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Show JafroS Officer Improving After Being Mot by Arizona Murder Suspects 3 Qtah Highway Patrol. .nn Robert Low of Monti-lo Monti-lo was shot by two mur. 3 5" suspects New Year's ' aa he tried to escape "J sir gunpoint capture. A it, ' efficient sweep in-vlng in-vlng laiw officers from , iferal agencies in two ites caught the pair out-fe out-fe Cortez", . Colo., later 1 evening. m, e Patrolman Low had stop-d stop-d to check a car occu. !d by Dana John Merkle, ;h d James Devereaux Parle, ica ha it was parked on adS. 163 about 20 miles I'tli of Monticello at Scloiit 8:20 p.m. When they enre not able to produce STfistration, he ordered sm out of the car, and : that time they jumped h, puit him in the car, orsd auked him where the fcrsat side road was. When Low answered that ' did not know, the pair Sefed him to drive back , ivhat was the Canyon-3cllids Canyon-3cllids j Indian Creek State erwk road, and turn off Uiire. Ha stated later, that Vs had decided by that time thta the two were planning to kill him on the side road, so when another anoth-er car allowed him to slow down at the Intersection, he gunned the motor and julmped, but was shot in the back as he jumped. Both Patrolman Low and the gunman flagged an approaching car, occupied occu-pied by Rober Hartman, 21, and his sister, Maria, 19, Boise, Idaho. The approach approa-ch of the gunman caused the unarmed Low to hide beside the road. The Hart-mans Hart-mans stopped, were taken by the two and driven a distance down the road where ithey were handcuffed, hand-cuffed, his. Tight wrist to her right ankle, let out, and the suspects fled in their car. Carrying his sister on his back, Hartman hiked back up the road to a camper, by which they got to .Monticello. The wounded Low flagged the ,next car he saw and headed head-ed full speed for Monticello. Swift movement by law officers in the entire Four Corners law - enforcement neitwork from that moment mom-ent resulted in the capture of the two outside Cortez. between 9:30 and 10 p.m. A roadblock had been set up just north of Cortez. Colorado Colo-rado State Patrolman Sherman Sher-man Kennell was on the tail of the offenders car, when the car sudenly made a U-turn to avoid the roadblock. In a fast chase at speeds as high as 100 mph., law enforcement vehicles followed on U. S. 666 as far as Arriola, where an evident effort of the pair to avoid capture ended end-ed in an overturned vehic. le when it failed to negotiate negoti-ate a turn. Upon apprehension, the pair were jailed, one in the Montezuma County Jail and one in thie Cortez Cor-tez Jail. They were questioned ques-tioned over the weekend by Phoenix, Ariz., policemen police-men in connection with the Dec. 28 death of Phoenix Phoe-nix motorcycle policeman, Albert R. Bluhm, and have been charged with shooting shoot-ing and killing Bluhm. Another An-other Phoenix Policeman was killed in an automobile automo-bile accident while respDn-ding respDn-ding to Bluhm's call for assistance. as-sistance. Merkle waved extradition and has been taken to Phoenix; Pho-enix; Parle is fighting extradition ex-tradition charges in Cortez. Cor-tez. San Juan County Sheriff Sher-iff Rigby Wright has charged the two on 8 counts, and the charges are being sent to the jurisdictions jur-isdictions where they are being held. Included are 2 counts of robbery, 2 counts of false imprisonment, 2 counts of first degree burglary, bur-glary, 1 count of obstructing obstruct-ing an officer and 1 count of) assult with intent to commit murder. Merkle and Parle are also al-so wanted for charges in Page County, Virginia. Utah Ut-ah charges are being deferred de-ferred for the prosecution on the Arizona charges, said Sheriff Wright. Patrolman Low resides in Monticello with his wife, Deborah, and son Roger. They also have a marred daughter. He is listed in fair but improving condition condi-tion in the San Juan County Coun-ty Hospital, after four hours of surgery to repair abdominal damage done by the bullet. Weapons in possession by the suspects included a shotgun, a 25-calibre Colt pistol, a Smith & Wessen .357 Magnum pistol with four shells fired and a .38 calibre team gas gun, plus a box of shells, reported Colorado State Patrol Sgt. George Rosenbaugh. |