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| Idaho State Police offices investigate a officer involved shooting at a home in the Grouse Meadows sub-division early Tuesday morning where a Coeur d'Alene police officer was shot and injured and a suspect was fatally wounded. JASON HUNT/Press |
Sheriff's deputies kill suspect in shootout
HAYDEN -- A Hayden man who shot a Coeur d'Alene police officer in the face was killed early Tuesday morning when Kootenai County Sheriff's deputies returned fire, investigators said.
Officer Michael Kralicek, 33, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after the early-morning shooting at Grouse Meadow subdivision.
The alleged shooter, Michael Anthony Madonna, was shot by deputies and pronounced dead at Kootenai Medical Center.
Kralicek, who was listed in critical but stable condition Tuesday afternoon, was backing up two deputies investigating a misdemeanor hit-and-run accident at the time of the 12:20 a.m. shooting.
Neither deputy's name was released.
Both have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the Idaho State Police.
Eleven days earlier, as Madonna was being taken to jail after his arrest for DUI, he slipped his cuffed hands from behind his back and around his legs, opened the sliding port between the back seat and the front of a city patrol car, and made a grab for another officer's gun.
"You're always cautious but you can't be cautious enough," said sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger.
On Monday, deputies said, Madonna, 39, crashed his 1999 Chevy pickup into a subdivision sign on Ramsey Road, then traveled two blocks to his home at 1332 Starling Court.
Neighbors said they remembered Madonna's pickup driving down the street with a high-pitched screeching noise coming from the damaged front end about 9:30 p.m.
"It was making a horrible noise," said neighbor Judie Whitaker.
Whitaker said Madonna pulled into his driveway, ran into his house and then out the back door.
Other neighbors said Madonna then jumped two neighbors' fences and ran across Prairie Avenue as witnesses to the accident and deputies pulled up in front of his house.
After finding Madonna was not home, they left.
But after midnight, the two deputies and Kralicek returned, finding Madonna at home with his girlfriend.
Wolfinger said as one of the deputies talked to the girlfriend outside, Kralicek and the other deputy went inside and talked to Madonna.
"He made a break, grabbed (his) gun and started to fire," Wolfinger said. "He shot the city officer and the deputies returned fire."
One neighbor said she heard the shots.
"I heard a gunshot, and then there was, like, a pause," said Nichole Vails. "There was a rapid fire, like a Glock."
Wolfinger said he didn't know how many shots were fired, but investigators estimated there were about 20 spent shell casings littering the driveway.
"I think they shot the policeman first and then (the deputies) opened up," Whitaker said. "When I heard the shooting, I just fell to the floor next to my bed."
Both Kralicek and Madonna were transported to KMC. About 7 a.m., the officer and his family were flown to Seattle, where Coeur d'Alene Police Chief Wendy Carpenter said he underwent emergency surgery.
Wolfinger said he didn't know how many times Madonna was shot. Idaho State Police detectives are handling the shooting investigation.
Neighbors had differing opinions of Madonna, who worked as a vacuum cleaner salesman and told authorities he was a pet rescue volunteer.
Next-door neighbor Joan Andersen said she knew Madonna "slightly."
"He was a nice, everyday-looking guy," Andersen said.
She said Madonna was not a loud person.
"He had buddies that would come over," she said. "There was never any rowdiness. He more or less kept to himself."
When told of Madonna's earlier arrest, Andersen said, "That doesn't meet the description of anything I saw."
But Whitaker, who lives across the street and one door down, painted a different picture.
"The cops were always there because he's always getting into fights," Whitaker said.
Whitaker said there were never any parties, but there was always a lot of company coming to visit.
"He played his music pretty loud," said a third neighbor, Kasey Piselli-Pitman.
Madonna was out of jail on the Dec. 17 charge after posting $25,000 bail and awaiting a preliminary hearing next week on felony charges of battery on a police officer.
In that case, officer Alan Winstead said in his report that after slipping his hands to the front, Madonna opened the slider and started climbing into the front seat. As he was reaching through, he made a grab for the officer's gun. Winstead fought him off, stopped the car and Madonna was subdued.
During the arrest, officers used a Taser to get Madonna under control.
Wolfinger said he didn't know if Madonna was handcuffed Tuesday morning before breaking away from the officers.
When Madonna made his first appearance on the DUI, resisting arrest and battery allegations on Dec. 20, prosecutors asked Magistrate Judge Robert Burton to set bail at $100,000.
But Madonna, who had no criminal record in Kootenai County, told the judge he was looking after rescued pets. The judge set the still-substantial bail, which he posted through a local bondsman.
Since he refused a breath test offered by officers, his license was suspended pending a hearing, but he was issued a temporary permit to drive.
Kralicek interviewed witnesses in that case who reported Madonna's erratic driving, which led to his DUI arrest.
Late Tuesday morning, Carpenter said the department, though stunned, will continue to serve the city.
"The police department is coping and doing well with that," she said.
This is the first time a Coeur d'Alene officer was wounded in the line of duty since the early 1970s and the first officer-involved shooting in more than three years.
"It's a shock," Carpenter said. "Obviously, it's something we don't want to face but realize it's a possibility with this job that it could happen.
"And the unexpected happens all the time."
Dave Turner can be reached at 664-8176, ext. 2009 or at dturner@cdapress.com.
