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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!! |
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