WHY DID `GREAT GUY' SNAP? BIZARRE INCIDENT HAS FRIENDS IN DISBELIEF.Byline: Angie Valencia-Martinez Staff Writer Back in Alabama and Georgia, friends and family of the suicidal man who tied up Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. freeways for four hours after a botched botch tr.v. botched, botch·ing, botch·es 1. To ruin through clumsiness. 2. To make or perform clumsily; bungle. 3. To repair or mend clumsily. n. 1. kidnapping attempt said Wednesday that they were baffled how a churchgoing church·go·er n. One who attends church. church  go ing adj. family man and selfless volunteer could go so wrong on a short business trip to Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . Police too were bewildered over what motivated suspect Dennis Elliot Shellhouse, 45, to try to abduct abduct /ab·duct/ (ab-dukt´) to draw away from the median plane, or (the digits) from the axial line of a limb.abdu´cent ab·duct v. a woman from her home in exclusive Lake Sherwood There are four places in the United States called '''Lake Sherwood:
Cornered on the San Bernardino Freeway The San Bernardino Freeway is the assigned name of an approximately 60-mile (95 km) long segment of Interstate 10 (I-10) between the cities of Los Angeles, California and San Bernardino, California. , he held officers at bay by threatening to kill himself. He was finally taken into custody after being shot, bitten by a police dog and tear-gassed and was recovering from his injuries. ``He may have gone crazy,'' the suspect's mother, Jane Shellhouse, 67, said in a telephone interview from Georgia. ``It is not like him to do something like this.'' Shellhouse, an industrial trainer from Phenix City Phenix City (fē`nĭks), city (1990 pop. 25,312), a seat of Russell co., E Ala., on the Chattahoochee River opposite Columbus, Ga., in a cotton area; inc. 1883. Textiles are manufactured there. , Ala. - a city of 28,500 residents on the Georgia border - left for California on Friday for a business trip for his Georgia-based company, Quick Start, according to his mother. She was contacted by a sheriff's deputy in Los Angeles seeking more information about her son whom she described as heavy-set, weighing as much as 300 pounds, with blond hair and brown eyes. She said he had been taking diet pills and other medication for depression. Friends said they simply could not believe Shellhouse was responsible for the kidnapping attempt and the ensuing police chase and freeway standoff. There were even some rumors in town that Shellhouse himself had been kidnapped. ``There is no way that can be the same person,'' said neighbor Kathy Birdsong birdsong. Song, call notes, and certain mechanical sounds constitute the language of birds. Song is produced in the syrinx, whose firm walls are derived from the rings of the trachea, and is modified by the larynx and tongue. . ``The only explanation is they've got the wrong guy,'' said South Girard School Assistant Principal Joshua Laney. ``The identification has been mixed up or something. There's no way that the guy that I know would ever attempt to take anybody hostage for money.'' Laney knew Shellhouse through his volunteer work at the school where his 14-year-old son was enrolled. He was also a Phenix City Schools Heart of the Community Volunteer in 2004 and 2005. Shellhouse, whose wife teaches at a local school in Phenix City, also has a 19-year-old daughter attending a university. He was described as a robotics buff - competing in Battlebot and other robot-combat competitions and mentoring his son's robotics team at his high school. ``(He) is a model citizen here in Phenix City and extremely admired by students and teachers,'' said schools Superintendent Larry DiChiara. ``We are baffled. When I first got the call, I said, That's not the same guy.'' But on Tuesday morning, authorities say, Shellhouse lied his way into the wealthy gated community of Lake Sherwood near Thousand Oaks. He is believed to have posed as a delivery courier to get past security, saying he needed to drop off a package for a 35-year-old woman. The unidentified woman met him in front of her porch in the 2100 block of Marsh Brook Road where he pulled out a gun, forced her back into her home and left a ransom note, officials said. ``He knew her name but we don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. how,'' said Eric Nishimoto, a spokesman for the Ventura County Sheriff's Department The Ventura County Sheriff's Department (VCSD) provides law enforcement for the unincorporated areas of Ventura County, California, USA, as well as several cities within the county. The cities that VCSD serves are Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Ojai, and Thousand Oaks. . ``We don't have anything on him. We haven't found anything to indicate that he would engage in any activity like this.'' As Shellhouse tried to take the woman to a minivan he rented, she was able to mouth ``Call 911'' to one of her neighbors and then managed to escape. The attempted kidnapping led to a two-hour car chase from Ventura County into Los Angeles County that ended in Alhambra in a standoff with law enforcement officers on the San Bernardino Freeway. During the standoff, Shellhouse repeatedly threatened to kill himself. Two handguns and a knife were recovered at the scene. Shellhouse was wounded by a single gunshot when police removed him from the van after firing tear gas tear gas, gas that causes temporary blindness through the excessive flow of tears resulting from irritation of the eyes. The gas is used in chemical warfare and as a means for dispersing mobs. into it. He also suffered a bite wound when a police dog was sent in to pull him out. Sheriff Jay Jones of the Lee County Sheriff's Department in Alabama said Shellhouse does not have a criminal record there. ``We haven't even answered any calls at his residence,'' he said. He added that a license for Shellhouse to carry a handgun has been revoked. The Alabama man was expected to be booked in Los Angeles on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon Assault with a Deadly Weapon is the term used to describe the act of threatening to harm one or more people by using a weapon (usually a firearm). Here, assault must be differentiated from battery as they are often confused. Assault is threatening to use force. against a peace officer. He also faces charges related to the attempted kidnapping in Ventura County, Nishimoto said. Meanwhile, residents of Lake Sherwood are left feeling uneasy. ``It left a funny feeling,'' said Nancy Purrill, who is co-owner of the Foxfield Riding School on Potrero Road. ``We feel violated. It's so peaceful here and lovely; it never occurred that anything like that could happen.'' Staff Writer Eric Leach and The Opelika-Auburn News contributed to this story. Angie Valencia-Martinez, (805) 583-7604 angie.valencia(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Deputies and SWAT vehicles surround an armed kidnapping suspect Tuesday on the I-10 in Alhambra. Suspect Dennis Elliot Shellhouse, 45, of Alabama is recovering from a gunshot. Leo Leo, in astronomy Leo [Lat.,=the lion], northern constellation lying S of Ursa Major and on the ecliptic (apparent path of the sun through the heavens) between Cancer and Virgo; it is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Jarzomb/Staff Photographer |
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