Officers shot man 12 times from behind

[rdc2007]

Officers shot man 12 times from behind

by Brendan McCarthy and Laura Maggi, The Times-Picayune Friday January 02, 2009, 9:21 PM


The 22-year-old man killed early Thursday in a police shootout was wounded 14 times, with 12 of the bullets hitting him in the back of his body, Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard said.


After releasing a terse statement about the shooting Thursday morning, New Orleans police officials ducked questions about the shootout Friday. Meanwhile, the family of Adolph Grimes III, a Brother Martin High School graduate, demanded a thorough criminal investigation, including a federal inquiry and an independent autopsy.


Minyard said Friday evening that Grimes died after suffering 14 bullet wounds. Two bullets hit him in the front torso, and 12 struck him from behind, in the lower back and legs. In all, eight bullets were retrieved from Grimes' body.


"I'm no expert, but they look like they were .40 caliber, the Glock that the police issue, " Minyard said. "He was shot up pretty good."


A full autopsy and toxicology report is pending, and the results won't be available for several weeks, Minyard said.


In releasing details of Grimes' death, Minyard called it a "big case" and said because of that, he wanted to be forthcoming about his findings.


As of Friday night, Grimes' father, Adolph Grimes Jr., had spoken to police detectives, but he had not yet seen his son's body.


Informed of the coroner's finding, Grimes paused, then his voice cracked.
"If they shot him in his back, he was running because they were shooting at him, " Grimes said. "Why would they do my child that way?"


Many questions remain

Grimes, a New Orleans native who relocated to Houston after Hurricane Katrina, had returned to the city to visit relatives on New Year's Eve, his family said. Grimes had no criminal record in Orleans or Jefferson parishes, records show.


On New Year's Day at about 3 a.m., a volley of gunfire exploded near the corner of Gov. Nicholls Street and North Claiborne Avenue in the 6th Ward. Grimes was pronounced dead, his body sprawled on the sidewalk about 40 paces from the spot where his car was last parked.


The New Orleans Police Department issued a news release hours after the shooting death saying that Grimes fired several times at officers, who had no recourse but to return fire. But department officials have declined to comment or answer further questions about what happened, and an NOPD spokesman did not return several requests for comment Friday.


Many details of the shooting remain unanswered. How many officers were involved? How many bullets were fired? By whom? What prompted officers to confront Grimes and why would he pull a gun and fire on them?


The NOPD's statement said officers on routine patrol "observed a suspicious vehicle occupied by one male" parked on the street.


"The officers attempted to interact with the individual, who immediately fired a handgun at the officers, " the statement read. "The officers ordered the suspect to drop the weapon but he refused, while continuing to fire the weapon at the officers."


The statement continued: "Those officers, whose lives were in imminent danger, then fired at the suspect."


The police noted that officers recovered Grimes' weapon, a semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine. "The suspect was also in possession of two fully loaded magazines, " the statement read.


The statement did not say whether the gun was in the car, on Grimes' person or somewhere in between.


Grimes' family said he did carry a gun, a 9 mm semiautomatic that they say he purchased legally and obtained a permit for in Texas. But family members say they don't believe he shot at officers.


Police were on lookout

NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley, who could not be reached for comment Friday, told WVUE-TV a day earlier that Grimes "was in a vehicle that fit the description of a vehicle we were looking for that was involved in a reported shooting."


Riley did not say when that shooting occurred.


The NOPD's major offense log, which lists incidents such as shootings and armed robberies, makes no mention of any New Year's Eve shootings.
A man was gunned down in the 2800 block of Clouet Street -- several miles away in the 9th Ward -- that morning, but it took place about five minutes after the police shooting of Grimes, according to the same log.


The police log from Thursday states that district detectives were in the area looking for someone who had illegally discharged a weapon or had lit fireworks. The officers approached a suspicious vehicle, and the person inside it pointed a gun at the officers, according to that log. The officers fired at the subject, the log said.


In an updated log issued Friday, police state that "officers approached a suspicious subject. The subject fired at the officers, the officers returned fire striking the subject. He expired on scene."


In town for New Year's

Grimes' family said he arrived in New Orleans just before midnight from Houston and that the family celebrated the new year at a relative's house on the West Bank.


Grimes, the father of an 18-month-old boy, returned to his grandmother's house in the 6th Ward at about 2 a.m., his family said. He took a long bath. Shortly before 3 a.m., they said, he went outside to wait in his car for a relative. They intended to go to an Uptown bar.


Then the shooting happened.


Grimes' family called the FBI's New Orleans office Thursday to lodge a civil rights complaint. FBI spokeswoman Sheila Thorne confirmed that a complaint has been made and said the office has not determined whether to open an investigation into the shooting.


Meanwhile, the NOPD has reassigned an unidentified number of officers, and their actions will be reviewed by the department's internal affairs unit. The department's homicide division is investigating the shooting, and detectives could be seen knocking on doors and canvassing the neighborhood Friday morning.


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