New Questions in Fatal Police-Involved Shooting|ABC 7 News

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New Questions in Fatal Police-Involved Shooting

posted 6:00 pm Thu September 20, 2007 -

tags: teen • shooting • police • rawlins

D.C. Police detectives returned to the scene of Monday's night fatal police-involved shooting of 14-year-old DeOnte Rawlings, looking for evidence one day after the U.S. Attorney's Office took the lead into the investigation of what happened that night.

The Washington Post reported new details Thursday, raising further questions about the off-duty officers' actions that night.

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The Post reported that the police department was first alerted to the shooting by a technology that pinpoints the locations of gunshots. Officers reportedly arrived on the scene and found Rawlings' body before the officers had called in the shooting.

The Post also reported that one of the officers, 43-year-old Anthony Clay, briefly left the scene of the shooting with the SUV before investigators arrived. Police say Clay did not draw or fire his weapon during the incident.

The new information comes one day after Mayor Adrian Fenty and Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier announced that the U.S. Attorney's Office would take the lead in the investigation.

While the U.S. Attorney's Office investigates all fatal police shootings, its involvement is unusual this early in the process. Police will also continue an internal department investigation.

The decision to have the independent investigation come first follows concerns raised by Rawlings' family and community members about the shooting, something the chief acknowledged in the news conference.

"There are a lot of unanswered questions and they need to be answered by an independent investigation," said Lanier on Wednesday.

Rawlings was fatally wounded about 7:38 p.m. Monday in the 600 block of Atlantic Street, SE, by an off-duty police officer who was searching for his stolen minibike, according to Lanier.

Investigators say the officer, 44-year-old James Haskel, a 22-year-veteran assigned to the department's Special Operations Division, was riding in a private vehicle with Officer Clay when they spotted the teenager on the stolen minibike.

The officer says the teenager opened fire on them, hitting the SUV about a foot below the window, and then fled down the street on foot. The officer says he got out of the car to chase the teen and shot back, firing as many as eight rounds.

The boy was fatally wounded in the head.

In interviews Tuesday, Rawlings' parents insisted their son did not have a gun.

"My son don't have no guns," said Rawlings' mother, Loretta Hall. "He wouldn't do that. All I would like to do is have some answers."

Rawlings' father acknowledged his son had numerous run-ins with the law. He said investigators questioned DeOnte repeatedly in connection with a murder in April, but Rawlings refuses to believe his son shot at the officers.

"DeOnte shot no guns. Somebody else was shooting a gun up there when they jumped out on DeOnte."

Police did find evidence of another weapon at the scene - there was a bullet hole in the vehicle driven by the officer, and officers found .45-caliber shell casings on the ground that did not come from the officer's weapon.

"There was a lot of chaos on the scene," said Lanier. "The officers calling for assistance, there was a lot of people out there. It's possible someone picked that weapon up."

Channing Phillips, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office, asked for patience:

"These matters take time; they are often complicated."

Phillips asked anyone with information to come forward and speak to investigators.

The officers are on routine administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office and an internal police investigation.

Latest Comment on New Questions in Fatal Police-Involved Shooting

Prettyboy

10:54 pm on 09/23/07

If this little thug hadn't been out there ripping off mini bikes he'd be alive today. I have little else to say and no.. I don't feel sorry for him. One less thug to deal with outside.

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