EDITORIAL: Act of evil

Sunday’s ambush killing of two Las Vegas police officers and a brave civilian was an act of unrestrained evil and viciousness that’s nearly impossible to comprehend.

The ruthlessness of the attack in the eastern valley has left the public heartbroken, sickened and outraged all at once. But that’s nothing compared with the grief of the family and friends of officers Alyn Beck, 41, and Igor Soldo, 31, and 31-year-old Las Vegas resident Joseph Wilcox.

Mr. Beck and Mr. Soldo were not responding to a dangerous situation when they were targeted. They had no opportunity to use their years of training and experience to their benefit. They were eating lunch at CiCi’s Pizza, at 309 N. Nellis Blvd., about 11:20 a.m. when Jerad Miller, 31, and Amanda Miller, 22, entered the restaurant and executed the policemen. A police official told the Review-Journal that neither man had a chance to return fire.

The couple then left the restaurant and entered a nearby Wal-Mart with the officers’ guns, other weapons and bags containing ammunition and survivalist gear. Jerad Miller fired a round in the air and ordered everyone to leave the store. Mr. Wilcox, who was in the store and armed with his permitted, concealed handgun, tried to stop the gunman by coming up behind him. He didn’t realize Amanda Miller was in on the crime. She sneaked up behind Mr. Wilcox and killed him.

Jerad Miller was gunned down by police inside the Wal-Mart. Amanda Miller took her own life.

Mr. Wilcox had tried to become a Metropolitan Police Department officer several years ago but was not accepted, his uncle, John Wilson, told the Review-Journal. Mr. Wilcox clearly had the courage to do the job.

Mr. Beck, an officer since 2001 and an instructor at the department’s training academy, was a husband and father of three. Mr. Soldo, an officer since 2006, was a husband with a newborn. The community’s deepest sympathies are with their families and their colleagues, who will grieve while they investigate. Never before had two department officers died in the line of duty in a single incident.

The Millers, who moved here from Indiana a few months ago, were anti-government, anti-police radicals. Because they placed a Gadsden flag, a symbol of the tea party movement, over the bodies of the officers and left behind a manifesto with a swastika on it, and because they visited the Bundy ranch during that Nevada family’s dispute with the BLM — before the two were sent away — there was a rush to politicize the killings. The warped ideology of these lunatics is no reflection on anyone within the political mainstream. Suggesting as much is wrong.

Mixing politics with grief is not productive. The valley will need some time to mourn these senseless deaths. The attack already stands as one of the most horrific crimes in Las Vegas history. For three families and an entire force, the pain will never disappear.