1998: Taft gun shop owner killed in gun shop. Suicide or murder?

[tenpercentfirearms]

We brought this up in another thread and I just did some research on it. Be sure to click the links for photos. Leave your comments.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=16765

[tenpercentfirearms]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=16849

[tenpercentfirearms]

continued...

"Did someone hit him during a struggle?" she wonders. "It looks like it could be from a gun butt. Or perhaps it happened when he fell. Whatever it was, it certainly looks like it was inflicted externally, and we'd like to know what caused it."

More photos.

"Here, look at these." she says, then challenges, "Do you see anything funny about these pictures?"

Death scene, with Howell's body as it fell
In the first, Howell is shown lying on the floor in front of his desk -- there's a space between the desk and a small safe. In the next shot the safe has been pushed up against the desk.

"Someone's moved furniture," she points out. "They're not supposed to do that. So the question is, why did they? Who did it? How much more furniture was moved about like this?"

Asked about the apparent furniture moving, Sgt. Johnson told WorldNetDaily he'd have to review the photos, but "everything in them would be as it was when the investigators got there. We'd search for expended rounds and casings, but as far as the photographs showing the body still there, nothing was moved."

Johnson said that the search for spent casings would not be conducted until after the body was removed.

"It'll take a long time to get to the bottom of this case," Kathleen Faulkner says. "We're waiting to hear back on some tests. We've found definite holes in the official account, some things just don't make any sense -- these are just a few of them -- we have to sort everything out and put it together."

Sarah Foster is a staff reporter for WorldNetDaily.

[GW]

So...
What has happened in the 9 years since this story was printed?

[metalhead357]

So...
What has happened in the 9 years since this story was printed?

The question/issue came up in another thread.....................

Just as you said Ten..... I wasn't there & now only know what I've read. And with what I've read though the shoot 'seems' justified....somthing still smells slightly rotton.........I'd really like to think I'm wrong though.

[M. Sage]

Hope you don't have a scooter "accident"!!! Watch your back, man.

[hoffmang]

Someone should put a call in to Faulkner and Faulkner to find out final disposition of the family's suit.

-Gene

[Pthfndr]

Interesting.

You know, there's a member - here or arfcom, I don't remember which - who goes by the name Whiting, and is LE somewhere in central CA.

Same one?

[tenpercentfirearms]

What do you guys make of the picture of the Colt with its safety on?

[tenpercentfirearms]

how can the safty be on with the hammer down

Bingo!

[E Pluribus Unum]

It’s kind of interesting you bring this up.

I knew Darryl Howell
I know Ed Whiting
I know Dr. Peace
I was living in Taft at the time of the shooting. As a matter of fact I was at the barber shop across the street the day it happened although not at the time.

Darryl Howell:
The reason the whole town was "up in arms" over this situation was for the most part, everyone liked Darryl. He was a jovial person. I liked him; I was fairly young at the time of the shooting (20) and I used to go in and talk to him about handguns so that when I turned 21 I could buy it from him; I was going to on my birthday as a matter of fact. He was VERY helpful to his customers; to his own detriment I feel (discussed later).

Let me tell you about what the papers don't talk about. Darryl was the most gung ho- patriot militiaman self proclaimed freedom fighter out there. There are a lot of them in Taft; and were a lot more of them 10 years ago when this happened. If one went into his gun store he would talk about every able-bodied man being a "soldier in Christ" that must arm himself for the impending battle with the government. He felt that his constitutional rights were being violated and he was not going to stand for it. His opinions were not unlike many of us here and it is certainly the norm for Taft residents. I could ask Ed but I am sure that better than 90% of the trucks pulled over in Taft have some kind of firearm in them and there are lots of trucks.

Was he selling illegal guns? I don't think so... I will tell you later what I think he was doing.

Ed Whiting:
Ed Whiting has been on the Taft police department for a long time. I have hung out with him several times and I know him to be a good man. With regards to the OLL situation he and his chief like the fact that personal AR-15s are accessible again. I don't really feel comfortable releasing any details about our conversations on a public forum but let me just suffice it to say that I know enough about the man that he is a good man. He definitely has the "police officer" persona and attitude but when one's been on the job so long, its part of the package.

Dr. Peace:
I took a political science class at Taft College with this guy. This guy is the most liberal, tree hugging POS in Taft Kern County. In the news report he criticized Ed for shooting him in the Torso saying that the police should shoot an armed gunman in the leg. He does not believe that police should even have guns; after all, Britain does not have any. This guy is the King of liberals and should be scrutinized. He is very intelligent and that is a dangerous combination.

The Incident:
Let me preface this by saying: I HAVE NEVER SPOKEN TO ED WHITING ABOUT THE SHOOTING. It happened 10 years ago and at the very least he shot someone and it can be a touchy subject so I have avoided it.

That being said I know the following about the "official" account.

The ATF supposedly had a 4 year investigation on Daryl. He was supposedly selling fully automatic weapons. The ATF came to the Kern County Sheriff and the Taft PD and said basically "Hey, we are going to serve this warrant on this location" as is standard practice.

They were taking Daryl into custody when he got away from the arresting officer, ran in the building and grabbed his gun under the register. The ATF agent said "GUN, don't do it" at which time Ed spun around and shot Daryl three times. Just before Ed shot his first shot Daryl shot himself in the head with a .45.

Suspicion:
The suspicion lies in there was a few hour period between 10am when the warrant was being served and later that afternoon when the coroner removed the body. Some "weird" things at the crime scene made people speculate that the scene was staged. On top of this, no illegal weapons were ever found.

Rumors:
The rumor going around Taft shortly after the shooting was that Darryl asked if he could lock his register, and THAT’S when he pulled the gun. One version was that he pulled it to kill himself; the other was that he pulled it to shoot the police. The other rumor was that Darryl and Ed hated each other and had previous problems with each other. These things are just rumors and absent of relevant testimony they should not be considered.

The cover-up:
There are several things that don't add up. I am the first one to point out things about the government having too much power and people covering it up. Were I ever picked for a jury I would have to recuse myself because I am very leery of the patriot act and some of the other travesties on civil liberties that have occurred in recent years.

I do not trust the Taft PD shooting review board. Why? Not because they are dishonest but because it is a small town. Anyone from the big city does not understand how small towns work. There at the 332 club in downtown Taft there is a fight almost every night and the police don’t get called unless someone got shot or stabbed. I am sure there are more officers in LAPD that don’t know each other than do. This is not the case with Taft PD, or the city of Taft. There are very few in the town that have lived there for 10 years or more that everyone does not know. Now what if you were a police officer, on a shooting review board, where you’re good friend and colleague, the guy that you will call for backup if your butt is ever on the line, and you know he is a good cop. Are you going to punish him for shooting a bad guy even if the shooting was not justified? I say bad guy not because Darryl was a bad guy but in the stance that he was the perp… guilty or not, in a cop’s eyes, he’s the perp. It’s not the police’s job to determine guilt or constitutionality. They enforce the law regardless of their personal feelings (in theory).

In Defense:

I could see if the TPD or KCS did an investigation and it went south and someone died. I could see at least the possibility that the scene was staged. I do not believe so in this case. The ATF agent does not know Ed Whiting or the Sheriff Deputy. If Ed Whiting messed up why would the ATF agent lie to cover his butt? The ATF agent would be mad at Ed for messing up a 4 year investigation. If the ATF agent messed up then why would Ed Whiting and the KCS deputy lie to protect a fed they do not know? It just does not make any sense. Here is the key point. The coroner’s report stated that the fatal shot was a .45 caliber to the head. Ed Whiting’s three shots impacted post mortum. Furthermore they were not fatal injuries. Had he not been shot in the head he would have survived Ed’s shots.

What I think happened:

I think KCS and TPD knew nothing of Daryl and only went along for backup. I think Daryl was selling LEGAL guns and then helping the owners of said guns modify them post sale. Taft has a lot of rednecks (nothing wrong with that). Many of them would (and do) modify their weapons all the time for full auto spouting constitutionality and the like. Darryl was a nice enough guy that if a friend asked him to help him, he would have. I think his friends and good customers asked him to help them, he did, and when they got popped they turned over and said that Darryl sold them the gun already modified. The ATF then got a warrant and was a little rough on him. I don’t know if Darryl went to the gun to kill himself or kill the ATF agent; either way it does not matter, Darryl went for the gun. The better choice would have been to go to jail, bond out, and fight it in court. If you believe that Daryl had no part in his own death then you are saying that three sworn peace officers who did not know each other conspired to kill him for no other reason than he sold fully automatic weapons. Trust me, if they were going to do that they would have chose someone who sells meth to kids or some other crime like that. If full auto weapons were legal in California, Ed would be at the range with you having a good time. He is an avid outdoorsman and writes gun reviews for a magazine; he is not the zumboist by any means.

Closing:
In the end it was just a chain of unfortunate events that lined up perfectly and a man lost his life. It was a sad day for Taft and all that knew Daryl. If I blame anyone for the incident, I blame the ATF for making such a big deal without any real evidence, and Daryl for pushing it as far as he did. In death, Daryl taught me that it’s not worth dieing over; not yet. If things get too bad move to another state rather than break the law.

[M. Sage]

I've lived in a small town in a state full of small towns so I know what you're saying, and I can't believe that they let local departments do their own shoot reviews. IIRC, the way it's done in Michigan is that the State Police investigate. I'm not sure what happens if it's MSP involved in a shoot, but IIRC, a local (usually county) agency does the investigation.

[E Pluribus Unum]

I've lived in a small town in a state full of small towns so I know what you're saying, and I can't believe that they let local departments do their own shoot reviews. IIRC, the way it's done in Michigan is that the State Police investigate. I'm not sure what happens if it's MSP involved in a shoot, but IIRC, a local (usually county) agency does the investigation.

I am ignorant to the process... I assumed it was an internal investigation. I know that the Bakersfield Police Department shooting board is internal... I assumed Taft was the same.

[aplinker]

Bad Joke Alert

Given this precedent, Wes, does it mean that, if you get shot in your store, we should refer to it as you getting the Taft?

We brought this up in another thread and I just did some research on it. Be sure to click the links for photos. Leave your comments.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=16765

[M. Sage]

Lol, you've been Tafted.