Waco: Life Back To Normal In Dorm Drenched In RC Helicopter Mishap

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WACO (January 23, 2013)—Twenty-six Baylor students who were displaced by a deluge earlier this month after a radio-controlled helicopter activated fire suppression sprinklers in the university’s North Village residential hall are settling back in.

Life returned to normal in the building on Tuesday, a university spokeswoman confirmed.

Water from the sprinklers damaged five suites in the building as it flowed from the second floor to the first after the system was activated on the first day of classes last week.

The cleanup took about a week.

The building is home to 254 residents and houses students participating in the school’s Engineering and Computer Science Living-Learning Center.

It was built on the site occupied from 1924 to 2003 by the Second Baptist Missionary Church.

Waco: Grand Jury Will Review Officer-Involved Shooting

WACO (January 28, 2013)-An investigation into a shooting on Jan. 11 that involved a Waco police officer will be sent to a grand jury to determine if any charges should be filed.

Michael Ray Hall, 46, of Waco, was shot in the face after he approached two police officers in what police said was a threatening manner.

Hall was taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, but has since been released.

The officers, Hans Fitting, a 23-year veteran, and Don Patterson, a 14-year veteran, were sent to 3424 Forrester Lane just after 11 a.m. on Jan. 11 in response to a report of a disturbance and a screaming woman, Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said.

Swanton said it is routine for shooting incidents that involve to be referred to a grand jury for consideration and charges.

Both officers remain on administrative leave pending completion of an investigation.

Hall was shot in the lower jaw as he moved toward one of the officers in what police said was a threatening manner after a woman involved in the incident told Fitting and Hall the man was armed and had fired a shot inside the house.

Police did not identify which officer fired the shot.

Hall was conscious, walking and talking after the shooting.

Hall was on parole at the time of the shooting after serving 21 years for aggravated assault on a police officer, according to online records.

When the officers arrived the woman told them a man who was armed was inside the home.

As they tried to make contact with the man he "confronted officers in a threatening manner," Swanton said.

"One of the officers, believing the suspect was armed, shot the suspect," Swanton said.

Officers later discovered the man wasn't armed, but had left the weapon in a bedroom where investigators later determined he had fired it just before officers arrived.