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Investigation continues in police shooting
Greg Sowinski | gsowinski@limanews.com - 01.05.2008
LIMA — Less than a day after the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old mother by a Lima Police Department SWAT team officer during a drug raid, Chief Greg Garlock said they knew they were entering a “high-risk” situation with a good chance there would be children inside.
Toys on the front porch of 218 E. Third St. were the tip-off children may be inside. Police officers also knew the man they were after, Anthony Terry, 31, had been in prison and had numerous run-ins with police officers including a time in which he tried to use a weapon on an officer.
Still, they decided to go forward with the nighttime raid just after 8 p.m. Friday.
The result was deadly.
A SWAT team officer shot and killed Tarika Wilson. Her 1-year-old son, Sincere Wilson, also was shot. He was at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus in stable condition Saturday evening. His aunt, Tania Wilson, said he was shot in the shoulder and hand and that the bullet blew off a finger. He had surgery Saturday, she said.
Five other children were inside the home with two adults, Garlock said.
The raid was the result of a “long-term investigation” by the department’s PACE unit into the sale of illegal drugs out of the home. Terry was the subject of the raid. Police arrested him and charged him with suspicion of possession of crack cocaine following the raid.
He was in the Allen County jail Saturday with a bond hearing scheduled for Monday.
Wilson’s body was taken to the Lucas County Coroner’s Office in Toledo for an autopsy, Allen County Coroner Gary Beasley said.
A somber Garlock stood before the media Saturday answering questions about the deadly incident. He had little to say about what happened inside.
“This is not what any of us wanted to happen,” he said.
His department late Friday asked the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation to handle the investigation to be fair to the community and his officers. The agency is under the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
Before the raid, Garlock said officers collected information and tried to anticipate anything they may encounter inside.
“Because of the fact there were toys on the outside of the residence they were concerned about the fact there could be children inside and they were taking every precaution when they made entry,” he said.
The chief said any drug raid has the potential for danger, which is why SWAT officers are highly trained.
“I think it’s important for the public to know the Lima Police Department has literally been involved in thousands, not just hundreds, thousands of raids over the years,” he said.
Garlock was asked if he stood by the decision for SWAT officers to go into the residence and referred to the independent investigation by BCII. He once again said police knew it was a high-risk drug raid with the potential for children inside.
“The decision made tried to take all precautions into account and I would have to say obviously our track record has been very consistent in terms of safety,” he said.
The last fatal shooting by a Lima police officer was by a member of the SWAT team inside the Lima Rescue Home in downtown Lima on Aug. 23, 2000. Michael Hildebrandt was killed by a SWAT officer after he reportedly was armed with a knife during a six-hour standoff. The officer involved in that shooting remains on the SWAT team but Garlock didn’t know if he was in the raid Friday.
Former SWAT commander Richard Shade, now a major with the department, said it’s not unusual for children to be inside homes police raid.
Garlock was not sure how many SWAT officers were involved in the raid Friday. The SWAT team has 14 officers. At least one distraction grenade was set off outside the home before the raid, which is a common tactic that gives officers the element of surprise in hopes of quickly taking the situation under control, he said.
“Because of the possibility that we had children in there they were not lobbed inside the residence,” he said.
The entire situation will be closely examined by the department to determine what may have been done wrong in a standard debriefing, Garlock said. Such debriefings provide a learning experience for the team, he said.
Although the SWAT officer has been placed on leave, the SWAT team will not suspend any drug raids and the PACE team will not suspend any investigation, Garlock said.
Garlock was not sure how many shots were fired. He said that will be part of the investigation. The chief also refused to release the name of the officer who fired the fatal shot and injured the child.
The chief also declined to comment on whether anyone inside the home had a weapon or threatened an officer.
Two dogs, which Garlock said were pit bulls, were shot inside the home. One was killed and the other was injured, he said.
Garlock also discussed the tense situation that followed the shooting outside the home that included members of the community yelling profanities at police. An estimated 100 people gathered around in the cold waiting to hear news, including Wilson’s mother and other family members.
Garlock apologized for the delay and accepted blame saying his officers legally needed a second search warrant to re-enter the home after the SWAT team left. That took a couple of hours to get, which included approval by a judge, he said.
He also said police consulted with two prosecutors about that decision.
Another issue that delayed police from notifying Wilson’s family was making sure they had the correct identity of Wilson.
“We finally were able to do that through pictures,” he said.
Garlock pulled the family aside nearly four hours after the shooting to deliver the bad news. The mother fell to the ground. The family left a short time later. The crowd still was upset learning of a death but seemed to calm after police finally spoke to family.
Garlock said there were no plans to increase patrols in the neighborhood Saturday or in the near future.
Officers will remain at the house to protect the crime scene in case BCII officers need to enter for their investigation, Garlock said.
Lima 6th Ward Councilman Derry Glenn owns the house but did not live there. It was a rental home he had, he said.
Glenn called for an independent investigation following the incident.
“This doesn’t look good. It stinks to high heaven,” he said.
Glenn vowed to seek outside help.
“I want to make sure the folks know this is going to be investigated thoroughly and we’re going to check it out to make sure everything is going to get uncovered. I guarantee you that,” he said.
Lt. Jim Baker briefly spoke during the news conference about the incident with Terry and an officer that took place in the mid-1990s.
“Mr. Terry had a weapon and there was a fight over that weapon and he tried to use that on Sgt. [Ron] Connor,” Baker said.
Baker also said Wilson had spent time in prison on a drug conviction. That conviction was out of Putnam County, according to court records.
Lima Mayor David Berger offered condolences to the Wilson family and apologize for the delay in notifying them of Wilson’s death.
“I want to express a personal heartfelt remorse for this horrible situation,” Berger said.
The Rev. Lamont Monford also attended the news conference and said it’s important for an independent investigation to be conducted to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
“People are suspicious when these kinds of things happen. The bottom line is let the truth come out whatever the truth is,” he said.
Oh, Great Spirit, grant that I may not criticize my neighbor until I have walked a mile in his moccasins." - Old Indian Prayer My dad told me!! |
Crowd holds vigil, marches downtown for shooting victim
Kate Lohnes | klohnes@limanews.com - 01.05.2008
LIMA — More than 100 people marched across Lima’s south side Saturday, demanding justice after a Friday night drug raid left one woman dead.
Family, friends and concerned community members gathered at about 5 p.m. at the Cheryl Allen Center on South Central Avenue to light candles and pray for 26-year-old Tarika Wilson. Lima Police Department Chief Greg Garlock said an officer shot and killed Wilson when the Lima police SWAT team stormed her home at 218 E. Third St. on a “high-risk search warrant” looking for illegal drugs. The SWAT team also shot Wilson’s 1-year-old son, Sincere Wilson, in the hand and arm, said the boy’s aunt Tania Wilson. He was flown by helicopter to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, where he was being treated.
At the vigil, volunteers distributed candles and homemade fliers printed with the words, “We Want Justice for Tarika Kay Wilson Right Now.” Brenda Johnson, director of the Cheryl Allen Center, stood on a chair in the room’s center and called for unity among the vigil’s participants.
“We’re going to pay homage to what went on last night,” she said. “We are going to march to show solidarity. Remember that baby that’s in that hospital, and remember that girl that’s laying on a slab being dissected, because the Lima police overstepped their bounds, and we need to call them back into check.”
Multiple leaders in Lima’s black community attended the vigil, including the Rev. C.M. Manley, of New Morning Star Baptist Church, the Rev. Arnold Manley, of Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church, and Jason Upthegrove, president of the Lima chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The crowd of men, women and children marched from the community center to the house where Wilson died, just more than a half-mile north. An impromptu banner covered in signatures and words of encouragement lead the crowd, with one corner held up by Darla Jennings, Wilson’s mother. They traveled north on Central Avenue, holding candles and banners and singing gospel songs.
Several people who participated in the march declined to be interviewed by The Lima News or declined to provide their names. While some of them did not know Wilson, they said they thought Lima police had not told the truth about the raid, while others said they simply wanted to support the family.
“It was devastating,” said 24-year-old Sophia Hall, a demonstrator whose brother fathered a child with Wilson. “Two people were shot for no reason. You don’t kill innocent bystanders. You don’t shoot people for no reason.”
Once they arrived, they found police officers waiting at the scene. The demonstrators in the street and on the sidewalk, tossing stuffed animals beyond the yellow crime tape onto the house lawn and front porch. Even as most crowd members called for peace, some shouted obscenities at the police, while others called for justice.
“It is time for all of us black sisters and brothers to stand together,” Arnold Manley said to the waiting crowd. “We must demand what we want. We want some answers, and we want them very soon.”
Demonstrators moved on foot and by car from the house to Main Street, ending the vigil on the front steps of the Lima Police Department. Johnson again addressed the crowd, calling for continued action in the days and weeks to follow. Johnson and Arnold Manley encouraged demonstrators to attend the Lima City Council meeting Monday night, as well as to boycott various bars and businesses in the city and to march every Saturday until the investigation is over.
The vigil was extremely important, said Arnold Manley, as a means to motivate Lima’s black community to take a stand. Manley indicated Friday night’s raid, as well as Wilson’s death, could have been a race issue.
“We’re trying to bring the black community together,” he said. “It was a peaceful meeting to show that we want to be treated equally. The police don’t raid Shawnee, they don’t raid Elida. They make it seem like the south end is the only place with drugs. We’re tired of our kids being arrested and pulled over at night. We want to be treated right, and that didn’t happen.”
Oh, Great Spirit, grant that I may not criticize my neighbor until I have walked a mile in his moccasins." - Old Indian Prayer My dad told me!! |
Woman defends her deceased sister
Greg Sowinski | gsowinski@limanews.com - 01.05.2008
LIMA — Tarika Wilson was to begin college Monday to study business in hopes of making a better life for herself and her six children.
“She was supposed to start Monday with me,” her sister, Tania Wilson, said.
Tarika Wilson will never have that chance.
A Lima Police Department SWAT team officer shot her to death Friday inside her home at 218 E. Third St. during an evening drug raid. The circumstances remained under investigation Saturday with police officials releasing few details about what happened inside the home.
Lima police officials turned the investigation over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation for an independent investigation because it involves officers in the department, Chief Greg Garlock said.
Tania Wilson said she and her family are more than upset and have no faith in police.
“I know my sister and I know she wouldn’t do nothing to jeopardize her life or her kids,” she said.
They want answers and only know bits and pieces of information they have gleaned from the oldest children who were inside the home, she said. She spoke Saturday night from Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus where they were visiting her sister’s 13-month old son, Sincere Wilson, who also was shot in the raid.
Sincere was out of surgery recovering from a gunshot to his shoulder and another shot that blew off a finger. He is expected to survive but doctors told the family it was too early to say how bad the injuries were.
“They don’t know now if he will ever be able to use his arm,” she said.
Tania Wilson said her sister’s six children were inside the home. Besides Sincere, there is Taesha Wilson, 8, Serenitie Wilson, 7, Sa’raesha Wilson, 5, Johnny Hall III, 4, and Darlajia Wilson, 3.
The information Tania Wilson has gathered from her nieces was police stormed the home after setting off some type of explosive device outside.
“My niece did say she saw firecrackers,” she said.
The man police was after, Anthony Terry, the boyfriend of Tarika Wilson, was downstairs in the home. Tarika Wilson and her six children were upstairs, Tania Wilson said.
Tarika Wilson was with her children helping them clean their bedrooms when the home was raided. Tarika Wilson’s daughter said her mom was holding the baby when she was shot, Tania Wilson said.
“Her first instinct was the baby. That was her first reaction because she was a good mom,” the Tania Wilson said.
As police stormed the home, at least one officer made his way upstairs, she said.
The daughter said she heard a gunshot and saw her mother’s arm snap back. She then saw her mother fall face first on the baby, Tania Wilson said.
Tania Wilson and her family are questioning why police would even go into a home where they knew children may be.
“I thought it was always safety and precaution first,” she said.
She said her sister doesn’t have a gun and can’t understand a scenario in which an officer would shoot at her sister and a baby.
“I don’t know how you can mistake a 1-year-old baby for a gun. That’s what I think. Why else would they shoot her?” she said.
Oh, Great Spirit, grant that I may not criticize my neighbor until I have walked a mile in his moccasins." - Old Indian Prayer My dad told me!! |
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