MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) A white Alabama police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of a black man will go before a judge at a March 24 preliminary hearing.
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“As district attorney, I will do everything in my power to protect a police officer who is operating within the law”, Bailey said.
DA Bailey said in a statement he would “do everything” in his power to protect a police officer who is acting within the law, but would also “use every ounce of” his power to prosecute a police officer who has acted outside of the law.
Authorities won’t discuss evidence that led them to charge Smith.
Nellie Gunn appeared more conflicted over Smith’s arrest.
(AP Photo/Kim Chandler). Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange, left, and Director of Public Safety J. Christopher Murphy, right, speak to the media during a press conference, Wednesday, March 2, 2016, about the arrest of Montgomery police officer Aaron Smith…
Smith’s lawyer, Mickey McDermott, alleged the shooting was justified after Gunn ran from the officer and then fought him.
“We understand that Mr. Gunn’s life has ended, but Mr. Gunn chose for his life to end that night, and the facts will prove that”, he added.
McDermott says his client is in “hiding” because he has received death threats.
The Alabama SBI began the investigation into Gunn’s death at the request of the Montgomery Police Department, the bureau said. Smith’s mother is a former cadet with the Montgomery Police Department. Smith’s bail was set at $150,000. Hinson heard Gunn pounding on his front door, screaming for help and calling out for his mother…several shots were fired. It seemed eerily reminiscent of a time in the 1970s and ’80s when tensions ran high in Montgomery over a series of confrontations and shootings involving white police and black residents.
“In the history of Montgomery, this is not one of our great days”, Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said Wednesday. Smith, 23, is in state custody after investigators found “probable cause” that he broke the law when he shot and killed Gregory Gunn last Thursday, Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey said. Smith thought it was suspicious and approached Gunn on foot, police said.
However, Bailey himself has declined to reveal just what evidence has been uncovered so far, including whether initial reports were correct to say Gunn was armed with a pole or painter’s stick, leaving the Gunn family and Smith’s attorney to present conflicting perspectives regarding what happened.
Authorities initially said Gunn was holding a stick or cane and the two men had struggled. But a neighbor of Gunn tells The Associated Press the stick was actually an extension handle for a paint roller that belonged to him. Hinson got out of bed, but a barrage of gunshots sounded before he could even turn the door knob.
Gunn, according to a neighbor, was a laborer who did odd jobs at area businesses, sometimes two at a time, and also cut grass in his neighborhood.
Hinson said he’s always felt safe at home and supports law enforcement, but questioned the shooting. “They needed to have answers”, Lauridson said. “I just want to know if the protocol is to shoot an unarmed man down dead in front of somebody’s house anytime they feel like it”.
In the next breath, unusual insisted he stands behind the legal process that led to Smith’s arrest and will continue along with the ongoing investigation.
The case against Smith will be treated “as any other case”, Bailey continued. Gunn’s death shouldn’t be a setback for police-community relations at a time when the nation is grappling with the use of lethal force in minority communities, he said.
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“When asked why she wanted the officer to attend Gunn’s funeral, the woman only replied: “‘All I want is justice”.
