PO Garrett Crumby
Officer: Huntsville Police Department, Police Officer Garrett Crumby
Date: 3/28/2023 Location: Huntsville, AL FACTORS (1,2,7,15,18,19,21)
Perpetrator(s) Involved: Juan Robert Laws
Criminal Activity History/Involved: Yes, Laws was “arrested in January 2022 for suspected involvement in a shooting” which left two people injured. While out on $6,000 bond from that arrest Laws was arrested in March 2022 for “carrying a pistol without a permit.” / Yes, Laws had just shot a woman.
Mental Illness: None stated.
Substance Abuse History/Involved: Unknown. / None stated.
Race/Sex/Age: Black/Male/24
What prompted the initial contact with the killer? At around 4:45 p.m. on March 28, 2023, Huntsville Police Officers Garrett Crumby and Albert Morin responded to a 911 call of a shooting at an apartment complex. Upon arrival at the apartments, the officers found a female shooting victim.
Actions taken by subject toward police: As the officers arrived and observed the female victim, the suspect Juan Robert Laws ambushed them, fatally shooting PO Crumby and seriously wounding PO Morin. Laws then barricaded himself in an apartment.
Reactions by the police: Additional officers arrived and arrested Laws without further incident within a couple of hours.
How murdered? PO Crumby was ambushed while responding to a 911 call of a shooting.
What could have been done differently for the officer to still be alive? Short of not responding to that 911 call it is unknown what could have been done different since there are scant details on whether it was a rifle and what distance they were ambushed from.
Would the officer have been justified to use deadly force before being murdered? Given the nature of the 911 call involving a shooting, the officers would have been justified to use deadly force upon encountering a suspect who was holding a weapon or making a furtive movement for one.
Outcome for the cop-killer: Laws was arrested and faces charges including capital murder of a law enforcement officer.
Miscellaneous: A week before this shooting, Laws pled guilty to carrying a pistol without a license while he was out on bond for an earlier shooting – Laws should have been in jail awaiting a trial and or sentencing for the crimes he committed.
