Truck inventory reveals more weapons
Truck inventory reveals more weaponsSaturday, February 2, 2008
By Russ Mitchell, Daily Reporter Staff 
Photo by Randy Cauthron Police conducted an inventory of 49-year-old Allen Harman's truck Thursday following a standoff at the AmericInn motel in Spencer. Investigators found a lever-action rifle and rounds of hollow-point ammunition inside the vehicle. Harman faced a Wyoming charge of sexual abuse involving a minor, but committed suicide before officers could take him into custody.
Spencer police on Friday released troubling information about the southeast Missouri man whose standoff with police ended with a suicide Thursday morning. Authorities said 49-year-old Allen Harman of Jackson, Mo., had a 9 mm semiautomatic Beretta in the AmericInn motel room where he ended his own life.
A team of four officers knocked on Harman's door
and tried to get him to come out of the motel room when they heard a gun go off at 10:37 a.m. Thursday. Members of the Spencer Police Department were trying to take Harman into custody on a Sublette County, Wyo., arrest warrant. He would have faced a charge of sexual abuse of a minor in Wyoming.
The ensuing moments became tense for officers,
who weren't sure if Harman had a hostage and couldn't determine the extent of his injuries. Members of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation closed off access points to stop traffic near the hotel. Fire trucks and an ambulance remained on stand-by in the neighborhood as officers tried to determine what happened on the other side of the motel room door.
A special entry team eventually had to break a window in the second-floor motel room.
Officers used a camera mounted on a pole to peer past curtains and into the room. The camera images revealed a person lying on the bed, not moving, with a handgun still containing live rounds nearby.
An autopsy is scheduled to be performed at the State Medical Lab in Ankeny. Officers did not initially find indications of drug or alcohol use at the motel.
Spencer Police Chief Mark Lawson on Friday said investigators found a lever-action rifle loaded with five rounds of hollow-point ammunition in Harman's truck. The rifle was hidden between the front seats, where Harman had easy access to the weapon. Officers also found 21 rounds of ammunition for the rifle in the glove compartment.
"
Even in Spencer, Iowa, things like this are going to happen and you need to be prepared for it," Lawson said.
"You need to be equipped for it and you need to be trained for it. As mundane as the day-to-day activities go, this brings to the forefront just how serious and how dangerous this line of work can be. It was a very sobering experience. It is always in the back of your mind."
Randall Hanson, the investigator and trial facilitator for the Sublette County Attorney's Office issued the arrest warrant for Harman. He said a "somewhat anonymous" tip helped him track Harman in north Iowa.
"I contacted one of the authorities back there and told them he's known to carry weapons, a knife, and for them to use caution when approaching," Hanson said. "That's just something we do as a matter of courtesy to all departments. I think they're pretty cautious anyway, but this puts them on hyper-alert."
The warrant was initially received by Floyd County Sheriff's Rick Lynch's office because Harman was living in the lone trailer at an RV campground near Rudd. Harman was staying there while working at a wind farm construction site just outside of Charles City. Hanson then received new and specific information -- right down to the motel room number -- about Harman's whereabouts in Spencer. Floyd County authorities faxed the warrant information to Spencer and a team was assembled to approach Harman's motel room.
The Wyoming attorney, on Friday, confirmed that Harman was en route to Wyoming when he made the overnight stop in Spencer. Harman's trailer, with Missouri plates, was still hooked up to utilities at the RV campground in Rudd, which leaves open the possibility he planned to return.
Hanson wouldn't comment about whether he thought Harman was making the trip to Wyoming to do harm, but added, "it doesn't look good." Hanson also wouldn't talk about Harman's connections to the state of Wyoming. The explanations, he said, would risk identifying the juvenile who accused Harman of sexual abuse.
"You'd have to expose a bunch of the charges in order to put that out, so I decline to comment on that one -- it wasn't much (of a connection) I can tell you that," Hanson said.
The attorney issued the warrant at about 4 p.m. Wednesday. He was ready Thursday to let his jailers know there might be an extradition issue for them to deal with over the weekend.
"I came back from lunch (on Thursday) and I was supposed to call Clay County immediately," he said. "I called them and they told me what had happened."
"It wasn't worth that," Hanson said of Harman's decision. "That's a choice he made and it is unfortunate he had to take that avenue. There were other options. They may not have been pleasant, but they are a lot better than the alternative."
The area's responding agencies met Friday morning in Spencer to review the tactical execution of the incident. The local police chief said he was satisfied by the performance of emergency response teams.
"We made sure everybody was on the same page and everybody had the same information," Lawson said. "We found out we've got some serious equipment lapses and we're going to try and deal with those in quick order to get those taken care of."
Hanson also credited the work of local officers as they tried to serve the arrest warrant on his behalf.
"They got on it immediately," he said. "I feel somewhat sorry for them that they had to walk into that kind of a situation. It's hard on law enforcement also. They don't like to see that kind of ending either. It's a sad thing for everybody, but the officers did a tremendous job."
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