A 39-year-old Raleigh, North Carolina man is behind bars after firing a “warning shot” at a Black party-goer that ended up killing him on Sunday, Aug. 7.
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In a 911 call from the shooting site, a man tells dispatchers there are “a bunch of hoodlums outside racing up and down the neighborhood” and he is “locked and loaded and going outside”. Copley informed the dispatcher that he and his neighbors were “locked and loaded” and going to “secure” their neighborhood.
A homeowner in Raleigh, North Carolina has been charged with murder after calling police to complain about people outside his home who he called “hoodlums”.
The family of Kouren-Rodney Bernard Thomas has set up a gofundme page to raise money for his funeral expenses.
A relative told the News & Observer that Thomas’ family was not doing well.
Copley told the operator, “I yelled at them, ‘Please leave the premises.’ They were showing a firearm, so I fired a warning shot and, uh, we got somebody that got hit”.
Police said the incident happened around 1 a.m. Sunday morning when Copley fired a shot from inside his garage. He has been transported to the Wake County Detention Center.
The dispatcher asks who is outside his house, and the man says he doesn’t know but there’s a party at a nearby home.
“We have seen too many wrongful convictions for anyone or any organization to jump to conclusions on the basis of someone being charged”, the statement said.
Investigators said Copley fired a shotgun from inside his garage, striking Thomas, who was outside.
“I lost somebody that I can’t even put in words how much they’ve taken from us”, said brother Kristian Williams.
Another man calls 911 shortly thereafter to report a shooting. “I don’t watch the news because I’m exhausted of hearing about these boys getting killed”, she said.
The dispatcher asked Copley to clarify, and he elaborated. About 50 people were attending, half inside the home, the other half spilled out into the yard, Walker recalled. “This is the worst”, said Simone Butler-Thomas who is grieving the loss of her youngest son.
The News & Observer then published this chilling detail, which suggests that Copley fired through a closed window.
Thomas’ friends said he didn’t have a gun. “No child deserves it”, she said while stifling sobs.
“Koury was my baby and I love him”.
“He was just a good friendly guy that everybody, everybody loved to be around him”, said Kellen Crosby, the victim’s brother.
Police refused to name the caller per state law, but the time and address identification suggest that Copley was the man on the line.
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As they were leaving, Thomas saw what he thought were police lights, Walker told the newspaper.
