Chad Copley of Raleigh, North Carolina, has been charged with the murder of a 20-year-old. Tapes of the 911 calls feature the accused shooter, Chad Cameron Copley, declaring himself a member of neighborhood watch who fired what he called warning shots that hit Kouren-Rodney Bernard Thomas. Police say Copley shot Thomas with his shotgun from inside his garage.
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As they were leaving, Walker said Thomas saw what he believed to be police lights. Host Frank Stasio talks with News and Observer reporter Ron Gallagher about the latest.
Meanwhile, CNN reports that Copley winked at his family when he entered the courtroom during his first hearing about the case. A judge assigned the Capital Defenders Office to defend Copley. “We urge restraint and that folks not rush to judgement”.
Bamberg said the family is seeking justice and “won’t be satisfied” until Copley is convicted.
Crosby said his mother called him early Sunday morning to tell him the news.
“We have a bunch of hoodlums out here. I’m going outside to secure my neighborhood”. If I were you, I’d send PD as quickly as possible.
You don’t tell the police that you are going to “secure your neighborhood” and then tell the dispatcher that they “better send police quickly” because you’re about to take the law into your own hands. “You’re going out to do what to the neighborhood, sir?”
Caller: I’m gonna secure my neighborhood. “I’m neighborhood watch. There are hoodlums as he sees them outside”. “I’m on neighborhood watch”. I am going to have the neighbourhood meet these hoodlums out here racing up and down the street.
“It’s 1 in the morning”, he continued. There’s several dozen of them.
If you are going to acquire a firearm, you have the moral and legal responsibility to know not just basic firearms safety and weapon manipulation, but the applicable laws of your state regarding using that weapon. “Please, send PD. Thank you”.
Asked if he can provide a house number or intersection, he says “Negative, ma’am”.
It’s unclear what Tarlton’s defense strategy will be moving forward ― but he’ll have North Carolina’s “Stand Your Ground” laws in his arsenal.
In another of the 911 calls released by police, an unidentified man can be heard saying, “They shot him from the house”.
“We have a house … we have a lot of people outside of our house yelling and shouting obscenities”.
“Well, I don’t know if they were shot or not, Ma’am”, he told a dispatcher. They shot him, and he fired back, killing both men. Copley claims that he fired a “warning shot”. I yelled at them “please leave the premises.’ They were showing firearms so I fired a warning shot”.
The attorney also said that it was Copley who introduced the issue of race in his 911 call, in which he talking of “frigging black males outside my frigging house with firearms”.
To which Copley responds, “Please just send a vehicle”.
Copley then, suddenly, hung up. Again, commotion muddles the audio.
Jordan Davis was also 17, unarmed, and in Florida when he was shot and killed the same year as Martin. He alleged those same people had gathered outside with guns.
The 20-year-old suffered a gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at a hospital.
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“The man’s body was right in front of the mailbox”, Lewis said, pointing toward Copley’s mailbox. Before Thomas died, Bamberg said, he opted to donate his skin and corneas to those in need.
