half-hour, waiting for the standoff to end, until I decided I had to leave to make deadline for the final edition. I felt I wasn't likely to get any better photos.
When I got to the paper and began editing my film, I knew the decision was the right one.
I also realized then how dangerous the situation had been. In the negatives, I saw how easily a gunshot could have come my way. I'd been lucky.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 9 color photos by Don Petersen. KEYWORDS: ROMURby CNB