Detective interrogates murder suspect for six hours before realising he's dying from being shot in eye
Detective interrogates murder suspect for six hours before realising he's dying from being shot in eye
Naturally, the police always want to question a suspect they believe may have committed a murder to ensure justice is served.
However, with this particular case, officials should definitely have allowed the suspect to go to hospital before the questioning commenced.
This case is a real crazy, hard-to-believe one, but also one filled with a lot of sadness, too.
Advert
The unusual case takes us back to 2006, where Ryan Waller was the victim of a violent break-in that changed his life forever.
Ritchie Carver – a former roommate and friend of Waller – and his father Larry Carver decided to break-in after an initial bust-up.
Even the break-in was unusual, as Ritchie went to the front doorbell and rang it - not much of a break-in if you ask me.
Nevertheless, what happened next was truly tragic.
As Waller got up to see who was at the door, he knew trouble was on the horizon so kept it firmly shut.
But Ritchie managed to shoot Ryan through the door, hitting him twice in the head, allowing him to proceed through the apartment in Phoenix, Arizona.
Ritchie went through the home and shot Waller's girlfriend Heather, who was sitting on the sofa - she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The police were called to the property after Ryan’s parents became worried when he didn’t show up for Christmas dinner.
Ryan – who was just about holding onto life – said that he didn't remember what had happened when questioned by police.
Of course, that is understandable, as the lad had just been shot in the head - but police didn't believe him.
In footage from the interrogation, Ryan can be seen holding his eye with a number of horrible wounds on his head.
Despite his obvious pain, Ryan managed to identify Ritchie Carver and his dad as the gunmen.
It wasn't until hours later that Ryan was rushed to hospital, after contracting an infection that could have been avoided had he received proper and timely care.
As a result, Ryan lost some of his brain, his left eye, and experienced seizures for years.
Those frequent seizures led to him losing his life just a year later in 2007.
The family may have found a small bit of comfort from the justice that has been served in recent years, though.
Ritchie received a life sentence without parole while Larry was also sent down to a life behind bars in 2013.
As for the officer who interrogated Ryan, he was charged with evidence tampering and fabricating stories about events to do with the case.
Callum Jones