Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 26, 1991 TAG: 9103260194
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
While Police Chief M. David Hooper says Saturday's shooting of Leonard A. Morris appears justified based on preliminary reports, the NAACP and Morris' family are not so sure.
At a news conference Monday, Evangeline Jeffrey, president of the Roanoke branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, stopped short of accusing police of using excessive force.
However, she said that remains a "grave possibility," and called for an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.
"We have more questions than we have answers," she said.
One of the questions is why police repeatedly shot Morris during a confrontation at his Southeast Roanoke home. Assistant Medical Examiner William Massello said an autopsy determined that Morris was shot as many as nine times.
Joining Jeffrey at the news conference was Morris' brother, who was more outspoken about what he called a "cold and calculated" misuse of deadly force by police.
"We view this as an unauthorized use of force" by police who seem to have declared an "open season" on blacks, Desmond Morris said.
Authorities had yet to make a formal conclusion on the shooting, with investigations pending by the Police Department and Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell. Hooper said Monday that he welcomes a third investigation.
"I have no reservations at all about having a competent third-party agency reviewing the facts," he said.
Police say Leonard Morris, a 28-year-old Jamaican native, was shot after he pulled a knife while being questioned at his home about a woman who was sexually attacked, stabbed up to 30 times and left bleeding on a nearby street corner.
Police say Morris stabbed one officer and charged at two others, forcing Officer D.E. Sink and Sgt. G.C. Hurley to draw their revolvers and fire.
Desmond Morris claimed that in releasing information about the shooting, police made a "glaring omission." They failed to mention that Leonard Morris "had recently moved to a predominately white area, and as such would have been a likely target for the police," he said.
The shooting is the latest of a series of incidents in which the NAACP has claimed - or at least suggested - that the nearly all-white police force has used excessive force and racism in dealing with blacks. Monday was the second time in less than a year that the NAACP has asked for a Justice Department investigation.
All four of the officers involved in Morris' shooting were white. But Hooper said Monday that he knows of "nothing to indicate that race played any part in this."
Although it wasn't mentioned specifically, the recent beating of a black man by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department seemed to be on the minds of those who spoke at Monday's news conference.
"In our nation today, there has been a lot of skepticism involving police procedures," Jeffrey said. One of the reasons the NAACP is concerned about the incident is that it reflects the "present climate in our country," she said.
In raising questions about Morris' death, Jeffrey asked why police fired numerous shots. While Hooper declined to say how many shots were fired, he said the number of gunshots is "not a significant factor in terms of what was happening."
Massello said an autopsy determined that Morris was shot up to nine times in the chest, arms and legs. Police have requested toxicology tests to determine whether Morris was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but those results will take several weeks, Massello said.
In visiting the home at 463 Arbutus Ave. where Morris was shot, Jeffrey and other NAACP officials found bullet holes in the floor of the living room where the confrontation took place. If Morris was shot in the chest as police say, Jeffrey asked, then why were there bullet holes in the floor?
That may be because Morris came at the officers in a crouched position, Hooper said. "He was crouched over and moving rapidly," he said.
Jeffrey also raised concerns that the officers involved in the shooting were still on the job. Hooper has said that if the officers feel up to it, "there's no reason" why they should not return to work.
Hooper said that while it appeared that police acted properly, he was withholding a final conclusion until an internal investigation is completed.
"This is not a condemnation of raising questions, but in order to fully understand it, you have to know all the facts," he said.
In addition to asking for a Justice Department investigation, the NAACP recommended that the city Community Relations Task Force also look into the incident.
The task force was formed last summer after the NAACP accused police of often using excessive force in dealing with black citizens. At the time, the Community Relations Service of the U.S. Justice Department was considering a mediation effort, but that was put on hold to await the task force's report.
Desmond Morris said he wanted an impartial investigation of his brother's shooting because he no longer trusted the police. Authorities have attempted to "taint the evidence" and "coerce a statement from a distraught 15-year-old" girl who was at the house at the time of the shooting, he said.
Leonard Morris moved to Roanoke with his family of five from Charleston, S.C., to escape the devastation of Hurricane Hugo. He never has been arrested, his brother said.
At the time of his death, Morris was a floor supervisor at the Waccamaw store at Crossroads Mall.
While expressing sympathy for the woman who was stabbed, Desmond Morris said the family is "convinced" that his brother had nothing to do with that. The woman was listed in serious condition Monday at Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
Police went to Leonard Morris' home about 6:30 a.m. Saturday after the woman was found - barefoot, partially clad and bleeding - at Walnut and Piedmont avenues, about two blocks from his home.
The woman said she met a man named Leonard Morris at a nightclub and went back to his house with him. He then tried to rape her, she told police.
The woman fled from the house, but was chased, caught and stabbed repeatedly before apparently being left for dead, police said.
Jeffrey was joined at the news conference Monday by other leaders in Roanoke's black community, including Carl Tinsley, former president of the NAACP.
"We live in a community that's an all-American city," Tinsley said. "Yet we have incidents involving police brutality all through the years."
by CNB