Every officer has a case that haunts them, and for Officer Lane Keener, the chilling 1994 Popeyes murders in Gadsden stand out with harrowing clarity. With gripping emotion, Keener recounts the emergency call that accelerated into a high-speed race against the unknown, and the dire moments that followed as they breached the crime scene—a stark tableau of violence that even time can't erase. His story isn't just one of a crime; it's an intimate look at the weight carried by those who wear the badge, revealing the emotional toll extracted from the men and women behind the sirens and flashing lights.
The reverberations of tragedy don't end when the crime scene tape comes down, and this truth is echoed in the heart-wrenching narrative of a medic commander grappling with personal loss in the line of duty. Our guest, a seasoned crisis manager, offers a rare moment of solace and closure within the chaos, shedding light on the unspoken aftermath that law enforcement and first responders endure. As we navigate the delicate interplay between duty and humanity, the episode promises a candid and powerful journey into the challenges, unseen scars, and profound resilience of those who confront darkness to bring us safety and justice.
Every officer has a case that haunts them, and for Officer Lane Keener, the chilling 1994 Popeyes murders in Gadsden stand out with harrowing clarity. With gripping emotion, Keener recounts the emergency call that accelerated into a high-speed race against the unknown, and the dire moments that followed as they breached the crime scene—a stark tableau of violence that even time can't erase. His story isn't just one of a crime; it's an intimate look at the weight carried by those who wear the badge, revealing the emotional toll extracted from the men and women behind the sirens and flashing lights.
The reverberations of tragedy don't end when the crime scene tape comes down, and this truth is echoed in the heart-wrenching narrative of a medic commander grappling with personal loss in the line of duty. Our guest, a seasoned crisis manager, offers a rare moment of solace and closure within the chaos, shedding light on the unspoken aftermath that law enforcement and first responders endure. As we navigate the delicate interplay between duty and humanity, the episode promises a candid and powerful journey into the challenges, unseen scars, and profound resilience of those who confront darkness to bring us safety and justice.
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Joseph Cramer:
Today I'm here with Gadsden Officer Lane Keener, who was one of the responding officers to the 1994 Popeyes murders. Sir, can you remember where you were when the dispatch call came through and how quickly you arrived on scene?
Officer, Lane Keener:
Yeah, I was working with a partner, Billy Vassar, at the time. We were CLP officers community-oriented police working housing. We were on West.
Officer, Lane Keener:
Megan in the general area of West Meagan in Kasdan. I remember the radio call coming in, the shots fired, possible robbery, and as more information came in I realized how serious the call was and I vividly remember getting the call and each time it would come out there were more victims. When you saw something terrible it happened at that time Going from West Megan to East Megan, in total it was probably 15 blocks but it felt like it took forever to get there.
Joseph Cramer:
Who was the first one on the scene, self and Officer Vassar, I can say we were partners.
Officer, Lane Keener:
Wayne Sims, Officer Wayne Sims and Officer Wayne Ammons, I know for sure, were the first four on the scene.
Joseph Cramer:
The building was locked when we got there Best I can remember, I think we had a forced entry into it, if I remember right.
Officer, Lane Keener:
I think Officer Sims actually went through the drive-thru window to get in and let us in, if I remember correctly.
Joseph Cramer:
After talking with Officer Randy Phillips last week, his first memory was that of Tamika Collins' purse being on top of the counter. Do you have any distinctive memories first going into the crime scene?
Officer, Lane Keener:
Yeah, there's several distinctive memories Going in it may sound silly, but I guess, like him sitting in the purse, laying there, something that I don't know.
Officer, Lane Keener:
It may sound silly, but when I went in I had a shotgun and I was covering Officer Sims and, I think, officer Vassar as they made their way around the counter. So I went towards the end of the counter so I could see towards the back cooking area and I remember looking over all the leftover chicken the chicken that was laying in the heat pan, whatever you call it over the barrel of my shotgun, and that was. That's a memory that's exited my mind, memory that's exited my mind. I remember coming around the corner after that they made entry that far. I remember coming around the front counter and getting around to the back, past the chicken, and seeing Brian Archer laying in the little office area in the little office area. That was that. And then going to the actual Kiddler where all the employees were and the amount of blood that was on the floor and the smell. Those are things that just really stick out in my head.
Joseph Cramer:
Can you?
Officer, Lane Keener:
describe that smell it was. It was a mix, obviously, of fried chicken and batter and the distinct smell of blood. It's kind of an irony smell. I guess if you smell large amounts of blood when you catch yourself bleeding or something like that, you don't really smell blood, but if there's large amounts of it it has a distinct odor. But with the large amounts of it it has a distinct odor. I remember that odor being mixed in with the fried chicken and batter and grease and all the normal stuff that was in the restaurant at that time.
Joseph Cramer:
In the video from YouTube we see that you guys went in with guns drawn At that time. Did you guys feel an immediate sense of danger or was this part of your training?
Officer, Lane Keener:
I felt an immediate sense of danger when the call came out. If you don't feel the danger, you need to find a different line of work and say it for you. Your mind is not the right place. Every call we give on to you, your senses are on high alert. That's even more so because of the nature of the radio traffic, and I remember the tone in the dispatcher's voice was different. Tell this wasn't just a run of the mill call, so to speak.
Joseph Cramer:
You guys were really young in your careers. Would you say that this was the worst crime scene you had come across at that time?
Officer, Lane Keener:
It's probably the worst crime scene. Definitely that time. Yes, I got hired in 94 when this happened in 94. Probably the pop top I'm about the top two or three, of course crowd slings. One or two crowd slings that I've ever seen, either one or two. I'll break it right there.
Joseph Cramer:
There were two men involved in this shooting. I read that they had been pulled over earlier in the evening. Were you one of the officers that had pulled them over?
Officer, Lane Keener:
No, After the incident I don't remember the exact time of event because once it happened we were there securing the crime scene, processing and helping detectives and all that goes with that Suspects had made their way to Rainbow City. I think Rainbow City apprehended a one or both of them, I don't remember if the detectives interviewed them immediately that night, or if it was the next day.
Joseph Cramer:
I wasn't involved in that process I only had these few questions for today. If you wouldn't mind, could you kind of sum up your own words through and through? Tell me your full experience from the details of that night.
Officer, Lane Keener:
It like I told you before the interview so long ago, a lot of details have left me, but small things, like I told you earlier about the smells and all that still stick out. Just kind of summary in a nutshell what happened, how I was involved that night. I was working COP, community oriented police. We was on West Megan, myself and my partner Billy Vassar. He was driving. We received a radio call about shots fired, possible robbery at Popeyes and East Megan. We start heading that way immediately. Cops kept coming in. There were victims. When the cops come in there were multiple victims. We could tell that it was going to be a bad scene.
Officer, Lane Keener:
Showed up on the scene. Myself and Officer Sims and Officer Hammonds Officer Vassar, of course, were first ones on the scene. We set up a perimeter to secure the building. Uh, made entry to the building, walked in. Uh, once we got in saw brian in the little office there shot five times, what I remember, with 45 automatic. Miracle he he was able that night cause he was still able after being shot five times. He still kept his calm. He never panicked. He talked to dispatch, gave suspects names, descriptions. He was able to pass on information to dispatcher till we could get there. Dispatch passed it on to us. Obviously I remember Billy going, officer Vassar going and talking to Bright and trying to keep him calm and trying to reassure him that you know we're there, help's there, betch will be there shortly. I remember how stoic he stayed the whole thing. I don't know if it was, I don't know.
Joseph Cramer:
I've talked to him a few times since then.
Officer, Lane Keener:
Went and visited him in the hospital several times, I think it might. I think partly it's his personality and a lot of it may have been shock what happened to him, but he's able to stay so calm throughout the whole ordeal. We finished clearing the rest of the restaurant Once we got into the kitchen there was blood on the floor.
Officer, Lane Keener:
It was thick, fresh blood running onto the cold floor of the restaurant and it started coagulating pretty quick and it was slippery, sticky. Made our way to the cooler and saw those bodies laid in the. Found out later on when one of the medics showed up on scene he said he thought his nephew was in there and he gave his name Darryl Collier. When I was friends with Darryl we went to school Disney Middle School together. He went on to go to Southside. I went to Gaston High. I found out that was one of them in the cooler. Obviously it hit home. Found out one of the girls was pregnant later on down the line. But to see the victims laying in that cooler stacked, stacked like sides of beef, you know I hate to say how cold, but just how cold and just inhumane the shooters had treated them people and we were having to secure the crime scene standing there Once we clear a scene, victims are checked, medical aid rendered, then there's a lot of processing of the crime scene.
Officer, Lane Keener:
That scene has to be secured to make sure that it's not contaminated. I was one of the officers that stood there in the back of the kitchen to make sure it was secured. After the initial response that was another thing that stuck out in my mind is standing there At one point. I was in that restaurant by myself standing in the blood and again the smells and the deafening quiet and processing what had happened. You know that's something else that never leaves you. You know that's something else that never leaves you.
Officer, Lane Keener:
I guess the hardest thing that night was Butch. He was a commander I believe he was a commander at the time medics. I'd known him just about all my life because he worked with my dad and my granddad. They were both gas and firefighters. So I'd known Butch a all my life because he worked with my dad and my granddad that were both gas and firefighters. So I'd known Butch a long, long, long time. Well, he came in and that's how I found out it was Darrell and the cooler. Butch came in and my job is to talk that anybody back. And Butch looked me in the eye and said I think my nephew's in there. And what do you say to that? Well, I guess I'll prove it to y'all, all my training and everything. But I was, you know, I let him. I let him pass. Of course he didn't disturb the crime scene or anything, but I guess to give him closure, he just wanted to check and I wasn't going to tell him closure. He just wanted to check and I wasn't going to tell him no.
Officer, Lane Keener:
So he left he processed the rest of Crown City and then I heard that suspect was afraid he was arrested in Rainbow City.
Officer, Lane Keener:
The rest of that was pretty much a blur. I don't really remember. It was so busy and so chaotic after that. Up until that, when you're responding to a scene, you're extremely focused, especially something that this series. You're extremely focused on what you're doing and things are clear and things obviously sit on your mind later that you don't ever forget. But once you get through the main focus of obtaining your task and hoping to save lives, and then the other things start happening. Other officers get involved, detectives and crime scene specialists and all that, everything kind of goes a little chaotic. Details start to run together.
Officer, Lane Keener:
Then, like I said, I guess there's two crime scenes that really, really, really stand out in my head. Obviously, there's 32 years of crowd scenes in my head, but this one and one other two of the main ones that might be a topic for you later. What was?
Officer, Lane Keener:
that I will talk about that later it was not good and I know that's not a whole lot, but it happened quick. It was a horrible event. I can't tell you how much my heart hurts for the families. I know they'll never have that closure of watching their unborn grandchild being raised, their brothers, sisters, daughters. It's affected a lot of lives at night. I appreciate you. Yeah, I'm glad to do it.