Police releasing few details in shooting of unarmed man

Jen Lawson

Thursday, Dec. 18, 2003 | 9:52 a.m.

Metro Police are providing little explanation as to how they wound up initially telling the public that the unarmed man killed by a Metro detective Tuesday had a gun.

Capt. Tom Lozich, who releases information to the media on all officer-involved shootings in Metro's jurisdiction, initially announced Tuesday afternoon that the dead man had a gun, had pointed it at an officer and refused to drop it before being shot by police. A release issued later by department said investigators did not find a gun at the scene.

Lozich's only explanation for the unusual discrepancy was that he made the initial statements based on preliminary information he was given at the scene.

Asked if the suspect, Charles Edward Whaley, had an object that the detective had mistaken for a gun, Lozich said: "I can't get into that right now. It will all come out in the coroner's inquest. Suffice it to say we weren't able to locate a handgun."

The detective shot the man "because he thought he saw a threat," he added.

Lozich declined to comment further. The inquest has not yet been scheduled.

Whaley, 32, was under surveillance by detectives with Metro's Repeat Offender Program because he was suspected of fatally shooting Ralph Edward Manor, 26, in an apartment on East Charleston Boulevard Sept. 30.

"We suspected it was either drug- or gang-related," Homicide Lt. Tom Monahan said. A second man was also shot, but survived. Police don't believe that man was an intended target. He was treated at a hospital and released.

Detectives zeroed in on Whaley as a suspect in that murder and undercover detectives from the Repeat Offender Program began conducting surveillance on him. A grand jury also began investigating Whaley in connection with the homicide.

Police had been told that Whaley was armed with a gun and was planning to leave town, Lozich said Tuesday, so police stopped a car in which Whaley was a passenger in on Washington Avenue near Mojave Road to tell him he was being investigated by a grand jury.

When a person is the subject of a grand jury investigation, law enforcement is required by law to tell the person about it, Lozich said.

But Whaley jumped from the car and ran into a nearby neighborhood. A detective caught up with him and later explained that Whaley had crouched down and pointed what he thought was a handgun in his direction.

The detective shot Whaley several times and he died in a yard on Brady Avenue.

Whaley had been convicted of attempted murder with a weapon in 1990, Monahan said.

The name of the officer who shot Whaley is being withheld by Metro for 48 hours according to departmental policy. He has been placed on routine administrative leave pending an internal investigation.