Killing of black man by police shakes La. town

[Bozita]

Source: AP

Apr 10, 10:00 AM EDT

Killing of black man by police shakes La. town
By MARY FOSTER
Associated Press Writer

HOMER, La. (AP) -- For 73 years before his killing by a white police officer, Bernard Monroe's life in this little town was as quiet as they come - five kids with his wife of five decades, all raised in the same house, supported by the same job.

The black man's death is making far more noise than he ever did, and raising racial tensions between the black community and the police department.

Rendered mute after losing his larynx to cancer, the 73-year-old retired power company lineman was in his usual spot on the mild February day: a chair by the gate that led to his Adams Street home. A barbecue cooker smoked beside a picnic table in the yard as a dozen or so family members talked and played nearby.

His son, Shaun, 38, was in his pickup truck in front of the house, talking to his sister-in-law.

And that's when it all started.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HOMER_POLICE_SHOOTING?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[stillcool]

1. oy...

Mills declined interview requests, saying he retained a lawyer and feared losing his job. But after the Monroe killing, the Chicago Tribune quoted him as saying, "If I see three or four young black men walking down the street, I have to stop them and check their names. I want them to be afraid every time they see the police that they might get arrested."

[Blue_Tires]

2. sadly, that mindset is still pretty common in some small-town areas

[Realityhack]

3. Horrible. Nobody should be allowed to police with that attitude.

They are a danger to every citizen and every good/clean police officer. We don't have the SS here so there is no place for that kind of thinking.

Grrrrrrrr.

[TXRAT2]

4. Pointing guns at police officers is never a good idea.

[CreekDog]

5. Cops shot an old man without a gun through a freakin' screen door!!!

you moron. :eyes:

[FudaFuda]

6. Wait a minute ...

the gun was definitely there, and it definitely belongs to the man the police shot. Why did he have the gun? Police say he had the gun in hand, one neighbor has said he did not.

If the police wanted to shoot an unarmed person, why didn't they shoot the son they had chased from the drug deal to his house?

Also, while the shooting was 'through a screen door', the father was outside blocking the front door of the house while the policeman who took the shot was trying to exit the house in pursuit of the son who had run back out of the house to escape. He was not standing inside his house and shot by a cop who was outside.

I don't know what happened, and neither do you. The police chief's apparently a racist, but that doesn't make everyone in his jurisdiction innocent.

Notice how the story says 'this little town was as quiet as they come,' and yet the father purportedly sits on his front porch with a gun 'because of local drug activity.' Which his adult son may or may not be a part of.

Not enough facts in the story as written to conclude anything.

[LostinVA]

9. "Not enough facts in the story as written to conclude anything" -- sounds like you have

I knew one would show up in this thread -- they always do.

:eyes:


I'll believe the neighbors over the cops on this any day. The corruption and disdain for citizens in certain forces in certain neighborhood never changes.

[EFerrari]

17. There a few facts. An elderly man with a clean record is dead.

Howse that for a few facts?

No one but the shooting cops say he had a gun. Howse that for another one?

[FudaFuda]

23. Where does it say he had a clean record??

That 'fact' has been inserted in your post as well as at least one other in this thread. Where does the article say he had no criminal record? I'm not saying he did, only that I don't see where the article says one way or the other.

[EFerrari]

24. Are you kidding?

"For 73 years before his killing by a white police officer, Bernard Monroe led a life in this northern Louisiana town as peaceful as they come --"

[FudaFuda]

38. well, I guess that settles it. nt

[EFerrari]

58. It should. Because no news writer would lead with that sentence

and let it stand if he had a record.

[No Elephants]

50. If he had had a criminal record, that fact would probably have been in the story.

[superconnected]

27. Running from the cops from a drug deal - if it's true, kinda makes the

grandson part of the problem imo.

[EFerrari]

29. Bernard Monroe was cooking out in his yard for a family reunion.

And his grandson didn't shoot him.

[superconnected]

35. Would you like to re-read my post? I'm saying the grandson was out-running the cops.

It sounds like the old man was cooking in his yard. Having a guy out-running the cops and coming to your house does sort of put you in the line of fire. I think the grandson helped this whole event happen.

[EFerrari]

48. Yes, I understood your point. But, it's the cops responsibility

not to shoot the wrong people.

[JeanGrey]

32. What struck me was the contradicting paragraphs. First he

never owned a gun, then he had one for protection from neighbors and friends. I suspect he did, and pointed it at the cops. Never smart and usually will get you killed.

[EFerrari]

49. There is no contradiction. He had a gun in a different location

that he kept there because of neighborhood problems. He himself was out in the yard cooking. So,you've put down a man that got shot for nothing. Good going.

[No Elephants]

51. I very much doubt that this 73 year old mute man was guilty of anything. Peaceful

for 73 years and barbecuing, to pointing a gun at the cops in point blank range? Is that consistent with the 73 year olds in your life?

[ShareTheWoods]

7. speaking of moronic

Police said Monroe was shot after he pointed a gun at them, though no one claims Monroe fired shots. Friends and family said he was holding a bottle of sports water. They accuse police of planting a gun he owned next to his body.

"Mr. Ben didn't have a gun," said 32-year-old neighbor Marcus Frazier, who was there that day. "I saw that other officer pick up the gun from out of a chair on the porch and put it by him."

Frazier said Monroe was known to keep a gun for protection because of local drug activity.

He didn't have a gun but in the same breath a cop took one from a chair and "planted it". Somebody is lying.
And why is racism tossed around as the reason for anything bad that happens when a white is on the delivery end?

[CreekDog]

8. If they could see his "gun" so well then why did they shoot the wrong guy?

and i don't know if it was racism, but it was awful police work. :rant:

[HardWorkingDem]

11. Didn't the elder have the gun?

They chased the son, but the elder had the gun....

[CreekDog]

13. the elder "owned" a gun, that doesn't mean he was "holding" one

:eyes:

[EFerrari]

26. Can you explain that? Why would they chase the guy with no gun?

Unless the older man HAD NO FUCKING GUN EITHER.

[superconnected]

28. How can any of us know what happened without speculation?

What I do know is a black man is dead after his grandson was running from the cops and showed up at the house with the cops. Whether the elderly had a guy or not, is something investigators should be able to determine. I'm not going to believe the druggies family, neighbors or the cops at this point.

[fishwax]

44. presumably the neighbor means he didn't have a gun in his hand

Not that confusing :shrug:

[HardWorkingDem]

10. Re-read the article....

it is clearly stated the officers reported the elderly man had the gun...not the son.

And really, what does it matter if it is an "old" man. Potentially any person with a gun can kill...

[CreekDog]

12. yes i had thought they shot the gun behind the screen door

and there is disagreement over whether he was holding a gun or not.

[HardWorkingDem]

14. and of course the cops are always the liars...

'nuff said...

[EFerrari]

16. There are @ssholes in every line of work. n/t

[provis99]

19. By and large, cops do lie more than citizens

In fact, they are specifically allowed by law to lie without facing legal consequences. Too many people think cops aren't allowed to lie, when in fact they are encouraged to by law. Cops routinely do stuff like plant drugs and guns, lie in court testimony, and conceal exculpatory evidence.

[HardWorkingDem]

47. Oh, and you would know this how?

Turn off your tv and conspiracy channels and quit watching junk....

Not saying that it doesn't happen, but citizens tell more whoppers than I've known...even when caught on video...

[CreekDog]

20. i didn't say that

but everyone else isn't always lying either.

:eyes:

[No Elephants]

52. And the only ones who claim a gun was in his hand are the only ones with a need for

that to save their jobs and reputations.

[EFerrari]

15. It matters because there are witnesses that say he did not have a gun

but bottled water and it matters because this man had no record at all.

[noiretextatique]

18. a 73 year old man with larynx cancer

pulls a gun on police at a family cookout, just after they tasered his son. the only way anyone with common sense can believe this police version is because this man was black.
witnesses said the man did not have a gun.

"Mr. Ben didn't have a gun," said 32-year-old neighbor Marcus Frazier, who was there that day. "I saw that other officer pick up the gun from out of a chair on the porch and put it by him

[firedupdem]

25. And officers are capable of lying no matter what their reports say. n/t

[JeanGrey]

34. Reread again. The neighbor "Frazier" said BOTH that

he didn't have a gun and that he did own one for "protection"

[No Elephants]

53. And?

[No Elephants]

56. "Owning a gun for protection" is not equal to "having the gun in your hand when the police are at

your door."

No contradiction.

I own lots of stuff. Sometimes it is not even in the same town as I am, let alone in my hand at all times.

No contradiction.

[No Elephants]

54. Not if his gun is on the chair on the porch at the time, though. Ask yourself:

What reason does an old, sick black man's neighbor have to lie on the police after the man is dead about the location of the gun? Is the neighbor just longing to have trouble in his life with a capital T?

What reason do the police in this case have to lie about the location of the gun of an old, sick, law-abiding African American man they shot dead through a screen door?

[B Whale]

21. Cops kills people and get away with it, that's what they do. they have

a monoply on the use of violence and the ordinary citizen can not stand in the way of their way or their view, because of the monoply on violence they have.

Their training dehumanizes anyone they see as a threat, inot just that, a threat. no if no buts, no old peaceful man, but a threat to be eliminated.

They have been doing it for centuries and will continue to do so.

[Honeycombe8]

22. I'm from La originally. I can't say I'm surprised. What I want to know is...why is there no ...

investigation of these two things:

Several years ago TWO black men were elected mayors of their small towns in Louisiana. It wasn't long before BOTH of them were shot dead.

One was close to my home town. What I read said that the man was found in his pickup truck, parked somewhere other than his home, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. All friends and family said he wasn't depressed, he'd just been elected mayor, was having no personal or financial problems, and he'd never expressed anything to indicate he'd ever take his own life. So before he can take office, he drives out to nowhere and shoots himself? Oh, and BTW, no formal investigation was done. No dusting for fingerprints, nothing. Did I mention that was the first time a black had been elected mayor of that town?

One final bit of trivia....the KKK operates out of a town within an hour's drive from that small town.

Now maybe there was nothing wrong. But it seems suspicious to me, to say the least. TWO black mayors-to-be shot dead, within months of each other?

No investigation. Suspicious.

[MadMaddie]

30. The cops in this case have given no reason to trust their

story. They had a chip on their shoulder when they went into the situation.

Why aren't they publicly identifying the other officer? Is he still on the streets?

<snip>
In a report to state authorities, Homer police said Officer Tim Cox and another officer they have refused to identify
<snip>

The man they were chasing had no current warrents. Were they just simply harrasing him because they could?

<snip>
Shaun Monroe, who had an arrest record for assault and battery but no current warrants, drove up the driveway and went into the house
<snip

Why hasn't the coroner released the report? Cover up? If the shooting is justified as they claim, what are they hiding?
<snip>
How many shots were fired isn't clear; the coroner has refused to release an autopsy report, citing the active investigation.
<snip>

Too many issues point to this being harrassment and racism.

[fishwax]

45. that struck me as really odd as well

Why aren't they publicly identifying the other officer?

I don't recall ever seeing that approach before :shrug:

[JeanGrey]

31. Even this article contradicts itself.

Police said Monroe was shot after he pointed a gun at them, though no one claims Monroe fired shots. Friends and family said he was holding a bottle of sports water. They accuse police of planting a gun he owned next to his body.

"Mr. Ben didn't have a gun," said 32-year-old neighbor Marcus Frazier, who was there that day. "I saw that other officer pick up the gun from out of a chair on the porch and put it by him."

Frazier said Monroe was known to keep a gun for protection because of local drug activity.


The neighbor says Mr. Ben "didn't have a gun" and that the police "planted" the gun from a chair nearby and then they said he was known to keep a gun for protection because of local drug activity. Sounds pretty fishy. He either owned a gun or he didn't.

[Solon]

36. Having a gun IN HAND is completely different from owning one that isn't in your possession at the...

moment. It seems to me you are interpreting what the neighbors are saying in a rather, ahem, interesting way.

[JeanGrey]

41. He said directly once that the man didn't own a gun and then

turned around and said he kept one for protection. That gun didn't walk over by itself. IF in fact he had one. Which we don't know yet. I just found it telling the contradictions.

[Solon]

43. Are word definitions normally this fluid for you? Kept does not have the same definition as have...

especially in the context of this article.

[No Elephants]

55. Owning a gun is different from having it in your hand. Police say "We shot because

he had a gun in his hand.

Neighbor says, No, he did't have a gun

Reporter says, "Do you know if he even owned a gun?" Neighbor says yes, he owned one.

Reporter quotes the neighbor as having said that the deceased owned a gun.

No contradiction.

[JeanGrey]

59. The way it was worded, yes it was.

But that is ok. The truth will come out eventually.

[JeanGrey]

33. No. The neighbor both said he had a gun and also that he

did not. This is strange contradiction? from the article:


"Mr. Ben didn't have a gun," said 32-year-old neighbor Marcus Frazier, who was there that day. "I saw that other officer pick up the gun from out of a chair on the porch and put it by him."

Frazier said Monroe was known to keep a gun for protection because of local drug activity.

[Solon]

37. Do you understand the difference between having a gun on you, and owning one?

Is the English language not your strong suit? :eyes:

[JeanGrey]

39. How can you say someone didn't own a gun and then

say he kept one. That is silly.

[Solon]

42. That's NOT what was stated in the article, don't be obtuse! n/t

[fishwax]

46. nobody said he didn't own a gun

:shrug:

[nomorenomore08]

40. My conclusion from this thread, is that some people are too damn trusting of authority.

And that's all I have to say on the subject.

[FudaFuda]

61. I agree. Some people are too trusting of journalists, too. nt

[defendandprotect]

57. k i c k

[defendandprotect]

60. k i c k