June 08--Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett condemned the slaying of a 13-year-old boy and promised minority community leaders an investigation into how police treated the boy's mother after her son was gunned down.
"I condemn in the strongest words possible the murder of Darius Simmons," Barrett said Friday. "To have a boy who's taking out the garbage at 10:30 in the morning murdered should shock the conscience of the state."
At a news conference earlier Friday, Bishop Tavis Grant, national field director for the Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, said the May 31 killing of Simmons, like that of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida, was part of a pattern of "vigilantism and rogue police behavior" that has disproportionately claimed the lives of young minority males.
John Spooner, 75, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, with use of a dangerous weapon, in the death of his Simmons, his new next-door neighbor. Spooner is white; Simmons was black.
According to the criminal complaint, Spooner suspected Simmons of stealing three shotguns in a recent burglary at Spooner's south side home. Simmons was taking out the trash when Spooner confronted him and demanded the return of his property. Simmons said he didn't have the guns and his mother told Spooner to go away.
Then Spooner pulled out a handgun and shot the boy to death, prosecutors allege. Police say Spooner waited for them to arrive and told them he shot Simmons.
But as they investigated the shooting, police questioned Simmons' mother, Patricia Larry, for two hours and searched her home, while her son lay dead in the street, Grant told reporters.
Grant said police treated Larry as if she was a criminal rather than a victim. Even if Simmons had stolen Spooner's guns, Spooner would not have had the legal right to kill Simmons, Grant said.
Aldermen, state legislators and clergy representing the African-American and Hispanic communities joined Grant and representatives of the Milwaukee NAACP chapter in a meeting with Barrett.
In an interview, Barrett said he assured the group the city would conduct a "transparent and timely review" of the officers' treatment of Larry. He said he had asked the Fire & Police Commission to look into the matter.
A police spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
Grant urged the community to turn out in support of Larry and the rest of Simmons' family Saturday. Simmons' funeral is set for noon, after a visitation starting at 10 a.m. at All Peoples Church, 2600 N. 2nd St.
On June 16, Milwaukee will be one of 25 communities nationwide where the Rainbow PUSH Coalition is sponsoring marches against concealed-carry gun laws and the "castle doctrine," which grants anyone who shoots an intruder in their home the presumption that they acted reasonably.
Copyright 2012 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
