In North Carolina, a white man said to be on “neighborhood watch” shot and killed an unarmed 20-year-old black man, Kouren-Rodney Bernard Thomas, on Sunday (08-07-16).
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Justin Bamberg, an attorney representing the family of 20-year-old victim Kouren-Rodney Thomas, said there were parallels between the Raleigh shooting and the 2012 Florida shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Copley was arrested hours later and was held on a murder charge.
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”.
Raleigh police spokeswoman Laura Hourigan said community watch groups are organized by individual communities, but noted that the department “works with neighborhoods with and without community watch groups in the same ways, largely by sharing crime prevention information. and by encouraging all community members to call 911 to report any suspicious people, vehicles or activities”.
When the operator asked if someone had been shot, Copley said that he did not know if anyone had been shot, but that he “fired my warning shot like I’m supposed to by law”.
There is no reference to a warning shot that Copley claimed was required by law in his 911 call.
He continued: “I’m on neighbourhood watch. We’re going to make sure of that”, he said.
Family and friends of Thomas say he died for no reason.
“There is hoodlums out here racing up and down the street”.
Copley called the emergency line back after the shooting and said that there had been a group of black men outside his house with firearms when he fired his weapon. “Koury doesn’t like guns ― he wouldn’t even go paintballing”, she said. He added, “And, uh, we got somebody that got hit”. He said while he feels there are similarities between Copley and Zimmerman, he believes the outcomes of the two cases would be different. Mr. Copley was in the confines of his own house, his garage door, my understanding that was down, and he shot through the window!
Friends of Thomas say he was leaving a party on Singleleaf Lane about 12:30 a.m. Sunday when he was shot.
“You need to send PD as quickly as possible”, he said. They do have firearms, and I’m trying to protect myself and my family. Later, 911 received multiple calls both from Copley’s house and from his neighbors that someone had been shot.
Police refused to name the caller per state law, but the time and address identification suggest that Copley was the man on the line.
Jalen Lewis, the person who was hosting the party Thomas was invited to, said although he didn’t know the man personally, he didn’t see anyone with a gun or causing any disturbance in the neighborhood. Kouren Thomas’ mother, Simone Butler-Thomas, told the Associated Press that her son was leaving a house party down the street when he was sacked on.
The victim’s mother, Simon Butler-Thomas, said her son was a good boy who was loving and excited to be moving into a new apartment, according to CBS North Carolina.
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“All the killing, black kids, white kids, adults, I’m just exhausted”. ‘I don’t have him no more, and there’s nothing I can do’.
