Mother wants answers in son's death
07:46 AM EDT on Monday, October 13, 2008
By DIANA RUGG / NewsChannel 36
E-mail Diana: DRugg@wcnc.com
Robbery suspect killed SALISBURY, N.C. -- Tamie Jones knows her son was no saint. She knows he needed money to support his four young children, that he couldn’t find a job, that he liked to play with guns – and that he probably did rob a woman at a Salisbury gas station early Sunday morning.
But she doesn’t believe he deserved to die.
“The mother was needing money for bills and food and things, and kept calling every day,” a sobbing Tamie Jones told Newschannel 36 Sunday evening. “And he didn’t have money to provide for them, so that's why I believe he started doing what he was doing.”
Jones’ son, 20-year-old Alphonso Simmons, died in a barrage of gunfire while being pursued by Salisbury police and Rowan County sheriff’s deputies after the robbery.
Salisbury Police Chief Mark Wilhelm said officers were investigating an armed robbery at the Rushco gas station on Jake Alexander Blvd. around 2 a.m. Sunday. The victim gave police a description of the car the four men used – a white Toyota Camry with plastic over one window, and a partial license tag number.
Police spotted the car at the Civic Apartments on Hall Street, just more than a mile from the gas station, a short while later. Chief Wilhelm said as officers knocked on the front door, a man ran from the back door of the apartment.
Officers pursued the man as he ran around to the front of the apartment and encountered more officers. Then, Chief Wilhelm said, the man fired his gun at officers and officers returned fire, killing the man.
Salisbury police have not released the shooting victim’s name, but Jones identified the victim as her son. She told Newschannel 36 that police should have stopped her son without killing him.
"They didn't give him the chance,” said Jones. “I know they could have stopped him with one bullet, or two bullets."
Most police departments include a policy of using deadly force when deadly force is threatened. The offices involved in this shooting have been placed on administrative duty, which is standard for an officer-involved shooting.
Wilhelm expressed his condolences for Simmons’ family Sunday.
“I’m glad I'm standing here not talking about an officer being injured or killed,” said Wilhelm, “but it does not give me any pleasure to talk about anyone else being killed as well.”
Simmons’ friends gathered Sunday evening at the spot where he died, where a bouquet of roses and other flowers have been placed in the ground. They claim Simmons had been shot in the back by officers who chased him.
Jones said witnesses told her they saw her son fall, which caused his gun to discharge accidentally, before officers shot him.
"They said when he fell that's when the gun went off,” said Jones. “And when he got back up, he said they opened fire and he went down forward and hit the ground."
Jones and her family are looking forward to results of an autopsy being performed in Charlotte. They also welcome an investigation from the State Bureau of Investigation, which is involved. They hope both will answer questions they have about Simmons’ death.
“Questions I really want to know,” said Jones.
http://www.wcnc.com/news/topstories/...1063ae628.html




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