De'Onte Rawlings Update

The following information was taken from Valencia Mohammedi's column in the Afro American on Tuesday, October 9th..


...almost two dozen youth say they witnessed the incident. . .

A group of elderly women, who said they were less than 15 feet from the shooting, claim to have heard only one shot fired and saw no identification by the police officer. "We didn't look around the corner to see what happened because shots are being fired in this area all the time. That's why they [police] have that thing on top of that building over there," said 80-year-old, Mary Whitaker

The device the women were referring to is known as a "shot spotter." The FBI installed shot spotter or gunshot location system technology is a device used for rapid response tactical deployment of police to a crime scene involving firearms.

DeOnte's family and friends are demanding the FBI determine from the technology how many shots were fired; the direction from which the shots were fired; whether DeOnte shot at the officer and if the officer shot DeOnte at close range.

The other account was that a car with dark tinted windows kept circling the alley and that there was no identification by police. Because there have been ongoing feuds in the neighborhood, someone began to shoot (not Deonte) at the vehicle fearing it was a driveby. The police officer shot at DeOnte. The victim fell between a fence and Whitaker's home.

Neighbors said although police found several casings in the area, they could be linked to other shootings in the area, not this incident.