Shooting death prompts charges of racially-motivated violence, ups tension in Milwaukee

By Starla Muhammad -Staff Writer- | Last updated: Jun 13, 2012 - 9:32:56 AM

A relative wipes away the tears of Patricia Larry at a news conference in Milwaukee on June 2, 2012. Larry is the mother of Darius Simmons, 13, whose 75-year-old neighbor is accused of shooting and killing two days earlier over a suspected robbery as Simmons’ mother watched. Photo: AP Wide World Photos/Dinesh Ramde

MILWAUKEE, Wisc. (FinalCall.com) - As most young people were looking forward to a summer break from school, the family, friends and classmates of a 13-year-old attended his Saturday funeral at All People Lutheran Church.

Described as a smart and funny boy who loved riding his bike, Darius Simmons was active in church and well liked.

“I loved me some Darius,” said Tamara Hines, principal of Gaenslen Middle School where Darius was a student. She was among mourners at his June 9 funeral service.

Darius was shot to death in the street by an elderly White neighbor while moving a garbage can under the watchful eyes of his mother.

The boy who loved school but was home sick was killed by John Henry Spooner, 75, who lived next door. He accused the boy of breaking into his home.

The shocking daylight death of the unarmed teenager in front of his mother sparked pain, anger and another demand for justice.

Family photo of Darius Simmons Photo: dariussimmons.org

Targeting of a teenager?

It is another case of misplaced vigilante justice and the targeting an unarmed Black teen, declared activists outraged by the killing.

But beyond the actual shooting, police treatment of the slain boy’s family increased anger and calls for answers.

This is another Trayvon Martin, said some, invoking the Florida case of a Black teen killed by a neighborhood watch captain who claimed self-defense. Others disagree. This case had nothing to do with self-defense or protecting a home, these activists insist. This was calculated, cold-blooded murder and further proof Black lives have little value, they add.

Premeditated execution?

“Yeah, I shot him,” Mr. Spooner admitted to police, according to the criminal complaint.

Mr. Spooner, a reputed gun collector, confronted the sixth grader, accusing the boy of stealing shotguns from his home. But the day of the alleged robbery, Darius’ aunt said he was in school.

Patricia Larry, the boy’s mother, saw Mr. Spooner confront her son.

Darius raised his hands showing he was unarmed and told Mr. Spooner he had not done anything, she said. Mr. Spooner shot Darius in his chest from five feet away with a 9mm handgun. Darius ran a few feet and collapsed.

John Henry Spooner is charged with shooting Darius Simmons, 13, who lived next door to him on Milwaukee’s South Side. Photo: AP Wide World Photos/ Milwaukee County Sheriff via Milwaukee Journal- Sentinel

Mr. Spooner was arrested, charged with first degree murder and arraigned June 2 in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. Cash bail was set at $300,000. Mr. Spooner pleaded not guilty at a June 11 hearing.

Ms. Larry and her children moved next door to Mr. Spooner just 30 days before the shooting. The man had reported burglaries to police well before Ms. Larry and her family moved in. WISN 12 News reported Mr. Spooner called 911 at least 15 times in five years.

Mr. Spooner had breakfast with Alderman Bob Donovan one hour before the May 31 fatal shooting and complained about break-ins. “He did say that ‘maybe there are other ways of dealing with this,’ ’’ Ald. Donovan told the media.

Victims treated like criminals?

Overshadowed by the headline grabbing Wisconsin recall vote of Republican Governor Scott Walker, the killing of Darius Simmons received little media coverage.

As local civil rights groups, activists and residents caught wind of the case anger grew. Several community meetings were held. Mayor Tom Barrett June 8 told religious and political leaders questions about mistreatment of Darius’ family would be referred to a commission that oversees complaints about police officers and firefighters.

While her son lay dying just a few feet away, Ms. Larry was questioned in a squad car for two hours. Ms. Larry’s home was searched by police but it was reported relatives of Mr. Spooner were allowed to go into his home.

In another slap in the face, police reportedly arrested Darius’ brother for truancy.

“The worst thing obviously is that a next door neighbor accused a boy of robbing him and shot him point blank in the chest and killed him. But then for the police to come on the scene, keep the mother in a vehicle for two hours while they search the house of that family to see if this man who killed this boy was right?” said William Muhammad of the Nation of Islam. He is student minister at Muhammad Mosque No. 3 in Milwaukee.

“Here’s a mother who just lost her son because of a murder by the next door neighbor and then they arrest her children for truancy tickets. So it’s the handling by the police department as well as it is what happened,” Mr. Muhammad told The Final Call.

The Final Call contacted Anne E. Schwartz, public relations manager of the Milwaukee police department, and was referred to a June 8 statement that read in part, “Darius’ mother was a critical witness and experienced detectives take the greatest care in getting a statement from a family member so close to the victim of a tragedy. This may have taken more time than we would have liked, but the result was the immediate arrest of a criminal suspect.”

Community leaders demanded that the mayor condemn police for insensitive treatment.

A bright light extinguished

Pastor Steve Jerbi called Darius an “evangelical minister” who never came to church alone, bringing his siblings and others along with him.

Darius worked in the community garden across from the church grounds and brought joy to the lives of others, the pastor added.

After the funeral service a press conference was held and a personal statement from Ms. Larry was read by James Hall, Jr., president of the Milwaukee NAACP.

“I want peace in our community and would like the senseless acts of violence like this to stop in the city of Milwaukee. No parent should have to witness their innocent child being murdered. I would like everyone to know that Darius Simmons is innocent and was a good kid,” said Ms. Larry.

Mayor Barrett, members of the city council and other leaders attended the service.

The community rallied around Darius’ family, raising money to defray funeral costs as a show of love and support. Students at Gaenslen raised over $1,300 from snack money and spare change to give to the family. That will continue, said Principal Hines.

“Darius was a beautiful child. Very respectful, very loving. He loved to be educated and what more can a principal ask for?” Ms. Hines told The Final Call.

When the educator first heard the tragic news, she was stunned.

“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and his face immediately came to my mind. I was like ‘he’s gone, someone killed my student! Somebody murdered my student!’ My student who had everything to live for is gone … it knocked me to my knees,” said Principal Hines.

Neighborhood changes feed fear?

Milwaukee, a mere 90-minute drive from Chicago, has a population of nearly 600,000, with Blacks making up 40 percent and Latinos a little over 17 percent, according to the 2010 Census.

“Hyper-segregated” is how one activist described the city. Blacks and Latinos are mainly relegated to the North Side and Whites live primarily on the South Side.

Mr. Spooner, a longtime South Side resident was described by some as nice, quiet and often seen walking his dogs. A widower allegedly diagnosed with cancer, Mr. Spooner kept guns stockpiled in his house and had security cameras on the outside of his home.

“He lives in an area where it changed over from an all-White neighborhood. Now it’s mostly Hispanic and Black and he’s a hold out. He’s a gun collector. His house apparently had been broken into a few times and he just took it upon himself to accuse somebody and to execute them,” said William Muhammad.

Sheneka King lives one street over but her home faces Darius’ house. She has only lived in the area a short time. She and a cousin were watching television when they heard a gunshot.

“We looked outside and the boy was running across the street and he landed right there, not too far from the curb,” she said, pointing to where the boy collapsed. “We saw his mother crossing the street, she ran. And Mr. Spooner was standing right there on the corner with his dog and the lady was like ‘he just shot my son,’ ” recalled Ms. King.

Ms. King went inside to call 911 while her cousin stood outside with Ms. Larry waiting for police and paramedics. Ms. King said EMT’s tried to revive Darius’ for 30 to 45 minutes. She saw them stick needles in his body and try other lifesaving measures to no avail.

Though she did not personally know Mr. Spooner or Ms. Larry, both seemed very nice, according to Ms. King.

“We never knew he would like, you know, snap like that,” she said. “We knew a couple days before that (Mr. Spooner’s) house got burglarized because the police were over here asking questions.”

“He (Mr. Spooner) didn’t seem like he was racist or nothing like that,” said Ms. King. “I know a couple months ago he had gotten a video camera installed on his house because he kept having that problem of breaking in his house.”

Ms. King confirmed the reported break-ins happened before Darius and his family moved next door.

Responding to ‘senseless tragedy’

Bishop Tavis Grant, national field director for the Rainbow Push Coalition, told The Final Call he had recently met with the parents of Trayvon Martin when he heard about the killing of Darius Simmons.

“I was like what the hell? I mean I couldn’t eat. We were here on some other business and I just started cancelling stuff to find this sister (Ms. Larry) and to find out about this. When I met her at the funeral home and got the real on what happened to her son, this is a civil rights matter. This is a human rights matter,” said Bishop Grant.

“This man went beyond stalking this young brother. He hunted him down in broad daylight. It was cold, it was calculated, it was intentional,” he added. “This is serious. This is what we accuse people of doing in Iraq and foreign countries,” said Bishop Grant who added the U.S. Department of Justice will be asked to look into this case as a federal hate crime or for racial profiling.

“I think anger is an appropriate response to what happened, to a senseless tragedy. I think the way that we’re going to do it is we’ve got to put that anger on the table. We’ve got to deal with it and if we’re there for one another I think that’s how we can turn this tragedy into something positive,” said Alderman José G. Pérez of the 12th district, where the shooting occurred.

Though many in the community called for healing, the systematic killing of Black males must be addressed at its root cause, activists argued.

The killing of Darius Simmons confirms the mentality of White minds that see their world falling, said Mr. Muhammad. “What it says to me more than anything else is it’s just confirmation of the program that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Minister Farrakhan has laid out for us of separation. It’s not just the incident of what the man did. That’s bad enough. But here you have law enforcement that really has acted on the murderer’s behalf more than they’ve acted on the victim’s behalf,” he added.

“Overwhelmingly when you look at the statistics, the (victims of) vigilantism, rogue police behavior, they’re young, their Black and they’re male. That’s what I believe gave Spooner this demonization of young, Black men. This criminalization of young, Black men gave him the license to the extent that he’s standing on the street with his weapon when the police show up,” said Bishop Grant.

“He didn’t run. The police tossed her home (Ms. Larry) as if her son precipitated something or caused it or did something to be shot. But they didn’t toss Spooner’s home,” he added.

Making Darius’ family appear criminal or the inference that Darius might have done something to cause Mr. Spooner to shoot him is unacceptable, said Bishop Grant.

“I think that the value that too many people put on life, particularly the lives of people of African descent in this country is not as high a value as it should be,” Alderman Milele A. Coggs of the 6th District told The Final Call. “Situations like Darius Simmons Jr., help to shine a spotlight on what we often already know and already think,” she added.

“It just confirms that we need to do a work of creating a reality that we can be safe here. That we can raise our children here, free of the oppression and the injustice that’s being imposed upon us every day,” added William Muhammad of Muhammad Mosque No. 3.

The Final Call