Cop Killer | FULL EPISODE | The FBI Files

in washington d.c crime had become epidemic gangs fought over drug turf leaving corpses in their wake the metropolitan police force was overwhelmed as the homicide rate climbed to over 400 per year before officers could stem the tide of violence they became the targets a cop killer was on the loose and police turned to the fbi to stop [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] in 1995 our nation's capital was also our nation's murder capital even the police weren't safe while washington dc law enforcement targeted criminals the criminals targeted law enforcement even gunning down officers on patrol i'm jim calstrom former head of the fbi's new york office as the death toll mounted d.c police called upon the fbi for help the hunt was on to find a cop killer and to bring order to a town in trouble but things would only get worse before they got better on january 10 1995 at a fast food restaurant in northwest washington dc metropolitan police officer vance wan was taking a dinner break while working part-time security [Music] it had become common practice for businesses to hire uniformed off-duty police officers to protect their establishments everyone felt more secure customers and employees alike no one inside saw the dark figure retreat into the shadows two bullets grazed the back of the officer's neck he peered out into the darkness looking for the shooter then radioed for assistance he didn't know where the shots came from or if the gunman was still out there waiting to strike again responding officers raced to the scene but the gunman was nowhere in sight there was no attempt at a robbery it appeared the shooter's sole purpose was to kill the officer [Music] from witness accounts police believe the shooter acted alone the forensic team recovered two 32-caliber slugs from inside the restaurant no shell casings were found at the scene [Music] though officer vance warren survived the shooting with only minor injuries others weren't so lucky less than two months earlier on november 22 a gang member walked into the district of columbia's police headquarters with a gun and began firing in an instant the police sergeant and two federal agents were dead the fourth was critically wounded with no chance for escape the killer turned the gun on himself police couldn't help but suspect the shootings were somehow connected even though there was no evidence linking the attack on officer warren to the shooting at police headquarters the attempted murder of the officers seemed like one more incident in an escalating war over drugs and turf metropolitan police were overwhelmed with the level of violence in the crushing caseloads with at least one murder occurring each day homicide detectives couldn't keep up for detective lon ledman and his colleagues their city was under siege we rode the wave of the crack epidemic that came in it paid a heavy toll on our citizens in the in the murder rate we had a serious amount of cases we had a lot of violence we escalated to the position of being per capita one of the worst in the nation [Music] it was about to get even worse on january 17th a few blocks from the white house metropolitan police officer eric hayes was in his patrol car a taxi cab double parked on the opposite side of the street [Music] while the officer filled out paperwork a man approached his cruiser he shot the patrolmen four times at close range wounded in his chest legs and abdomen officer hayes struggled out of his vehicle the cab driver witnessed the shooting he reported it to his dispatcher running down the alleyway [Music] as the shooter bolted the cab driver circled around the block making his getaway the gunman stripped off his mask and jacket in an attempt to change his appearance when the cabbie turned the corner onto the next block he saw the shooter emerge and alerted his dispatcher that the shooter hailed him not realizing the cabbie had witnessed the shooting and following the assailant got in the driver discreetly turned off his radio and the dispatcher notified police keep straight man keep straight an apb was issued for taxi number 440. [Music] the driver tried to remain calm hoping police would find his car [Music] within minutes cops picked up the texas tree the gunman barked a new address and told him to keep driving in an instant the driver slammed on the brakes the assailant discarded his gun and ran he evaded the pursuing officers police retrieved the weapon which held six used shell casings and called for backup to search the area at the crime scene officer hayes fought for his life he survived emergency surgery where doctors removed four 32-caliber slugs an officer called in a forensics unit to gather evidence they scoured the crime scene before gathering any physical material they photographed the entire area in the alley they found the clothing discarded by the assailant including a black ski mask they hoped clues revealed in the lab could lead to the shooter's identity fearing another blind side attack the police chief ordered all officers to patrol with a partner and called in the fbi for assistance special agent jay abbott was assigned the case what had happened up to that point led us to believe that my god we may be dealing with some sort of gang in dc that's just decided to take it upon themselves to to declare war on the police and just start trying to kill police metropolitan police fought back with forensics they sent all physical evidence gathered from the crime scenes to the fbi laboratory one of the foremost forensics labs in the world clothing recovered from the most recent shooting was forwarded to the hair and fiber unit this unit works 2500 cases a year from around the country the dc cop shooting case was given top priority after the clothes were scraped over a clean sheet of white paper the surface was inspected carefully for artifacts an examiner discovered a single head hair from the ski mask when a suspect emerged a sample of his hair would be compared to the one found a match would be vital in a successful prosecution the gun the casings and the recovered slugs were sent to the fbi's firearms and tool marks unit agents needed to determine if the 32-caliber revolver left by the assailant was the weapon used to shoot the officers every gun possesses distinct spiral grooves inside its barrel when a bullet is fired those grooves leave an imprint on the projectile the grooves from a fresh bullet would be compared to the grooves on the recovered slugs to see if they corresponded the bullet sample together with the slugs were forwarded to an analyst for scrutiny under the comparison microscope the bullets matched this confirmed that the 32-caliber revolver was the weapon used in the two most recent shootings investigators were now looking for one man to find their suspect the fbi and metropolitan police called on their only eyewitness the cab driver they asked him to provide a description of the assailant to a police sketch artist the cabbie described an african-american man with a medium complexion and square jaw the most distinguishing feature he remembered was that the gunman wore braces on his teeth investigators contacted area dentists and orthodontists to see if they recognized the man in the picture as one of their patients [Music] the composite was also distributed through television newspapers and local business a reward prompted hundreds of phone calls special agent jerry bammel helped work the leads based on leads which we generated telephone calls which we received ide possible identifications from the dentists and orthodontists we identified approximately 100 individuals who could have been suspects in this shooting of the police officers worked around the clock to narrow the field of suspects we were working seven days a week on this case because it had a certain urgency to it given the fact that a subject was stalking police officers and attempting to kill him [Music] over several months suspects were interviewed and eliminated one by one agents and detectives made no arrests thousands of investigative man hours had led nowhere [Music] then on april 26th officer john novabilski of the prince george's county maryland police was hired to guard a liquor store in nearby landover a suburb of the district of columbia the masked gunman approached and fired at close range he unloaded 16 rounds the policeman never had a chance then he took the downed officer's nine millimeter pistol from a nearby corner a witness heard the shooting and called for help but it would come too late officer novobilsky died instantly maryland police secured the area and interviewed the witness there was no apparent motive no warning and the victim was a cop the pattern seemed to match the two shootings in washington there was tremendous similarities between the killing of sergeant john novibilski and the wounding of our two police officers here in washington d.c and that an individual walked up to a seated police officer and without provocation opened fire and shot the officer five months had passed since the first officer was shot agents were no closer to finding their suspect and now he was wanted for murder washington police and fbi agents scoured the streets looking for the assailant who had wounded two of their colleagues as they continued to hunt maryland police made an arrest for the murder of their officer there was no evidence linking the maryland suspect to the two attacks on d.c police special agent jay abbott believed the d.c attacker was still at large and could strike again at any moment we felt this person was probably going to try to kill another police officer somewhere in washington d.c or in the vicinity and it gave us real positive concern that we weren't able to follow up any viable leads during that time on may 18 1995 while investigators continued their search in washington a young maryland woman arrived at a prince george's county precinct [Music] bruised and battered nadine mcrae explained to the police officer that she had been beaten by her boyfriend [Music] accompanied by a supportive friend nadine began to detail the vicious assault she received at the hand of ralph mclean nine o'clock last night agent bammel recalls its severity mclean tried to kill mcrae the evening of the 17th which was the reason that she came forth to the police on the 18th he beat her into unconsciousness he stuffed drugs into her the prince george's county police officer issued an arrest warrant charging mclean with attempted murder he recommended that nadine get a thorough medical examination on the way out nadine's friend pleaded with her to tell the officer the reason mclean had almost beaten her to death nadine hesitated she was afraid of what else mclean might do if she said anything more reluctantly she told the police officer what she knew [Music] the night the sketch of the suspect appeared on the television news three months before she was surprised to see mclean prying the braces off his teeth when she questioned him mclean screamed at her to mind her own business [Music] according to nadine her boyfriend ralph mclean was not only responsible for the shootings in washington he was also a cop killer her boyfriend had advised her that they had the wrong person for the shooting that occurred in land over maryland with officer novabilsky she provided the break that agents were looking for okay i'm going to call another detective who's handling this nadine mcrae so reluctant to speak at first knew that now there was no going back i think she realized how dangerous the person was and was very willing to cooperate with us because i think at that point she also realized that her own life was in danger now having revealed her knowledge of the subject agents entered ralph mclean's name into the ncic the national crime information center to find out if their suspect had any prior convictions for agent bammel the database revealed that mclean was no stranger to crime he had a long history of criminal activity here in washington d.c totaling over 20 arrests those arrests were for some petty crimes shoplifting but they did escalate to assault on police officer drug distribution type charges also investigators secured a search warrant for mclean's apartment it was a very tense time just to go into that residence with the possibility that he could be there and with all the tension of realizing what they might find mclean wasn't home [Music] investigators began searching the apartment [Music] survivalist magazines weapons manuals and how-to guides for terrorist operations were strewn everywhere the materials detailed how to conduct surveillance conceal movements and catch victims by surprise in the living room the forensic team uncovered a black ski mask similar to the one found at the second shooting too they also discovered nine millimeter cartridges the same type used in the assault that killed the maryland officer in a cabinet they found more ammunition this time for a 32 caliber weapon that's very important to us because the shooter of sergeant eric hayes and officer vance warren used a 32-caliber revolver in that shooting also a manual for a mac-11 assault weapon was found and additionally lots of writings of anti-police type hatred were found within the residence forensics examiners search for strands of hair to compare to the one found previously the team took samples from hair brushes bed sheets even the drain in the bathroom sink if hairs from mclean's apartment match the hair recovered from the crime scene agents would have forensic evidence against the future armed with a photograph of a suspect detectives called on the cab driver they asked him to look at a photo lineup to see if he could identify mclean as the man who shot officer hayes metropolitan police detective lauren ledman was there for the lineup the cab driver had always told us that if you ever you know show me a picture of the guy i will recognize him you know you hear that right but i mean he said it with a lot of passion investigators handed photos to the witness one at a time he studied each carefully when he was handed the fourth photo the whole terrifying incident came flooding back he was staring into the face of ralph maclean he was talking to the picture as if ralph mcclane was there he was talking to him through the picture it was the best notification i've ever seen i mean he's screaming at this picture investigators now had two witnesses who pointed to ralph mclean as the cop killer science would be the third witness at the fbi labs examiners match the hair samples retrieved from mclean's apartment to the hair recovered earlier from the clothing found at the officer hayes shooting it was the critical piece investigators needed to secure an arrest warrant for ralph mclean at that point we were armed with some very serious evidence um we had the girlfriend with the admission we had hairs and we drafted an affidavit for signatures for a superior court judge and in the middle of the night we went out and we obtained that warrant but first they had to find mclean investigators canvassed all of his known haunts the suspected cop killer had apparently fled the area and agents had no idea where he was headed [Music] ralph mclean was wanted for shooting three police officers in and around washington d.c killing one a month had passed since the last shooting and investigators had no clues to his whereabouts to find him they looked to his girlfriend nadine for help she was under constant police protection since mclean had tried to kill her nadine spoke with mclean through his cell phone he was not aware that investigators were listening through their conversation special agent jay abbott and his team were able to track mclean's movements we were able to locate him at one point in the fredericksburg virginia area and were very close to making an arrest at that at that time but unfortunately he was able to evade our attempts their conversations continued over two more days authorities learned that mclean was traveling south to florida but he never gave me a specific location investigators wondered if mclean knew his girlfriend was cooperating with police she told them that he monitored the news constantly on a portable tv if they were going to catch mclean they needed to surprise him and keep his name out of the media that meant keeping the arrest warrant out of the national system in south carolina that decision would work against him when a highway patrolman pulled him over for a moving violation the officer approached and asked to see a driver's license and vehicle registration mclean showed him his registration and claimed his license was in the trunk the south carolina officer just weeks away from retirement followed him to the rear of the automobile mclean rifled through his belongings and pulled out his license the officer told mclean to return to his vehicle while he called in to see if he had any outstanding moving violations he also checked to see if the car had been reported stolen [Music] [Music] records indicated that it was legally registered to ralph mclean he issued the claim a ticket then gave him directions to the town's magistrates office to pay the fun [Applause] the officer survived the incident but authorities had missed an opportunity to capture the cop killer back in washington detective lauren ledmond looked for a way to lure him back to the area we were faced with somebody that was mentally unstable that was out actively shooting police officers we were kind of at his mercy because he was calling ashanti and the key was is we needed to get him nailed down in the location where we could surround him investigators once again depended on nadine's help they advised you to promise maclaine a reconciliation if he returned hey mclean said he was interested in the offer though he wouldn't agree to when or where they would meet again investigators worried that they were losing the element of surprise we were looking for a little bit of an edge but that edge was taken away from us the media found out about it they broadcast his name his photograph and so forth which really bothered us because it brought us to another heightened level they hoped mclean hadn't seen the broadcast on memorial day weekend mclean called nadine he was ready to meet with her as instructed by the fbi nadine suggested meeting at a large shopping mall in northern virginia a place where agents could maintain surveillance without being noticed [Music] mclean agreed to the location the information was relayed to agents in washington special agent al buckley in charge of the arrest plan was notified he called the fbi swat team that had been on standby for several days when i heard the information that mr mclean was heading back to the virginia or washington d.c area i felt that mr mclean was coming up to do two things either to kill nadine and possibly kill an additional police officer agents and d.c officers arrived at the mall in tyson's corner virginia the first task was to set up a perimeter they had to be certain that once mclean arrived he would not slip through collectively the team had decades of experience this should have been a routine operation i've been involved in in several arrest situations where meetings are held before the arrests and a lot of times there's a lot of joking around just to relieve the tension i'd have to say that that night was a little bit different it was quiet and that's probably the first time in my fbi career that i could just cut the silence with a knife the team finalized plans and waited for word that mclean arrived at the prince george's county police station where nadine kept in contact with mclean the dispatcher relayed information to agents in the field agent buckley got the call mclean had changed the rendezvous location the fugitive wanted to meet nadine in maryland nearly 25 miles away from where the swat team had assembled the sudden change of plans was troubling the call suggested that mclean might have known he was being set up wanted cop killer ralph mcclain was on his way to a greenbelt maryland plaza to confront his girlfriend nadine an fbi swat team was racing there to intercept him since mclean had changed the location from tyson's corner of virginia investigators suspected the armed fugitive knew nadine was cooperating with authorities special agent jay abbott was greatly concerned at the time we began to sense that he had suspicions uh of what was happening and and given those suspicions uh that added to the sense of urgency even more uh we weren't sure that he would uh actually show up at one of these locations to meet nadine he might begin to smell that there was a trap as they got closer agents turned off their blue light and constantly monitored the radio a police dispatcher relayed updates to agents in the field [Music] he kept them posted on mclean's plans learned through conversations with him 36 and 51 51 to 600 block of jones agents were at the mercy of the fugitives after changing the location several times the team got word that mclean decided to meet at a gas station across from beltway plaza they scrambled to set up a perimeter around the gas station agents hoped they would have enough time to secure the area once in place they would wait for mclean to either show up or call me detective ledman took his position in a field across from the gas station he believed mclean would show up to see nadine despite suspicions of a trap we didn't even know if he really wanted to meet her we just felt that he was just trying to get in shooting range of her to kill her why because she was the only ear witness to this shooting of this police officer as the team continued to assemble nadine remained at police headquarters on the cell phone with mclean [Music] securing the closest position to the gas station 20-year veteran agent billy christian arrived the schoolyard across the street offered the best vantage point if mclean appeared agent christian would be the first to see other team members set up on nearby streets hoping to spot mclean's car as it approached pressure mounted as they waited and watched it was very tense al buckley and i were sitting in a vehicle together just a couple hundred yards away trying to direct the activity of a number of people and it was very tense i remember saying to him when we were in the car i just hope that we can get him without anybody getting hurt finally the team was notified that the suspect had called nadine he complained that he didn't see her at the gas station mclean was in the area but agents couldn't get a precise fix investigators believed he was very close this particular time he was whispering which led me to believe that somebody was close to him which caused me to look around you see was i on top of him and didn't know it hidden behind a small hill detective ledman checked the gas station again but he still didn't seem a claim scanning to his right the detective could see christian's car from his position christian also surveyed the area but he too saw no trace of the fugitive at that point the local officer out on his regular patrol approached christian's car from behind the patrolmen unaware of the arrest plan thought the agent's car seemed suspicious bill christian to his credit realized and recognized the danger that the officer was in and and exited his vehicle walked to the vehicle and showed him his credentials that action probably identified bill christian to ralph mclean as a law enforcement person the officer turned off his lights and pulled away from the scene [Music] christian resumed his surveillance while investigators watched for mclean he was watching them [Music] the element of surprise and the tactical advantage was mclean's well camouflaged in dark clothes he surveyed the car where agent christian sat waiting and watching he advanced slowly and deliberately on christian's position [Music] agents knew he was out there anxieties ran high since mclean's calls to nadine had stopped the cop killer continued to advance with christian's gaze fixed on the gas station mclean stalked the agent fbi agents and dc detectives surrounded a gas station in greenbelt maryland waiting for cop killer ralph mclean to show himself the arrest team knew he was close but they didn't know where mclean was advancing on agent billy christian from the shadows [Applause] christian heard something turned to look but saw nothing he heard it again glanced around but no one was there mclean's low profile hid him below the agent's line of sight the killer continued to advance on his unsuspecting prey rising just beyond the agent's line of sight mclean lifted his mach 11 machine gun and aimed it at christian muzzle bursts ripped through the night air native early christians slumped in his seat detective ledman spotted mclean sprinting into the woods and called for backup the detective pulled the bleeding agent from the car laid him flat and made a second call for assistance agents jay abbott and al buckley were among the first to respond we heard a call come over the radio of shots fired and that the subject is running when we pulled up on billy christian's car we realized that billy had been shot the window had been blown out detective ledman tried to help the fallen agent before rescue units arrived he had been hit on the blind side to his left at a 45 degree angle he had been hit several times and he was dead the cop killer had claimed another life this person had just killed a colleague not just a colleague but a a good friend a mentor to some of us he had been around for a long time a 20-year agent and and to have this happen was enraging units from several jurisdictions responded instantly a prince george's county officer arrived with a police dog and started to hunt from a plane in the dark i remember him running up to billy's car i remember him looking at billy and sniffing at the door door area and then turning around and trying to make a beeline back toward the school the team tore off into the darkness with a dog in their semi-automatic weapons they didn't know if they were walking into another trap we started into the wooded area i had my flashlight out and i remember just clicking on my flashlight on and off because at that point i was afraid that if i kept the beam on mr mclean would be able to focus in on either one of us the darkness worked in mclean's favor we went into the woods in an attempt to at least try to locate uh which way he went or where he went and it was probably an error in judgment to do that when i look at in retrospect but that's how high the emotions were at the time the team pressed on but mclean had enough of a lead to plan a deception as he ran away from the scene after just shooting bill christian he had the wherewithal to call 9-1-1 and report that he saw a man with a gun leaving the area in a vehicle this was an obvious attempt to try to throw those of us who were in pursuit in another direction to try to aid in his escape tracing the call agents knew he was still in the area but they didn't know exactly where it appeared the fugitive cop killer had evaded authorities once again he ran through the parking lot of the nearby plaza the team was infuriated by the senseless murder of billy christian they steeled themselves to continue the pursuit agents and local investigators alike vowed to stop the cop killer before he killed again anger was probably the the biggest feeling that i had that night frustration first i was frustrated that we're all not going home tonight billy has to stay here as agents buckley and abbott continued to track the fugitive's path through the woods detective ledman received a call from investigators positioned in the parking lot of the plaza mr mclean had run and gotten behind the store and had a large ramp that leads up to the back of the store where there was a three trailers and he had secluded himself behind this mclean opened fire on pursuing officers they took cover on the ground and returned fire emerging from the woods agents abbott and buckley saw officers being fired upon they pulled their guns and joined in the fight the plane was dug in and well officers were pinned down no one knew how to get to him without losing another off fbi swat team member jerry ballen arrived on the scene he aimed at the fugitive but didn't have a clear shot he saw an opportunity to flank mclean and maneuver to his right while police and agents traded fire with a cat killer then he stepped out from behind the dumpster and began firing on the shooter from the opposite side his position baml noticed that mclean had a possible escape route the loading dock ended with a railing and then a 10-foot drop wall and i realized that mclean could conceivably get over that wall and flee into the lower parking area where there were no agents or officers at the time bammel blocked the plane's exit with gunfire now mclean is receiving fire from two different positions [Music] he swung around and sprayed grounds where battle was stunned the agent returned fire mcclain was hit agents and officers continued firing mclean fired one more round then there was silence i waited a moment and then there was a call out something like he's down he's down bamel hesitated before advancing on mclean's position to be sure this wasn't another trick while officers and agents waited in the lot with guns at the ready agent baml made his way alongside the trailer approaching the motionless figure another agent advanced on the opposite side as they moved in an officer yelled from the darkness that he saw movement he was going to fire two more rounds towards mclean as soon as he yelled that i yelled don't shoot don't shoot don't shoot because i was immediately concerned of the fact that we were had placed ourselves into a deadly crossfire situation it was over mclean had shot himself with a nine millimeter pistol the same weapon he had taken from officer novobilsky who he murdered a month earlier the cop killer was dead but the price was steep this person the subject had one goal in mind in my opinion and that was to kill police officers and why i will never know but it appears it was apparent to me that that was what he had decided to do for whatever reason at some point in his life agent billy christian was close to retirement when he was gunned down he had worked with agent bammel over the span of his long career billy had been a 20-year agent with the fbi billy was an expert marksman a firearms instructor one of the first members of the fbi's hostage rescue team the full-time special weapons and tactics team and he was also a member of the washington field swat team the names of agent william christian and officer john novabilski were added to the law enforcement memorial commemorating those who have fallen in the line of duty my desk here at the fbi overlooks the national law enforcement officers memorial and not a day goes by that i don't think of my friends their sacrifice remains vivid and is recalled each memorial day there is a feeling when you lose a brother or sister agent and officer that a part of you is lost and they will never be forgotten [Applause] you

Channel: The FBI Files

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Keywords: FBI, FBI Files, FBI Documentary, Documentary, Crime, Crime Documentary, Crime Patrol, True Crime, True crime daily, Unsolved, Crime Stories, Crime Documentaries Full Episodes, Full Episode, unsolved true crime, fbi files full episodes, we got him, mystery, solved, investigation, police, criminal, prison, jail, cop killer

Id: QR9gNype9gA

Length: 49min 53sec (2993 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 05 2020