THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 7, 1995 TAG: 9506070449
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
John R. Langowski, the former Norfolk police officer who shot a Kmart security guard last year while trying to steal a microwave oven, was sentenced Tuesday to 26 years in prison and fined $21,000.
The guard, Brad Bell, was shot in the throat April 1, 1994. He was in the courtroom when the sentence was pronounced, clenching his fist in victory.
``The crime you committed was a very serious crime,'' Judge Thomas S. Shadrick told Langowski, confirming the jury's recommended sentence. ``We're all very fortunate that Mr. Bell is still with us.''
Shadrick ordered that Langowski serve his 26 years consecutively with a previous 93-year sentence he had received in Hampton for a prior robbery.
It would not be adequate punishment, Shadrick said, to let Langowski serve the sentences concurrently.
Later, Bell said he was satisfied with the sentence. He said he still has constant pain in his right arm. The bullet passed through his throat and lodged in his skull at the back of his head, near a bundle of nerves.
``He shot me exactly where police officers are taught to shoot people,'' Bell said.
The shooting happened at Chimney Hill Shopping Center. A store supervisor noticed Langowski heading for the exit with a $189 microwave oven in his shopping cart.
Security guards stopped Langowski as he was leaving the store. Bell, who was not armed, tried to detain Langowski but witnesses said Langowski shot Bell with a .22-caliber pistol, then fled.
In February, a jury convicted Langowski of malicious wounding and petty larceny. He pleaded guilty to illegal use of a firearm.
Langowski's attorney, public defender Andrew G. Wiggin, asked the judge to give Langowski a break. He noted that Langowski surrendered to police and had a good military record. He said this was the only case in which Langowski had shot a man.
But Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Humphreys argued against reducing the jury's sentence. If not for a nurse who happened to be in the checkout line when the shooting happened, ``Mr. Bell might not be here with us today.''
Humphreys also noted that Langowski was a suspended police officer at the time. ``There really is nothing worse than a bad cop,'' he said. ``It undermines every ounce of respect'' that police earn with the public.
VIRGINIA BEACH - John R. Langowski, the former Norfolk police officer who shot a Kmart security guard last year while trying to steal a microwave oven, was sentenced Tuesday to 26 years in prison and fined $21,000.
The guard, Brad Bell, was shot in the throat April 1, 1994. He was in the courtroom when the sentence was pronounced, clenching his fist in victory.
``The crime you committed was a very serious crime,'' Judge Thomas S. Shadrick told Langowski, confirming the jury's recommended sentence. ``We're all very fortunate that Mr. Bell is still with us.''
Shadrick ordered that Langowski serve his 26 years consecutively with a previous 93-year sentence he had received in Hampton for a prior robbery.
It would not be adequate punishment, Shadrick said, to let Langowski serve the sentences concurrently.
Later, Bell said he was satisfied with the sentence. He said he still has constant pain in his right arm. The bullet passed through his throat and lodged in his skull at the back of his head, near a bundle of nerves.
``He shot me exactly where police officers are taught to shoot people,'' Bell said.
The shooting happened at Chimney Hill Shopping Center. A store supervisor noticed Langowski heading for the exit with a $189 microwave oven in his shopping cart.
Security guards stopped Langowski as he was leaving the store. Bell, who was not armed, tried to detain Langowski but witnesses said Langowski shot Bell with a .22-caliber pistol, then fled.
In February, a jury convicted Langowski of malicious wounding and petty larceny.
He pleaded guilty to illegal use of a firearm.
Langowski's attorney, public defender Andrew G. Wiggin, asked the judge to give Langowski a break.
He noted that Langowski surrendered to police and had a good military record. He said this was the only case in which Langowski had shot a man.
But Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Humphreys argued against reducing the jury's sentence. If not for a nurse who happened to be in the checkout line when the shooting happened, ``Mr. Bell might not be here with us today.''
Humphreys also noted that Langowski was a suspended police officer at the time. ``There really is nothing worse than a bad cop,'' he said. ``It undermines every ounce of respect'' that police earn with the public.
KEYWORDS: SHOOTING ASSAULT INJURIES
ARREST SENTENCING by CNB