Wharton said “Officer’s Bolton’s death was an offense to God, his family and each of us”.
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Wilbourn and the driver of the Mercedes ran away, and a neighbor used Bolton’s radio to notify police about the shooting.
Wilbourn turned himself in Monday and reportedly stated that he isn’t a cold-blooded killer or a coward, which a police official called him during a press conference. “It’s self-defense against an aggressive officer”. Police say he was fatally shot during a struggle while interrupting what police are calling a drug deal in progress on Saturday night.
Over the weekend, a police officer in Memphis, Tennessee, was shot and killed during a regular traffic stop.
A spokeswoman for the Memphis Police Department declined to comment on Watkins’ allegations but noted that the evidence will speak to what happened that evening. Homeowners died off or moved to the suburbs, and the renters that replaced them didn’t take the same sort of pride in keeping the streets safe and clean, he said.
Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong told mourners inside Bellevue Baptist Church during Bolton’s memorial service that this was the third one of his officers to die in the line of duty over the last four years, and this grim statistic has “devastated” him.
In the parking lot of the church where the memorial service was held, two red Memphis fire trucks were parked, ladders extended, with a large American flag tied to the end of the ladders.
Meanwhile, Governor Bill Haslam, in town for a Chamber of Commerce function, indicated he would stay around later than expected on Wednesday to take part in pre-funeral visitation for Officer Bolton. Wilbourn’s lawyer argued during sentencing that he was persuaded by his uncle to join the robbery to help him with his finances and “he was awaiting news regarding a possible college scholarship based on his athletic ability”. He was ordered to undergo mental health treatment July 7, according to federal court documents released Monday.
Twenty-nine year-old Tremaine Wilbourn is being held on $10 million bond on a first-degree murder charge in the officer’s death.
It’s not clear whether Wilbourn was ever evaluated, but his sister said her brother was troubled because he “lived in a box” for so long.
Ryan scheduled his next hearing for August. 12.
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“If you are a real human being, jail is not for you”, she said.
