Copley has been arrested on first-degree murder charges and is being held without bail. Thomas had graduated from Louisburg High School and worked at a McDonald’s in north Raleigh.
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“We have a house … we have a lot of people outside of our house yelling and shouting obscenities”. I fired my warning shot like I’m supposed to by law …
“Someone shot him out of his house”, the caller tells the dispatcher.
There is no reference to a warning shot that Copley claimed was required by law in his 911 call. “During a news conference Thursday morning, Thomas” family’s attorney Justin Bamberg – who is a well-known civil rights lawyer from SC and most recently represented the family of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge – repeatedly referred to Copley as “Zimmerman 2.0”.
“‘I’m going to pass judgment on someone I know nothing about based on what they’re wearing, based on what he looks like, based on what I think he may be up to, ‘” Bamberg said.
Butler-Thomas says her son was leaving a house party down the street when he was sacked on.
Just before Copley hung up the phone, he said, “There’s frigging black males outside my frigging house with firearms”. A female called 911 seven minutes later, giving the operator the address of what police later learned was Copley’s home. Martin was unarmed when he was killed. “Please send PD”, he says.
According to Walker, the two friends were standing outside, waiting for someone to give them permission to come in when a person they knew told them, “Bro, it ain’t no girls”. “Please send PD immediately”. “I’m going to investigate it myself and I’m gonna play police”.
But cops said no other weapons were found.
Copley appears to have indicted himself with 911 calls that were essentially a confession. Thomas later died at the hospital. “Bamberg said homeowners have a right to protect their home, but said Thomas” death was unjustified and his family wants justice.
Thomas and a friend, David Walker, had been trying to get into a crowded party near Copley’s home on Sunday, Walker told the Raleigh News and Observer.
“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. His family said they are devastated by the news of his death.
“Now it makes me even more scared, because I have two more sons that walk home from work or drive places”.
The mother of Thomas, Simone Butler-Thomas, is now speaking out about her fear over the safety of her surviving sons due to the inspiration behind the gunman having killed Thomas.
“I’m just exhausted. Everybody should be exhausted everyday”, she said. “I ask that you reach down in your heart and help me create a celebration of life for Koury”. He wasn’t wearing sagging trousers, a do-rag or any article of clothing that might make someone to jump to the conclusion that he was a thug, she said.
Copley called 911 shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday to complain about armed “hoodlums” racing and vandalizing his neighborhood and telling police he was ready to take action.
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Simone Butler-Thomas said her son was beloved and known for his love of others, often being called by the nickname “Safety 101” because he always urged people to buckle their seat belts.
