Officers’ Final Radio Broadcasts

During a court hearing, a Limestone County (Ala.) prosecutor played the logging tape of radio traffic the night four years ago that a gunman shot and killed Athens Police Department Off. Tony Mims and Sgt. Larry Russell with a rifle. Dispatcher Vickie Fuqua is on the tape acknowledging the officers’ “on-scene” broadcasts, and then she tries to check on their status, repeatedly radioing, “103, 111, status?” Both officers were shot as they arrived to investigate 911 calls from suspect Farron Barksdale, who has pleaded guilty to the murders. The tapes also included Barksdale’s several 911 calls to Fuqua, during which he asked her to send the FBI to his house.