RNB65
Member
Deputy <NOT> charged with murder
I didn't see a new thread on this. I'm suprised this hasn't been discussed already. A bad shoot top to bottom.
http://www.newsobserver.com/1419/story/520325.html
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Deputy indicted on murder charge
By Matthew Eisley and Mandy Locke, Staff Writer
A New Hanover County sheriff's deputy believed to have fatally shot college student Peyton Strickland in a Dec. 1 raid at his Wilmington home has been charged with murder.
A New Hanover County grand jury indicted Christopher Long, 34, on a second-degree murder charge Monday, New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David announced shortly after 4 p.m.
David would not discuss the findings of a State Bureau of Investigation report on the fatal shooting, except to say that it cleared two other deputies of wrongdoing.
David and New Hanover Sheriff Sid Causey refused to answer any questions about the investigation or the charge against Long, a 10-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office whom Causey fired Friday. The two other deputies remain on paid leave.
During Long's first court appearance, David told a judge that Long overreacted and fired through the closed front door of Strickland's home when he and the rest of the sheriff's paramilitary team raided it.
After deputies banged on the door and announced their presence, David said, Strickland came toward the door. He then stepped back into the living room. He and the deputies could see each other through small windows in the door.
One deputy then began striking the door with a battering ram, David told the judge.
Long, who stood behind the deputy with the battering ram, later said he mistakenly thought he heard gunfire, David said. But the sound was only the battering ram, which no other deputies on the team mistook for gunfire.
Long then fired three shots through the closed door, hitting Strickland in the head and in the chest near the right shoulder, David said. The head shot, which passed through Strickland's skull, killed him.
When the deputies forced the door open and Strickland's German shepherd Blaze lunged toward them, Long and two other deputies shot and killed the dog, David said.
Only Long shot Strickland, and only he later said he thought the deputies were under attack, David said.
Long's assessment of the threat "was not objectively believable and the use of force not justified," David told the judge.
David said Long displayed a "recklessness" in making "intentional use of deadly weapon."
Strickland, 18, was dead in the foyer of his Wilmington rental house as campus police from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and sheriff's deputies arrived to search for a stolen PlayStation 3 video console. The officers sought to arrest Strickland and two friends on charges of robbery and assault, stemming from an incident in which they were suspected of stealing two PlayStation units from a UNC-W student.
One of the suspects in the robbery of the game console had been pictured with what appeared to be assault weapons, leading authorities to consider the Dec. 1 arrest effort "high risk."
Also charged with felony robbery and assault charges in connection with the video game theft are two of Strickland's friends: Ryan David Mills, 20, a Durham native; and Braden Riley, 21, an Apex native and one of Strickland's housemates.
When Mills arrived at Strickland's home soon after the raid, police found a ski mask and a loaded shotgun in his red 1996 Toyota Celica GT, Chief David Donaldson of the UNC-W police department said Monday.
Donaldson, 35, said he didn't know why Mills had the mask. He would not say who owned the 12-gauge, pump-action, pistol-grip shotgun.
Donaldson said he asked the sheriff's Emergency Response Team to help carry out the raid on Strickland's and Riley's home for several reasons.
"The original crime was a violent offense," he said Monday. "We had information from a web site that there were weapons inside the residence. Mr. Strickland was involved in a series of violent assaults. And Mr. Riley was known to always carry a pistol."
Donaldson would not explain why his officers didn't wait instead for Strickland to emerge from his home, and then arrest him peacefully.
"I'm not going to entertain any speculative questions or what-ifs," he said. "There are a lot of questions still unanswered at this point."
I didn't see a new thread on this. I'm suprised this hasn't been discussed already. A bad shoot top to bottom.
http://www.newsobserver.com/1419/story/520325.html
- - - - - - - -
Deputy indicted on murder charge
By Matthew Eisley and Mandy Locke, Staff Writer
A New Hanover County sheriff's deputy believed to have fatally shot college student Peyton Strickland in a Dec. 1 raid at his Wilmington home has been charged with murder.
A New Hanover County grand jury indicted Christopher Long, 34, on a second-degree murder charge Monday, New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David announced shortly after 4 p.m.
David would not discuss the findings of a State Bureau of Investigation report on the fatal shooting, except to say that it cleared two other deputies of wrongdoing.
David and New Hanover Sheriff Sid Causey refused to answer any questions about the investigation or the charge against Long, a 10-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office whom Causey fired Friday. The two other deputies remain on paid leave.
During Long's first court appearance, David told a judge that Long overreacted and fired through the closed front door of Strickland's home when he and the rest of the sheriff's paramilitary team raided it.
After deputies banged on the door and announced their presence, David said, Strickland came toward the door. He then stepped back into the living room. He and the deputies could see each other through small windows in the door.
One deputy then began striking the door with a battering ram, David told the judge.
Long, who stood behind the deputy with the battering ram, later said he mistakenly thought he heard gunfire, David said. But the sound was only the battering ram, which no other deputies on the team mistook for gunfire.
Long then fired three shots through the closed door, hitting Strickland in the head and in the chest near the right shoulder, David said. The head shot, which passed through Strickland's skull, killed him.
When the deputies forced the door open and Strickland's German shepherd Blaze lunged toward them, Long and two other deputies shot and killed the dog, David said.
Only Long shot Strickland, and only he later said he thought the deputies were under attack, David said.
Long's assessment of the threat "was not objectively believable and the use of force not justified," David told the judge.
David said Long displayed a "recklessness" in making "intentional use of deadly weapon."
Strickland, 18, was dead in the foyer of his Wilmington rental house as campus police from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and sheriff's deputies arrived to search for a stolen PlayStation 3 video console. The officers sought to arrest Strickland and two friends on charges of robbery and assault, stemming from an incident in which they were suspected of stealing two PlayStation units from a UNC-W student.
One of the suspects in the robbery of the game console had been pictured with what appeared to be assault weapons, leading authorities to consider the Dec. 1 arrest effort "high risk."
Also charged with felony robbery and assault charges in connection with the video game theft are two of Strickland's friends: Ryan David Mills, 20, a Durham native; and Braden Riley, 21, an Apex native and one of Strickland's housemates.
When Mills arrived at Strickland's home soon after the raid, police found a ski mask and a loaded shotgun in his red 1996 Toyota Celica GT, Chief David Donaldson of the UNC-W police department said Monday.
Donaldson, 35, said he didn't know why Mills had the mask. He would not say who owned the 12-gauge, pump-action, pistol-grip shotgun.
Donaldson said he asked the sheriff's Emergency Response Team to help carry out the raid on Strickland's and Riley's home for several reasons.
"The original crime was a violent offense," he said Monday. "We had information from a web site that there were weapons inside the residence. Mr. Strickland was involved in a series of violent assaults. And Mr. Riley was known to always carry a pistol."
Donaldson would not explain why his officers didn't wait instead for Strickland to emerge from his home, and then arrest him peacefully.
"I'm not going to entertain any speculative questions or what-ifs," he said. "There are a lot of questions still unanswered at this point."
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