Elderly La. Man shot to death by Cops

[DaemonSeid]

HOMER, La. – For 73 years before his killing by a white police officer, Bernard Monroe's life in this little town was as quiet as they come — five kids by the same wife he had for five decades, all raised in the same house, supported by the same job.

The black man's death is making far more noise than he ever did, and raising racial tensions between the black community and the police department.

Rendered mute after losing his larynx to cancer, the 73-year-old retired power company lineman was in his usual spot on the mild February day: a chair by the gate that led to his Adams Street home. A barbecue cooker smoked beside a picnic table in the yard as a dozen or so family members talked and played nearby.

His son, Shaun, 38, was in his pickup truck in front of the house, talking to his sister-in-law.

And that's when it all started.

In a report to state authorities, Homer police said Officer Tim Cox and another officer they have refused to identify chased Monroe's son, Shaun, from a suspected drug deal blocks away to his father's house.

Shaun Monroe, who had an arrest record for assault and battery but no current warrants, quickly drove up the driveway and went into the house. Two white police officers followed him. Within minutes, he ran back outside, followed by an unidentified officer who Tasered him in the front yard.

Seeing the commotion, Bernard Monroe confronted the officer. Police said that he advanced on them with a pistol and that Cox, who was still inside the house, shot at him through a screen door.

Monroe fell dead along a walkway. How many shots were fired isn't clear; the coroner has refused to release an autopsy report, citing the active investigation.

Police said Monroe was shot after he pointed a gun at them, though no one claims Monroe fired shots. But friends and family said he was holding a bottle of sports water. They accuse police of planting a gun he owned next to his body.

"Mr. Ben didn't have a gun," said 32-year-old neighbor Marcus Frazier, who was there that day. "I saw that other officer pick up the gun from out of a chair on the porch and put it by him."


link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090410/ap_on_re_us/homer_police_shooting)

On one hand this probably could have been prevented if the the son turned himself in and on the other hand this looks as if it could be a set up by police to cover their negligence.

I am sure details will follow.

[PM_Mama00]

How could the officers just plain ol plant a gun in his hand with so many people watching? Sounds to me like he was a respected person in the community and people are sticking up for the family. It just doesn't sound right. A sports bottle doesn't look anything like a gun.

[KSigkid]

How could the officers just plain ol plant a gun in his hand with so many people watching? Sounds to me like he was a respected person in the community and people are sticking up for the family. It just doesn't sound right. A sports bottle doesn't look anything like a gun.

Could just be that the officer was trigger-happy. It doesn't excuse the son's apparent resisting of arrest...just sounds like a such a weird series of events.

[PM_Mama00]

Could just be that the officer was trigger-happy. It doesn't excuse the son's apparent resisting of arrest...just sounds like a such a weird series of events.

I don't doubt that he was trigger happy or just panicked without thinking but I think there's alot more to this story than is written.

From the article:

"They're more than aggressive around here," said Shirley Raney, 47, a homemaker who lived a few blocks from Monroe. She said officers pulled up at her house and searched her son before going to his home Feb. 20.

"They said there were drugs in this area and Chief Mills wanted it stopped," Raney said

Um. Duh? Is she complaining that they want drugs stopped? The article even said that Monroe kept a gun because of the drug activity. If they have reason to search someone then go ahead if it's going to keep the neighbors safe.

[PhiGam]

It seems like there are still a lot of details that need to come out here before we really know what happened. Right now its really just a question whether to believe the cops or the neighbor- and I'm inclined to believe the cops.

[DaemonSeid]

- and I'm inclined to believe the cops.

Because....?

[KSigkid]

I don't doubt that he was trigger happy or just panicked without thinking but I think there's alot more to this story than is written.

From the article:



Um. Duh? Is she complaining that they want drugs stopped? The article even said that Monroe kept a gun because of the drug activity. If they have reason to search someone then go ahead if it's going to keep the neighbors safe.

It seems that she has a problem with them being "more than aggressive." Which, depending on what exactly the "more than aggressive" entails, is a very valid concern.

I'm not giving the benefit of the doubt to one party or the other...but it will be interesting to see if more information comes out about this.

[AKA_Monet]

IMHO... The cops in Northern Central Louisiana are severally untrained in general police procedures and realms within the law.

Where is this "suspect" really going to go? While police departments are losing funding, not all of them are deprived to the point of not having an onboard video cam that can record their pursuits.

This old man did not need to be shot no matter how tense the situation. When one wears that badge they still represent the upholding the governing laws in their jurisdiction... If they are about public service there, then why was there a hostile tension?

Even if we speak on "instincts", cultural prejudice and bigotry due to the refusal for community outreach among all aspects of a locale--welp, we will see more of this silliness.

[PhiGam]

Because....?
They simply have more credibility in my eyes than someone who was clearly upset about this incident- people say funny things when they are upset or distressed.

[DaemonSeid]

They simply have more credibility in my eyes than someone who was clearly upset about this incident- people say funny things when they are upset or distressed.

Cops are people too, remember that.

And they too say and do funny things after discharging their weapons in the heat of the moment.

If, say, 30 people saw the same thing, it's pretty hard to deny so, let's both take our own advice and wait and see...what we should be asking is what really prompted them to open fire on a 70 something year old man.

[PhiGam]

Sharpton needs to leave the town though... he isn't going to make anything better. He is absolutely pathetic.

[RU OX Alum]

I hope he gets charged with murder.

[DaemonSeid]

who?

Sharpton?

[RU OX Alum]

Yeah. He killed five minutes of my life.

Bastard.

[nate2512]

Does no one take issue with the fact that the guy had a gun on his porch period? Since when do people have the need to just have a gun chillin on the porch.

And the if the cops had just reason to believe that their life is in danger, they can legally shoot at the suspect. they look up and see the old man with a gun, pointed at them, then yes, they have the right to shoot him. And if they shot and killed him, they obviously aren't that untrained.

Just cause people are from Louisiana, it doesn't make them racist, it doesn't make them barbarians, and it sure as hell doesn't make them automatic morons. I honestly don't even see where race could come into this equation, sure the two cops were white, the people were black, it could have just as easily been the other way around, that doesn't really fucking matter until people make an unjust huge deal about it.

[DaemonSeid]

Does no one take issue with the fact that the guy had a gun on his porch period? Since when do people have the need to just have a gun chillin on the porch.

And the if the cops had just reason to believe that their life is in danger, they can legally shoot at the suspect. they look up and see the old man with a gun, pointed at them, then yes, they have the right to shoot him. And if they shot and killed him, they obviously aren't that untrained.

Just cause people are from Louisiana, it doesn't make them racist, it doesn't make them barbarians, and it sure as hell doesn't make them automatic morons. I honestly don't even see where race could come into this equation, sure the two cops were white, the people were black, it could have just as easily been the other way around, that doesn't really fucking matter until people make an unjust huge deal about it.

Slow down....

1. What if the gun was legally registered?

2. There are conflicting accts about if the man had a gun

3. It could have just as easily been the other way around but it's too commonplace for white officers to shoot and kill black citizens for no one to take notice,

[PhiGam]

Does no one take issue with the fact that the guy had a gun on his porch period? Since when do people have the need to just have a gun chillin on the porch.

And the if the cops had just reason to believe that their life is in danger, they can legally shoot at the suspect. they look up and see the old man with a gun, pointed at them, then yes, they have the right to shoot him. And if they shot and killed him, they obviously aren't that untrained.

Just cause people are from Louisiana, it doesn't make them racist, it doesn't make them barbarians, and it sure as hell doesn't make them automatic morons. I honestly don't even see where race could come into this equation, sure the two cops were white, the people were black, it could have just as easily been the other way around, that doesn't really fucking matter until people make an unjust huge deal about it.
If it was a legally registered firearm then he was fully within his rights to have it on his front porch. I don't take issue with people exercising their constitutional rights- especially if they live in a bad neighborhood such as this and need to be protected.

[DaemonSeid]

Some interesting tidbit culled from some other articles about this story:

A Legacy of Hostility Towards Black Residents:
Police hostility towards black residents was an open secret:
"People here are afraid of the police," said Terry Willis, vice president of the Homer NAACP branch. "They harass black people, they stop people for no reason and rough them up without charging them with anything."

That is how it should be, responded Russell Mills, Homer's police chief ... "If I see three or four young black men walking down the street, I have to stop them and check their names," said Mills, who is white. "I want them to be afraid every time they see the police that they might get arrested."

link (http://civilliberty.about.com/od/lawenforcementterrorism/p/bernard_monroe.htm)

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2009-03/45610822.jpg
Bernard Monroe is seen in a family photo clutching a large sports-drink bottle, as he was on the day he was shot.

link (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-race-shootings17-2009mar17,0,3587334.story?track=rss)

Four witnesses said he was sitting outside his home in the late afternoon on Feb. 20 -- clutching a large sports-drink bottle -- when two police officers pulled up and summoned over his son, Shawn.

Shawn Monroe, who has a long record of arrests and convictions on charges of assault and battery but was not wanted on any warrants, reportedly ran into the house.

One of the officers, who had been on Homer's police force only a few weeks, chased after him and reappeared moments later in the doorway, the witnesses said.

Meanwhile, the elder Monroe had started walking toward the front door. When he got to the first step on the porch, the witnesses said, the rookie officer opened fire, striking Monroe several times.

"He just shot him through the screen door," said Denise Nicholson, a family friend who said she was standing a few feet away. "After [Monroe] was on the ground, we kept asking the officer to call an ambulance, but all he did was get on his radio and say, 'Officer in distress.' "

The witnesses said the second officer picked up a handgun that Monroe, an avid hunter, always kept in plain sight on the porch for protection. Using a latex glove, the officer grasped the gun by its handle, the witnesses said, and ordered everyone to back away. The next thing they said they saw was the gun next to Monroe's body.

"I saw him pick up the gun off the porch," Marcus Frazier said. "I said, 'What are you doing?' The cop told me, 'Shut the hell up, you don't know what you're talking about.' "





One of the more interesting things to note, however is that when all was said and done, the son was NEVER taken into custody.

Makes one wonder if this was a case of mistaken identity.

[RU OX Alum]

Makes one wonder if this was a case of mistaken identity.

I doubt it. It sounds more like pre-meditated murder. And when they couldn't get the kid, they shot the old man instead.