3 Children Dead in Gunman's Truck

By Tom Kenworthy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 24, 1999; Page A02

DENVER, June 23_Police in Castle Rock shot and killed a gunman who fired at the Colorado town's police station early this morning, then found the man's three children dead in his pickup truck. The shootout in the town of about 10,000 people 25 miles south of Denver occurred at about 3:25 a.m. when Simon J. Gonzales, 30, drove his Ford pickup into the parking lot of the police station and fired through a window at an officer working late in the department's record division. The bullet missed the officer by inches.

Other Castle Rock officers responded and exchanged fire with Gonzales after ordering him to drop his weapon. After shooting Gonzales, officers checked the pickup and found the man's three dead daughters, two in the jump seat of the extended-cab vehicle and one in the front passenger seat. Police said Leslie, 7; Katheryn, 8, and Rebecca Lynne, 10, apparently were dead "prior to Gonzales's arrival at the police department."

Castle Rock Police Chief Tony Lane said there is no indication that stray fire from the officers killed the girls but that a definite time and cause of their deaths will not be determined until the coroner completes autopsies.
Gonzales's pickup was hit several times by gunfire.

"We certainly hope that's not the case," Lane said. "There is no indication right now that they were caught in any kind of crossfire."Lane said none of the officers involved in the shootout saw any people in the pickup.

The incident occurred about three hours after Gonzales's stranged wife, who was not identified, called Castle Rock police and expressed concern for the safety of her children and told police that her husband had suicidal tendencies.

Castle Rock police had two contacts with Gonzales about three weeks ago, which Lane described as "domestic violence-related incidents."

Gonzales had been scheduled to appear in court today to answer citations for violating a restraining order, trespassing and obstructing the duties of a public official, police said.
 

c Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company

SYOSSET, NY--By most accounts, Moshe "Moe" Pergament was a well-mannered college student. So polite that he addressed a note to police apologizing for what he was about to do. So polite that he wrote a stack of good-bye cards to loved ones.

"I'm sorry to get you involved," Pergament, 19, said in a letter addressed in advance "To the officer who shot me!" "I just needed to die," he wrote. Pergament, depressed over $6,000 in gambling debts, got himself shot by threatening officers with what turned out to be a toy gun, police said. They call it "suicide by cop"--and they've seen it before on rare ccasions.

Pergament threatened officers with a toy gun.

Bob Louden, director of the Criminal Justice Center at John Jay College, is a former hostage negotiator for the New York Police Department. He says the problem exists "anecdotally," although there are no figures on how prevalent it is.

Pergament appears to have set up the scene of his death Friday, buying a $1.79 silver-colored toy revolver earlier in the day. He also went to a card store near his home in Manhasset, Long Island, and bought nine greeting cards that police say he made out to family and friends.

According to police, Pergament was speeding and driving erratically Friday night on the Long Island Expressway,  apparently in an effort to get stopped by a patrol car. When Officer Thomas Pollock pulled the car over in Syosset, Pergament jumped out and began waving his arms wildly.

Pollock ordered Pergament back into the car, and Pergament pulled the toy revolver from his waistband. A second officer, Anthony Sica, arrived, and Pergament turned the gun on him, police say. They say he began advancing toward Sica, ignoring repeated commands to drop the gun.

When Pergament was 12 feet away, Sica fired two to three times, police say. Pollock, who said Pergament still kept walking toward Sica, fired once more. Pergament was hit at least once, police say.

After he collapsed, the officers said, they realized his weapon was a toy.

Police have not revealed the contents of the good-bye cards, found in the car with Pergament's suicide note.

The note read:
Officer, It was a plan. I'm sorry to get you involved. I just needed to die. Please send my letters and break the news slowly to my family and let them know I had to do this. And that I love them very much.
I'm sorry for getting you involved. Please remember that this was all my doing. You had no way of knowing.

Moe Pergament.