SWAT OFFICER KILLS BOY, 11

A Modesto SWAT officer shot and killed an 11-year-old boy while attempting
to serve an arrest and search warrant at a Modesto home Wednesday.

Modesto Police Department officials would not comment on the events
preceding the shooting in the 2500 block of McAdoo Avenue. They did say the
boy was shot in the back.

The officer, David Hawn, 49, a 21-year department veteran, has 18 years'
experience on the Special Weapons and Tactics team. He was placed on
administrative leave, normal procedure for an officer-involved shooting,
Modesto police Lt. Joel Broumas said.

The search was one of 14 warrants being served Wednesday in Stanislaus
County, the culmination of a two-year federal investigation into the sale,
manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine.

The Sacramento and San Francisco offices of the FBI, federal and Stanislaus
County offices of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Lodi Police
Department also were involved in the sting, Broumas said.

Hawn was one of six officers and a sergeant who entered the residence at
6:16 a.m. Police said an ambulance was called at 6:21 a.m.

Police could not comment on the number of people or children in the house
at the time, but Broumas said there were two adults in the house, and one
was male.

"I was getting my children up for school, and we heard all the noise from
the police," said Ann Reber, who lives next door. "I hit the floor. And the
oldest, I told him to go to the back of the house."

Reber said a man whom she knew as Moses, his wife and three children lived
at the residence. She said the man was an auto mechanic, and she would see
him fixing cars at his house. She did not have the impression that anything
illegal was occurring at the home.

"They just seemed normal to us," she said.

Broumas did not know if the boy was taken to a hospital after the shooting
and could not comment on whether any weapons were found in the home.

Reber believed the boy died inside the house.

"It's a tragedy. The entire department is in shock," Broumas said. "We want
to put out the most heartfelt sympathies to the family."

Two units within the Modesto Police Department, plus the Modesto City
Attorney's Office and the Stanislaus County District Attorney's Office, are
investigating the incident, Broumas said.

Lodi Police Chief Jerry Adams said his department's SWAT team served a
warrant Wednesday morning on Harney Lane at the request of the federal
agencies involved in the case. He said that search was performed without
incident.

Broumas could not comment on Hawn's work record.

To reach reporter Leilani Nisperos, phone 546-8272 or e-mail
lnispero@recordnet.com