Pubdate: Sun, 13 Apr 2003
Source: Fayetteville Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2003 Fayetteville Observer
Contact:  http://www.fayettevillenc.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/150
Author: Christina DeNardo

VANDER GUNFIRE PROBE UNDER WRAPS

More than six weeks after a Cumberland County sheriff's deputy shot a man 
while serving a search warrant, authorities still aren't talking about the 
incident.

A man who lives in the mobile home in Vander said that officers broke in 
without warning and began shooting. He said no one in the house was armed.

But a professor who studies shootings involving law enforcement - who has 
no connection with the Cumberland County case - said that the absence of a 
weapon doesn't mean the officers weren't threatened.

In the incident in late February, Charles Alford was shot by officers 
serving a warrant in a drug case.

"They didn't say anything. They just broke the door down," said 77-year-old 
Willie Alford, who was in the house during the shooting.

About 15 lawmen were involved in the search of the home at 312 Ministry 
Lane off Old Vander Road on Feb. 27. Undercover officers had bought crack 
cocaine from Willie Alford's grandchildren, Garry and Lakina Alford, and 
his daughter, Janet Alford, court documents say.

According to court records, no weapons were seized from the home. Officers 
said in the affidavit for the search warrant that one of the people in the 
home, Garry Alford, was known to carry weapons and was prone to violence.

After the search, officers arrested Garry and Lakina Alford on drug 
charges. Janet Alford was arrested on similar charges the next day.

Lawmen Enter

When officers entered the home about 8 p.m., Willie Alford said, they "came 
in shooting." Law enforcement procedures require that officers announce who 
they are and that they are serving a search warrant. The only exception is 
a "no-knock" search warrant, which allows lawmen to enter a home without 
notice. The application in the Alford case did not ask for a "no-knock" 
warrant.

"I thought somebody was breaking in," Willie Alford said. "The only thing I 
heard was someone banging on the door."

Alford said he approached the door, and it struck him in the face when it 
flew open.

Several people were in the home, including two children, Makayla Whitted, 
8, and Xavier Whitted, 13. The children were not hurt.

"One of my little grandchildren, she just panicked. My son (Charles) was 
trying to shield (Makayla)," Alford said.

Soon after lawmen entered through the back door, three officers began 
firing shots, Willie Alford said.

His son Charles, a truck driver who was visiting from Georgia, was shot in 
the arm, legs and in the side, Alford said. Alford said that no one did 
anything to provoke the officers, and no one had a weapon.

Charles Alford survived the shooting and has been released from the hospital.

Willie Alford said that he thought one officer accidentally shot another 
lawman. He said he heard officers yell, "Officer down."

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office 
and the State Bureau of Investigation took part in the raid.

Although the SBI is saying little about the shooting, agency spokesman 
Jerry Weaver did say that Alford's accusation about a lawman being shot is 
not true.

"The only thing I can say is there were no gunshot wounds to any officers. 
I'm certain if that were the case we would have known about it," Weaver said.

SBI agents who were assisting with the investigation were not at the home 
when Charles Alford was shot, Weaver said. They planned to help search the 
home after other officers had entered and detained the people inside.

Weaver would not say how many officers fired their guns, but said the shots 
that hit Charles Alford came from a single firearm. Sheriff Moose Butler 
has said that Lt. LaRue Windham fired the shots that struck Charles Alford.

Windham has been with the Sheriff's Office for about 10 years and heads the 
county's special response team that serves high-risk search warrants. He is 
the son of Chief Deputy Cuyler Windham. LaRue Windham has been placed on 
paid administrative leave, which is routine in such cases.

In the house, officers said they found ammunition, three plastic bags with 
a "green leafy substance," scales and two razor blades with white residue.

According to the affidavit for the warrant, Garry Alford sold drugs to 
undercover agents three times in January and February. His sister, Lakina 
Alford, sold drugs to undercover agents in October. Undercover agents tried 
to buy crack cocaine from Garry Alford in February, but he was receiving 
medical attention at Duke University Medical Center. Garry Alford told the 
undercover agent that Janet Alford "was handling the drug business while he 
was gone," according to the affidavit.

Garry Alford had served five years in Central Prison for drug trafficking. 
Janet Alford was on probation for selling drugs when she was arrested.

SBI in Charge

The Sheriff's Office has refused to comment on the shooting and has 
referred questions to the SBI.

"It's the SBI's investigation, and we really don't know a whole lot yet 
officially about what their findings are," said Lt. Sam Pennica, the 
Sheriff's Office spokesman. "We'll find that out when the SBI feels it's 
appropriate to conduct a briefing."

The Sheriff's Office is conducting a parallel internal investigation, but 
Pennica said he has not been briefed on it. He said he couldn't comment on 
the internal investigation even if he had. Releasing personnel information 
is against the law, he said.

"The internal investigation is done totally separate from the criminal 
investigation, and that investigation is not public record," he said.

Pennica said information obtained in the internal investigation cannot be 
shared with criminal investigators because a deputy is required to give a 
statement to the Sheriff's Office for the internal probe. Statements 
obtained in a criminal investigation can be shared because the statements 
are given voluntarily.

Weaver, the SBI spokesman, said investigators are finishing interviews and 
have met with District Attorney Ed Grannis about the case. Grannis has not 
received a final report.

"He will ultimately decide," Weaver said. "It will be up to the district 
attorney. When he makes that decision is also up to him."

State Statistics

The SBI last year investigated 29 police-involved shootings across the 
state, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh. Fifteen of the 
shootings resulted in the death of a suspect. Eighteen cases have been 
closed and declared justifiable shootings. Eleven cases remain open.

Prosecutors say that shootings involving law enforcement officers are 
typically self-defense cases and the decision to prosecute often depends on 
whether the use of deadly force was reasonable under the circumstances.

"You can only use deadly force when your life or the life of someone else 
is being threatened," said Geoffrey Alpert, a professor at the University 
of South Carolina who has studied shootings involving law enforcement.

For example, he said, "If you come up and hit me, I can't shoot you. If you 
come up and hit me and take my baton, I can shoot you. They got some 
latitude, but not a lot."

The Sheriff's Office served about 40 "high-risk" search warrants in drug 
cases last year, Pennica said. Most of the time, deputies encountered 
little resistance. But they know it is always possible.

"When you're in the drug business, it's a very risky business," Pennica 
said. "The bigger fear of the drug dealer is someone robbing them rather 
than the police."

It is common to find guns, Pennica said.

In March of last year, Fayetteville police Officer Kemberle Braden was shot 
when police tried to serve a search warrant in Bonnie Doone. Braden's 
bulletproof vest absorbed some shots, but he was hit in the stomach and 
arm. In November, a man shot at LaRue Windham and another deputy, Paul 
Spiegler, when the officers tried to search a home for a shotgun. Most of 
the pellets from the gun went between Windham and Spiegler's heads, but 
some hit Spiegler's protective vest.

"These guys put their life on the line every time they go through that 
door," Pennica said.

Although no weapons were found in the home on Ministry Lane, officers can 
fear for their lives if an officer sees what he thinks is a weapon or if 
someone tries to take theirs, Alpert said.

"Most officers who get shot get shot with their own weapon," Alpert said.

Other, less severe uses of force include pepper spray and rubber bullets. 
Alpert said that neither would work inside a house occupied by several 
people. When police in Chicago used pepper spray to stop a fight at a 
nightclub in February, a stampede ensued and 21 people were killed.

"Deadly force may be your only alternative," he said. "You shoot to remove 
the threat, and that's center mass. You don't shoot at a hand or knee."
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