HOMER, La. 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 by the same wife he had for 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.
In a report to state authorities, Homer police said Officer Tim Cox and another officer they have refused to identify chased Monroe's son, Shaun, from a suspected drug deal blocks away to his father's house.
Shaun Monroe, who had an arrest record for assault and battery but no current warrants, quickly drove up the driveway and went into the house. Two white police officers followed him. Within minutes, he ran back outside, followed by an unidentified officer who Tasered him in the front yard.
Seeing the commotion, Bernard Monroe confronted the officer. Police said that he advanced on them with a pistol and that Cox, who was still inside the house, shot at him through a screen door.
Monroe fell dead along a walkway. How many shots were fired isn't clear; the coroner has refused to release an autopsy report, citing the active investigation.
Police said Monroe was shot after he pointed a gun at them, though no one claims Monroe fired shots. But 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."
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On one hand this probably could have been prevented if the the son turned himself in and on the other hand this looks as if it could be a set up by police to cover their negligence.
I am sure details will follow.
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