http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world...er-kills-black-man/ar-BBvxTJs?ocid=spartanntp
The mother of a black man fatally shot by a white homeowner who claimed he was going to “secure his neighborhood” from “hoodlums” pleaded for justice and broader social change so that “other parents won’t have to go through this.”
And an attorney for the family of Kouren-Rodney Bernard Thomas, the 20-year-old who was killed Sunday morning in Raleigh, N.C., called the gunman who fired the fatal shot “George Zimmerman 2.0,” in reference to the neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, four years ago in Florida.
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Police say Chad Copley, 39, fired a shot from inside his garage on Sunday morning, killing Thomas, who friends and family say was walking to his car after leaving a party.
Before firing what he described as a “warning shot,” Copley had called 911, telling dispatchers that he was “locked and loaded” and going to confront “hoodlums” who were armed and racing up and down his street, according to a recording of the call obtained by The Post.
He then called back and told the 911 operator: “We got somebody that got hit.”
When officers arrived, they found Thomas suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at a hospital a little later.
Copley was arrested and is in Wake County jail, where he’s charged with first-degree murder. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
Simone Butler-Thomas told The Post that she believes Copley’s actions were motivated by race.
“If there was a group of Caucasian kids skateboarding up and down the street, would he have done that to them?” she said.
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The Thomas family’s attorney, Justin Bamberg, told The Post that Copley must be prosecuted “to the fullest extent of the law” to deter others from taking justice into their own hands.
“One reason we keep seeing these things happen is that they look at situations like George Zimmerman and see the fact that at the end of the day, he was acquitted,” Bamberg said. “Mr. Copley was not in danger. I don’t believe that anybody can find that his fear — if there was any — was reasonable, given the facts. He fired from his garage into the street and then killed an innocent person.”
Some details of the fatal confrontation remain unclear, but Raleigh police have confirmed that Copley fired at Thomas from the garage.
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On Sunday, calling 911 from his home in northeast Raleigh around 1 a.m., Copley claimed to be a part of his neighborhood watch. He told a 911 operator to send a police car fast — he was “locked and loaded,” he said, and was going outside to confront a group of “hoodlums.”
“We got a bunch of hoodlums out here racing,” he said. “I’m going outside to secure my neighborhood.”
The dispatcher asked: “You’re going to do what?”
“I’m going to secure my neighborhood,” Copley said.
He continued: “I’m on neighborhood watch. I am going to have the neighborhood meet these hoodlums out here racing up and down the street. It’s 1 in the morning. There’s some devil in them. They have firearms, and we’re going to secure our neighborhood. If I was you, I would send PD out here as quickly as possible.”
A few minutes later, Copley was on the phone with dispatchers again.
“I yelled at them, ‘Please leave the premises,'” he said. “They were showing firearms, so I fired a warning shot and uh, we got somebody that got hit. …
“I fired my warning shot like I’m supposed to by law. … They do have firearms, and I’m trying to protect myself and my family.”
The dispatcher pressed for more information: Who’s been shot, how badly are they injured — and where, exactly, is the victim?
“Please just send a car,” Copley responded. “There’s friggin’ black males outside my friggin’ house with firearms. Please, send PD. Thank you.”
He then hung up.
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