Georgia Cop Kills Woman He Met Online, Sets Body on Fire

In a gruesome story out of Atlanta where lax screening procedures and psychopathic personalities intersected, a local police officer was arrested last week on murder charges. Tahreem Zeus Rana is currently being held for the murder of Vernicia Woodard who was shot multiple times and her body then set on fire. Rana was apprehended at the Atlanta airport while in the process of fleeing the country to India via Mexico. According to news reports, Rana had met Woodward online likely for the purpose of having sex with her.  Something must have gone badly wrong because he then took the victim to a secluded area, pumped her full of slugs, possibly from his service revolver and then lit her on fire.

According to a story from the website of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution entitled “Atlanta cop linked to homicide waives first court appearance”:

An Atlanta police officer arrested Thursday on charges that he killed a woman a week ago in Hapeville and set her body on fire will remain behind bars after he waived his first court appearance Friday afternoon.

Rana will remain jailed without bond until his preliminary hearing, which is scheduled for Sept. 12 in Fulton Superior Court.

Investigators linked the gruesome homicide to APD Officer Tahreem Zeus Rana through the woman’s phone records, Hapeville Police Chief Richard Glavosek said Thursday.

Glavosek told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Vernicia Woodard’s phone records led to Rana. Detectives then located Woodard’s posting on Backpage.com, a classified and hook-up website, where investigators believe the couple met, Glavosek said.

The fact that it was the 23-year-old Rana shocked officers, not only because he was a lawman but because some officers remember him as a kid growing up in Hapeville, Glavosek said.

“They remember him walking to school with his mother,” the chief said.

Officers arrested Rana around 8:30 a.m. Thursday at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, according to Channel 2 Action News. They say he was headed to Monterrey, Mexico, which may have been a stop on the way to India. Rana was on the no-fly list.

Hapeville police booked Rana into the Fulton County jail Thursday on charges of murder, arson, kidnapping and tampering with evidence in the killing of 26-year-old Woodard. He is accused of shooting her multiple times last Friday.

A city worker found Woodard’s body burning along Elm Street in the south Fulton town. GBI was brought in to assist and investigators believe the body was set on fire to destroy evidence.

The lead Hapeville detective on the case, Stephen Cushing, told Channel 2 Action News that investigating Rana was almost surreal because of the young man’s long ambition to become a cop.

“I’ve been a police officer in the city of Hapeville for 15 years and actually saw this young man grow up and heard him say, ‘When I grow up, I want to be a police officer,” Cushing said.

Additional details are provided in a story on the website of Atlanta TV station WGCL which cites a statement on the sordid affair from Atlanta Police Department officials:

"We are shocked and saddened by these developments. The officer has been relieved from duty, and is in a non-enforcement status. Chief Turner will schedule an emergency hearing immediately today to determine the next course of action. We must allow the justice system to run its course. But these clearly are very disturbing allegations that are not in line with the expectations we have for our officers, and will be immediately dealt with," said APD Public Affairs Director Carlos Campos.

This is yet another warning of the personality types that are drawn to the law-enforcement profession in an ever more aggressive American police state. A guy like Rana could have been weeded out if there were better screening and psychological evaluation procedures utilized that could have spotted the red flags. It it obvious that leadership within the Atlanta Police Department needs to closely review their recruiting and hiring processes and tweak them accordingly.

The majority of police officers are decent people tasked with doing a thankless job and having murderers and thugs in their ranks only creates a negative perception of them as a whole. Good cops should always be on the lookout for the bad apples and aggressively work to police their own ranks. With a lack of accountability that the federal government encourages with their military surplus giveaways it does not bode well for citizens if local law enforcement agencies are riddled with psychopaths.

Crew Member of Cops Reality TV Show Shot Dead by Police

In an incident that is most surprising because it did not happen sooner, a crew member from the hit Fox reality show “Cops” was shot to death while on the job producing future episodes. The chosen police unit in Omaha, Nebraska were likely enjoying their moment in the television limelight until a response to a robbery went terribly wrong. In rolling up at a local Wendy’s fast food restaurant, the cops engaged in a shootout with the suspect that ultimately resulted in the death of audio technician Bryce Dion who was hit by a stray police bullet.

According to a story on the incident on CNN’s website “'Cops' crew member killed in police shooting”:

A crew member working on a taping of "Cops" was inadvertently shot and killed by a police officer during a robbery in Omaha, Nebraska, local officials said Wednesday.

Bryce Dion, an audio technician, is believed to be the first member of the "Cops" production staff killed in the 25-year history of the television show.

The production company behind "Cops," Langley Productions, said in a statement that it was "deeply saddened and shocked by this tragedy and our main concern is helping his family in any way we can."

Dion, 38, had been in Omaha all summer, helping with the production of future "Cops" episodes. The production company described him as a "long term member of the 'Cops' team and a very talented and dedicated person." His resume lists credits on "Cops" dating back to 2009.

Todd Schmaderer, the Omaha police chief, confirmed at a Wednesday afternoon news conference that a bullet fired by an officer struck Dion during a shootout with the robbery suspect, Cortez Washington, who was also killed.

Schmaderer described Dion as a friend to the officers that he'd been embedded with.

"This is as if we lost one of our own," Schmaderer said. "That is the grieving process we're going through right now."

Dion and a cameraman were traveling with police officers who responded to a robbery inside a Wendy's restaurant on Tuesday night. Schmaderer said the suspect, Washington, fired two shots at the responding officers, who responded with a barrage of gunfire.

It was later discovered that Washington had a pellet gun that fired plastic bullets.

The story is getting much attention today as it should by such prominent media outlets as the  USA Today “Police fired shot that killed 'Cops' crewmember”, The New York Times  “Police Shooting Kills Crew Member Working for Reality Show ‘Cops’”, ABC “Omaha Police Bullet Kills 'Cops' Film Crew Member” and of course Fox “'Cops' crew member killed by police officers”.

According to a local news source, Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer has already said that the officers were “justified” in firing their weapons. The question though is that if the perpetrator of the robbery knew that he was using a fake gun then why would he have pointed it at the police knowing full well that he would be gunned down like a dog by the guys with the real guns? Was the presence of the "Cops" film crew a mitigating factor in the shooting in that the officers wanted to look more like bad-asses on television? I suppose that this will only provide one more example to those pushing for President Barack Obama to appoint a national police Czar.

What is never discussed as one of the causes in the rise of police violence in America today is that culture plays a big role. Cops has now been on the air for over a quarter of a century and given the bent for authority worship that now exists in America it will probably continue to be shown for decades more. There is after all no shortage of material with the police state nearly fully implemented. It is the ultimate form of bread and circuses served up to the beggared and enslaved citizens of a rotting empire. There are also the movies, endless other police television series and violent video games that further contribute to the worship of the police, not a healthy trait of a supposedly "free" society.

Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do when they’re coming for you, bad boys!