Around 1 a.m. on August 7, officers went to the 3500 block of Singleleaf Lane in Raleigh where they found 20-year-old Kouren-Rodney Bernard Thomas outside with a gunshot wound. Raleigh police arrested Copley, 39, on a murder charge.
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‘I am locked and loaded, ‘ a man calling from Copley’s house told a 911 dispatcher.
He went out and confronted the group and they started cursing at him. A female called 911 seven minutes later, giving the operator the address of what police later learned was Copley’s home.
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. Let’s unpack all the ways Chad Cameron Copley (pictured above) screwed up, based on the evidence we know so far.
“There was nothing “hood” about him”, she said.
Copley was questioned and charged with first-degree murder. Are those your kids?’ I said “no, I don’t have any kids.’ And she said “oh (I thought) because of your skin complexion.’ I just stood quiet and left”.
His mother told The Associated Press Tuesday her son was leaving a house party down the street when he was gunned down. Lewis’ account of what happened varies greatly from what can be heard on another 911 call placed just minutes before the fatal shot was sacked: Caller: It’s Singleleaf Lane. “I’m going outside to secure my neighborhood”, the man said. There were also blood stains and bloody gauze a few feet from the street, the newspaper reported. Police did not identify any of the callers in the audio tapes they released in the wake of the fatal shooting. If I were you I would send PD.
“Would this happen if there was Caucasian boys skateboarding up and down the street at one o’clock in the morning?” she asked.
Bamberg said Kouren Thomas was unarmed and that there was no evidence of guns at a house party he had been attending. He said while he feels there are similarities between Copley and Zimmerman, he believes the outcomes of the two cases would be different.
“I don’t know. I’m upstairs with our children”, the female caller says. They have firearms and we’re going to secure our neighborhood.
‘He wasn’t dressed when he left with sagging trousers, or a du-rag, or anything people would call “hoodlum”, she said of the night Thomas went to the party. They have firearms, and we’re going to secure our neighborhood.
“I’m looking at him running the whole time”, Walker said. “By definition, a warning shot is something to say, ‘Hey, I’m armed”.
“The association is mainly concerned with covenant enforcement and social functions, like mowing the front entrance and fixing things”, Mike Ellis, a spokesman for the association, told the Raleigh News & Observer. “He looks just like me”. His mother described him as a “mama’s boy” and “Mr. Safety 101”. He told WTVD that Thomas was near Copley’s mailbox when he was fatally shot.
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On the family’s GoFundMe page for Thomas, a smiling photo of Kouren-Rodney holding a certificate shines at the top of the page, which has garnered more than $2,000 in donations for funeral services.
