An article in yesterday’s Buffalo News reports that Bucky Phillips Admitted to shooting NYS Troopers, but said that he thought they were bounty hunters.
Ralph “Bucky” Phillips admitted to authorities that he shot two New York State troopers in Chautauqua County, killing one and critically wounding the other, reliable law enforcement officials told The Buffalo News on Friday.
Phillips, now being held in a jail in Elmira, told federal marshals and the State Police that he thought the men he was shooting were bounty hunters and he was not trying to kill them.
Phillips made the statements shortly after he surrendered Sept. 8. The admission was confirmed by five reliable sources with knowledge of the case.
Doctors recently discovered additional gunshot wounds on Trooper Baker during exploratory surgery.
Buffalo, NY (AP) - Doctors have discovered additional gunshot wounds to the trooper who survived an ambush shooting during the hunt for Ralph “Bucky ” Phillips.
State Police spokeswoman Rebecca Gibbons says surgeons performed an operation Friday on Baker, after the wounds were found as he emerged from a medically induced coma.
Baker was in serious condition Saturday.
Gibbons says the new wounds were discovered during exploratory surgery, but would not disclose where on Baker’s body they were or how many times he had been shot.
Phillips set off one of the state’s largest manhunts when he escaped from the Erie County Correctional Facility, in Alden, in April.
While on the run, police say he shot Baker inthe back, and Trooper Joseph Lonagbardo in the thigh, severy an major artery. Logobardo later died.
The Buffalo News has reported that Phillips confessed to the shootings shortly after being taken into custody on September 8th. Their account- based on several anonymous sources- says Phillips thought the troopers were bounty hunters, and that he never intended to kill them.