ONTARIO -- Although some community leaders and school officials agree there's a problem with drugs in Ontario City Schools, they haven't decided if it's worthwhile to begin random drug testing of students. Wednesday night, a 14-member panel explored the possibility of instituting such a policy in the district. Dr. Diana Richardson, a local pediatrician, said she's concerned students could be singled out. "To have everyone randomly drug tested seems like it's going to be very low yield with a lot of expense and not necessarily any proven outcome," Richardson said. "I do agree if kids are drug users it would be a good idea to identify them." [continues 401 words]
Gary Ross had back pain, and he treated it with marijuana. When Ross failed a drug test, his employer - a Sacramento, Calif., telecommunications firm - promptly fired him. Ross had proof his drug use was legal. He had a medical marijuana card authorizing him to use the drug for treatment of pain from a back injury sustained while serving in the Air Force. Despite his condition and his card - and despite an injury sustained while serving his country - the California Supreme Court last week upheld the decision to fire him. [continues 307 words]
Hundreds of Ohio University students packed into Baker Center Theater to see the "Heads vs. Feds" debate Thursday night, and the size of the crowd alone was proof that the legalization of marijuana, four decades after the '60s, remains an issue of students' concern. The debate pitted former High Times Editor Steve Hager against the former head of New York City's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The spirited presentation inspired some students to create a pro-cannabis group on campus. "It's fun and empowering to be an activist, and it's fun and empowering to change bad laws," Hager told the audience during his closing statement. He suggested that students who are interested in legalizing marijuana should get serious and start a chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML) or Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) on campus. [continues 614 words]
LIMA -- The Lima Police Department's policy that governs some of the most dangerous situations officers face, such as SWAT team drug raids, is less than a half-page long with four main points. General Directive 9.05 spells out the protocol the Special Weapons and Tactics team must follow when raiding a home. It's the same directive that was in place when a SWAT raid earlier this month ended in tragedy with an officer shooting and killing 26-year-old Tarika Wilson. Her 1-year-old son, Sincere, was wounded in the shooting inside Wilson's home at 218 E. Third St. [continues 419 words]
LIMA, Ohio -- The air of Southside is foul-smelling and thick, filled with fumes from an oil refinery and diesel smoke from a train yard, with talk of riot and recrimination, and with angry questions: Why is Tarika Wilson dead? Why did the police shoot her baby? "This thing just stinks to high heaven, and the police know it," said Jason Upthegrove, president of the Lima chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. "We're not asking for answers anymore. We're demanding them." [continues 798 words]
Lima has two recent examples of the War on Drugs' failings. There's the shooting death of 26-year-old Tarika Wilson as Lima police raided her home to arrest her boyfriend for drug possession. The other is Lima police removing, then losing to the FBI, more than $400,000 from Luther Ricks Sr.'s home after police found a small amount of marijuana. I posed, via e-mail, questions that a letter writer had about columns calling for an end to the drug war to Tony Ryan, a 36-year veteran of the Denver Police Department. He's also a board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (www.leap.cc), a group of law-enforcement officials who oppose the War on Drugs. [continues 1218 words]
One man was actually on a flight to Chicago when police said he sold them drugs on the streets of Mansfield. Another suspected dealer, a 6-foot-4 giant with a gap-toothed smile, was mistaken in a cocaine buy for someone nearly a foot shorter and 70 pounds lighter. In another case, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent picked a woman out of a lineup who he said sold him drugs -- with the agent using a sixthgrade class picture that was more than 10 years old. [continues 1279 words]
Editor, the Gazette: I am losing faith in our police system. I live on Allen Avenue and myself along with others have called the police several times on our neighbors. It does not take a genius to know it is a drug house. Different cars are in and out all day long. We have even seen kids on bikes going in. The thing is, though, it's always the same thing. One person gets out of the car while it is running while the others stay in the car. The main person goes in for a few minutes and then walks out. What do you think is going on? [continues 153 words]
Citizen Reviews Sought In Wake Of Fatal Shooting LIMA, Ohio - Jason Upthegrove had just left the Lima Mall on Christmas Eve when he came upon a police officer arresting a young man. The officer raised his left hand for Mr. Upthegrove to stop, and he pulled into a nearby parking lot. Within minutes, Mr. Upthegrove said, there were more officers on the scene, one of whom spotted his idling car, ran toward him with his gun drawn, and ordered him to put his hands on the steering wheel. [continues 1946 words]
Legalized Hallucinogenic Drug, Available Legally For Purchase Over The Internet To Any Ohio Residents Soon after he ingested Salvia, "the world became a dark and oppressive place," said Gary, an Ohio State student, who asked that his last name not be used. "Things had energy and personality," Gary said. "I don't recommend it to people. It's not a party drug at all. The number of people who would get a positive experience out of it is relatively low." Salvia comes from the leaves of a Mexican plant and can produce hallucinogenic effects. It is currently legal in Ohio. However Salvia is becoming more popular and could become illegal in the future. [continues 480 words]
A new California Supreme Court decision Thursday has overruled a claim of wrongful termination by a man who failed a company drug test even though he had been prescribed medical marijuana by his doctor, as is legal in the Golden State. The court ruled 5-2 in favor of the Sacramento company Ragingwire Inc., finding it was within its bounds to fire Gary Ross, who had been given the prescription after sustaining a back injury during his time in the U.S. Air Force. [continues 134 words]
Too bad young Barack Obama wasn't as deeply into the drug trade as the Clintons' smear artists would like America's Democrat voters to believe. Too bad he hadn't been a serious teenage drug dealer on the mean middle-class streets of Honolulu, where he was raised by his grandparents and attended an elite high school. Better yet, too bad Obama hadn't been arrested for selling pot or possessing cocaine as a teenager but had still grown up to be what he is today -- a political rock star just one Clinton away from becoming America's second black president. [continues 485 words]
CLEVELAND - A woman wrongly convicted by the federal government with help from a drug informant who lied served 16 months in prison before she was released with no home to return to and a 3-year-old daughter who didn't recognize her. Defense attorneys say a street-smart but dishonest informant and a federal agent working without oversight manipulated the system to convict Geneva France and dozens of others. "They stole the truth," France said. "I don't think I'll ever trust people again. It's too hard. I don't know how a human being with a heart could stand up there and lie about another person. They stole part of my life." [continues 843 words]
A federal judge plans to dismiss the convictions of 15 men who were sent to prison in a botched drug case involving an informant who has admitted to perjury. U.S. District Judge John Adams told attorneys Tuesday afternoon that he hopes to have the men out of prison by Feb. 1. Federal prosecutors are expected to formally ask Adams to release the men today or tomorrow in a filing that will indicate prosecutors lack the evidence to convict them. The evidence against the men is largely the tainted testimony of informant Jerrell Bray, has admitted lying as part of a massive drug investigation in Mansfield. The case was spearheaded by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. [continues 514 words]
26 Cases Tied to Informant, DEA Agent Who Manipulated System Geneva France walked out of federal prison with $68 and a bus ticket home. That's all the government had to offer a woman who had served 16 months of a decade-long prison sentence for a crime she didn't commit. The mother of three returned to her family, but her youngest child -- who was 18 months old when France was sent to prison -- didn't recognize her. And France, 25, had no home to return to. [continues 1254 words]
I've read and reread the account of the shooting death of Tarika Wilson with great sadness. Some of the folks in Lima have sent letters saying all the typical things Americans have been led to believe: Wilson should not have allowed drugs in her home, the police were only doing their jobs, we need to eradicate drugs from our community. I would like to offer another perspective. I joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1973, just eight years after Chief Darryl Gates, spurred by the LA riots and the SLA shootout, established the nation's first SWAT team. It was designed to respond to increasingly dangerous situations involving armed/barricaded suspects or wanton disregard for the law. After spending six years on the street and another 10 as a detective, I transferred to South Bureau narcotics in 1990. At first it was an adventure -- undercover surveillance, writing warrants, smashing doors, hauling folks off to jail and picture taking behind tables of drugs and guns. [continues 619 words]
LIMA, Ohio -- Despite skepticism from some community members, Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann vowed Wednesday morning to conduct a "thorough, fair, complete and meticulous" investigation into the shooting of a Lima woman by a city police officer. "I want to express clearly that our commitment is to do the right thing. Give us a chance," Mr. Dann said. Tarika Wilson, 26, was shot to death and her 14-month-old son, Sincere Wilson, wounded Jan. 4 when members of the Lima Police Department's SWAT team raided Wilson's East Third Street home and arrested her boyfriend, Anthony Terry, 31, on drug charges. [continues 108 words]
OU's Vice President of Student Affairs Considers Student Input for Drug Policy A change to Ohio University's drug policy will go into effect Fall Quarter 2008 after months of debate on the subject. Kent Smith, vice president of student affairs, announced Wednesday that the university will implement Protocol B, Student Senate's preferred policy, which handles alcohol and drug violations separately. Smith says students made him change his mind. Smith had originally endorsed Protocol A, which would have dealt with drug and alcohol offenses under a comprehensive policy. Although The Post endorsed that option as well, Smith's change of heart is a positive sign that he is listening to students. [continues 88 words]
MILFORD - Milford board members put the brakes on part of the district's drug testing program. Members of the Milford Exempted Village Board of Education decided to stop random drug testing of students on the basis of parking privileges at their regular meeting Jan. 17. "Random drug testing is protected for athletics and extracurriculars, none address parking," said Gary Knepp, board member. "This is an unresolved issue that puts us in jeopardy of some legal action." Although Knepp requested the entire program be suspended until the district can further review its effectiveness, other board members and parents at the meeting expressed a desire to keep the program for athletics and extracurriculars. [continues 189 words]
Dann, FBI Try To Soothe Vocal Critics LIMA, Ohio -- Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann came to town yesterday to assure Lima residents that his office would do a thorough and unbiased investigation into the fatal shooting of a local woman by a Lima police officer. Instead, he got an earful. For more than two hours, Mr. Dann and representatives of the FBI and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation listened as black and white residents expressed their distrust of the Lima police department, told stories of how they allegedly had been harassed by officers, and demanded to know how they could expect the state law enforcement agency to impartially investigate the actions of another law enforcement agency. [continues 888 words]
LIMA - More than a week removed from the Jan. 4 shooting death of Tarika Wilson, hundreds of Lima residents came together in a symbol of strength and unity to find a way to move forward together as a community. On Sunday evening, Philippian Missionary Baptist Church held a healing service for Wilson's family and the Lima community. A police officer shot and killed Wilson, 26, during a raid at her home. Her 13-month-old son was also shot during the raid but survived. [continues 429 words]
When a citizen is suspected of committing a murder, he or she is placed under arrest and jailed. Why is it that police that are suspected of committing murder aren't? Why is it that a citizen suspected of committing murder has his or her name immediately released to the media but a cop's name, address, etc. isn't? Is this equal protection under the law? Hmm, ambiguity. Lady justice holds the scales and winks at cops. That SWAT cop in Lima should be in jail for killing that young lady and injuring her baby. Ron Marshall Islington Street [end]
Deepest sympathy to the family having lost members in a recent SWAT police raid in Lima, Ohio. When will this domestic civil war end that gives police carte blanche executing search warrants, resulting in the horrors just inflicted in Lima? Across America, police are involved with drugs and crime and never is a "dynamic entry" used when dealing with bad cops. Never. The division between the common man and police is widening each day this is allowed to happen. Senators (for example, Ted Stevens of Alaska) get a telephone call notice before a raid and the common man gets guns and flash grenades. [continues 85 words]
Why wasn't there a Protocol C ("Smith Reconsiders Alcohol, Drug Policy," Jan. 10, 2008), recommending to re-legalize cannabis (marijuana) since it's safer than alcohol, especially when compared to whiskey? Responsible adult use of the relatively safe God-given plant cannabis should not result in six to nine months of probation, a fine of $100 and a required marijuana intervention program. Cannabis use should be treated as less dangerous and addictive than alcohol, not an equal or more dangerous substance. Stan White Dillon, Colorado [end]
The drug war has been waged in a racist manner since its inception. The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914 was preceded by a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment. Opium was identified with Chinese laborers, marijuana with Mexicans and cocaine with African-Americans. Racial profiling continues to be the norm, despite similar rates of drug use for minorities and whites. Support for the drug war would end overnight if whites were incarcerated for drugs at the same rate as minorities. The drug war is a cultural inquisition, not a public health campaign. [continues 106 words]
EDITOR'S NOTE - The following story was submitted by Norwalk City Schools. The same information is sent home with students. Slang Smack, Horse, Mud, Brown Sugar, Junk, Black Tar, Big H, Dope, Skag Heroin affects your brain. Heroin enters the brain quickly. It slows down the way you think, slows down reaction time, and slows down memory. This affects the way you act and make decisions. Heroin affects your body. Heroin poses special problems for those who inject it because of the risks of HIV, hepatitis B and C, and other diseases that can occur from sharing needles. These health problems can be passed on to sexual partners and newborns. [continues 468 words]
Even though Vice President of Student Affairs Kent Smith was leaning toward one proposed drug policy, he chose a different policy based on student response. Protocol A - the one Smith preferred - classified alcohol and marijuana as similar offenses and combined alcohol and marijuana intervention programs. Protocol B - recommended by Student Senate in Fall Quarter - separates the offenses, and offers intervention programs tailored to the specific offense. The new policy, which will take effect in Fall Quarter 2008, states that a student's first marijuana offense will result in six to nine months of probation, a fine of $100 and a required marijuana intervention program. Further offenses will receive more severe punishments, especially if the student is already on probation for marijuana or alcohol use. [continues 270 words]
LIMA - Standing in front of a large crowd marching north, Ivory Austin demanded justice for the death of his daughter. Austin, a 55-year-old resident of Lima, blended with the crowd and spoke fondly of his daughter, Tarika Wilson, 26, who was shot and killed Jan. 4 by a Lima police officer during a raid at her 218 E. Third St. home. Wilson was holding her 1-year-old son, Sincere Wilson, who was also shot and injured, but survived. [continues 831 words]
A new report tells us something most already knew: Blacks are far more likely than whites to be incarcerated for drug crimes. Following the shooting death of 26-year-old Lima resident Tarika Wilson during a police SWAT raid, the data show it's naive to think the anger is about her death alone, but rather people are upset about a system that they have good reason to think works against them. In 193 of the country's largest 198 counties, blacks face disproportionately higher rates of incarceration that whites for drug offenses, based on a national report by the Justice Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that wants to reform sentencing policies. Of the nine Ohio counties in the study - Allen County is not among them - blacks are imprisoned 10 times more often than whites in Lucas County. The scale goes to a high of 21 percent in Butler County. [continues 472 words]
Being some time away from learning specific details of the Jan. 4 shooting that killed Lima resident Tarika Wilson, a lot of people are doing what people do in the absence of facts: They're blaming the victim, the veteran police officer who shot her, or Anthony Terry, the target of the Third Street drug raid. Without knowing those specific details, all anyone outside the investigation has to go on is his own particular world view. Two recent reports from groups advocating reform of the justice system show that, no matter what happened in that house on Third Street, all parties involved stood to be the victims of a war that has gone on for too long with no overall success. This most recent battle in our War on Drugs has claimed at least three lives directly, many more indirectly, all to take one alleged dealer out of circulation. The lives involved include a 26-year mother of six and a 31-year veteran officer. [continues 599 words]
America's ill-conceived War on Drugs cost another life this month when a police officer in Lima accidentally shot and killed a woman and injured her baby during a drug raid. They were looking for her boyfriend. The accidental shooting of 26-year-old Tarika Wilson was just the latest in more than a quarter-century of bloodshed. For example, in Belpre in October 1998, police shot 57-year-old Delbert Bonnar eight times. They were looking for his son. [continues 639 words]
LIMA -- As hundreds gathered Friday afternoon to say goodbye to Tarika Wilson, prayers were abundant for her family and six children, and the message was to not let her death be in vain. Many of those leaving the service, held a week after the 26-year-old mother was shot by police, were remembering the words they heard inside. "This is an opportunity for Tarika's life to unite a whole community," the Rev. Daniel Hughes, who read Scripture during the service, said afterwards. [continues 529 words]
LIMA, Ohio -- Darla Jennings held each of her young grandchildren up to the pink casket where their mother lay so they could give her a final kiss good-bye. Tarika Wilson, 26, who was shot to death by police during a drug raid at her home Jan. 4, was laid to rest yesterday after a two-hour memorial service at Grace Church Worldwide Ministries where more than 300 people filled the pews. [continues 785 words]
MANY questions still require answers after a 26-year-old woman was shot to death by drug-raiding police in Lima while she held her toddler son, who was also seriously injured. Though the African-American community is vigorously protesting the death of Tarika Wilson, their concern should be shared by every citizen. Chief among those questions: Did police conducting the raid know children were in the home at the time? Why would officers shoot someone with a child in her arms? Did they think she had a gun? [continues 291 words]
LIMA -- Anthony Terry was lying awake in bed when he heard an explosion outside his girlfriend's home at 218 E. Third St. followed by police crashing in firing a barrage of gunfire, he said Thursday from the Allen County jail. "I heard that boom and like 10 gunshots. I didn't know if somebody was breaking in the house or shooting in the house," he said. Terry got up from the bed, which was in a bedroom in the back of the house, to make his way toward the front of the house. He entered the dining room and spotted the two young pit bulls that he and his girlfriend, Tarika Wilson, had, he said. [continues 699 words]
LIMA -- When residents marched last Saturday, they vowed to march every Saturday until they had the truth about what happened during a fatal police shooting of a 26-year-old woman. They are marching again today, a day after friends and family laid Tarika Wilson to rest. "We want truth and justice," said Brenda Johnson, march organizer and director of the Cheryl Allen Southside Community Center. "Through truth and justice we will have peace." The group has said it will march until charges are brought against Police Sgt. Joe Chavalia, the officer who shot Wilson. Wilson was killed and her boyfriend, Anthony Terry, was arrested in a drug raid of her home. [continues 249 words]
LIMA, Ohio -- A mother of six children who was shot to death by police during a drug raid Jan. 4 was laid to rest today after a two-hour memorial service that focused on the need for the community to come together and address its problems. Tarika Wilson, 26, of Lima, was shot twice in the upper torso when officers raided her East Third Street home. Her 14-month-old son, Sincere Wilson, also was wounded in the gunfire. Ronald Fails, pastor at Grace Church Worldwide Ministries, told a church packed with more than 300 people that Wilson's family needed prayers but so did the Lima community. [continues 124 words]
LIMA - After the name of the Lima Police Department SWAT team officer responsible for his sister's death was released Wednesday, Ivory Austin said the biggest question he wants answered is why it happened. The officer, Sgt. Joe Chavalia, is the same officer who gave the command to use deadly force during the department's last fatal shooting in 2000 at the Lima Rescue Home. On Friday, Chavalia was the SWAT team officer who fired the fatal shots that killed 26-year-old Tarika Wilson during a drug raid at 218 E. Third St. [continues 652 words]
LIMA -- Following the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old mother by police, tensions are obviously running high in the city. That includes City Council. Sixth Ward Councilman Derry Glenn on Wednesday suggested the need for a retreat after 5th Ward Councilman Tommy Pitts left the group's meeting Tuesday night after he lost a committee chairmanship. Glenn was quick to say he believes the council has communication problems, not problems based on race. Glenn said Nixon should have talked to Pitts about the committee change. [continues 309 words]
Veteran Officer Identified As Shooter LIMA, Ohio - The FBI has joined state investigators in a probe of the fatal shooting of a Lima woman and a veteran police sergeant was identified as the shooter yesterday. Jennifer Brindisi, a spokesman for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, said federal agents are working with the agency to determine how Tarika Wilson, 26, was shot to death and her 14-month-old son, Sincere Wilson, wounded during the Friday night raid at their East Third Street home. She said the FBI likely will examine the case for possible civil-rights violations as well. [continues 599 words]
Cleveland's Alliance With An Array Of Federal Agencies Offers Hope That Rough Neighborhoods Can Enjoy Safety Again Many Clevelanders will remember 2007 as a year of fear, death and tragedy; a year in which it felt all too often as if they had lost their neighborhoods to drug dealers, gunslingers and gangs. Mayor Frank Jackson wants to make 2008 the year in which law-abiding Clevelanders take back the streets. The mayor's plan begins with smart, aggressive law enforcement. Despite budget problems, he plans to put more police officers on the streets, to reconstitute a special gang squad and to shake up the homicide unit. He promises those officers better training and more sophisticated technology. He has instructed Police Chief Michael McGrath to concentrate those tools on drugs and guns, an unholy pairing that kills neighborhoods. [continues 408 words]
"We're going after whoever is likely to carry a gun. Their skin color does not matter to me. If you got a gun, we're coming to get you." Mayor admits violence will get worse before it gets better; critics worry racial strife could flare up if black youths are targeted by sweeps Mayor Frank Jackson doesn't want to see more deadly car chases and shootouts between cops and suspects, but under his new police plan, he expects them. [continues 839 words]
LIMA, Ohio -- A veteran Lima police sergeant was identified today as the officer who shot and killed a local woman during a drug raid at her home Friday night. Sgt. Joseph A. Chavalia, 52, who has been with Lima police for 30 years, was placed on administrative leave following the fatal shooting of Tarika Wilson, 26. Her 14-month-old son, Sincere Wilson, who was in her arms when she was shot, was wounded by the gunfire. Sergeant Chavalia, a member of the SWAT team since 1986, was one of two officers who were involved in a 2000 incident at the Lima Rescue Home in which police shot and killed Michael Hildebrandt, 30, who had locked himself in a third-floor room, refused to come out, and set his mattress on fire. [continues 80 words]
LIMA -- No timetable will be placed on the investigation into the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old mother by a Lima Police Department SWAT team officer, a spokeswoman for a state investigatory agency said Tuesday. "It's going to be a detailed and thorough one," said Jennifer Brindisi, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. Brindisi said her agency was concerned about performing a complete investigation and she has no way of predicting how long that may take. [continues 549 words]
LIMA, Ohio - Lima police yesterday continued to shield the identity of a SWAT officer who fatally shot a mother of six and wounded her 14-month-old son in her arms. Tarika Wilson, 26, was killed and her son was wounded when Lima police conducted a drug raid on their home Friday night. Police also refused yesterday to reveal details of the raid and what provoked the shooting. Wilson's family yesterday renewed claims that she was unarmed and not a threat to officers in the house. [continues 515 words]
LIMA -- A crowd in City Council's chambers started the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. "With liberty and justice for all," the crowd recited, emphasizing the word "all." The crowd of about 200, raw with anger and emotion, didn't believe it Monday night. Following a Lima police officer's fatal shooting of Tarika Wilson, 26, during a drug raid Friday night, City Council tabled its regular meeting until tonight, and opened up the floor to residents who demanded answers but received none and called the shooting murder. [continues 744 words]
Many different people have many different questions following a Lima police officer shooting and killing a resident Friday evening during a drug raid. Those questions need to be answered. However, as this community sorts out the facts surrounding the shooting death of Tarika Wilson, cooler heads need to prevail. No one in Lima, regardless how angry he or she becomes, can rationally think igniting this situation any more will benefit anyone. We're pleased to hear two outside investigative units will be looking into the shooting. The Lima Police Department has turned the investigation over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification, which is Ohio's top investigative unit. Allen County Common Pleas Judge Richard Warren also has assigned a special prosecutor to investigate, which avoids any conflict that local prosecutors would experience. The dynamics in this case require outside authorities to examine what happened and what should be done about it. And no one should yet dismiss the idea of any other outside organizations looking into the shooting. [continues 246 words]
LIMA -- Sixth Ward Councilman Derry Glenn held a news conference Sunday on Lima's south side, calling for outside help in the investigation into the death of Tarika Wilson and ensuring Lima residents, "We are not going to let this go." Glenn spoke in front of the house at 218 E. Third St., where a Lima SWAT team officer shot and killed Wilson, 26, and injured her 13-month-old son, Sincere. Wilson's mother, Darla Jennings, stood by Glenn as he spoke to reporters. Appearing with Glenn were Brenda Johnson, of the Cheryl Allen Southside Center, and Bishop Richard Cox, a Dayton-based executive assistant to the national board chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. [continues 755 words]
Officials Map Peaceful Steps to See That Justice Is Served LIMA, Ohio -- Councilman Derry Glenn yesterday called for calm and prayers for Tarika Wilson's family -- and the unidentified police officer who fatally shot the Lima mother of six and wounded her 14-month-old son in her arms. Demonstrating peacefully, asking for the FBI and other federal agencies to step in, and trying to bring to Lima high-profile civil-rights activists such as Martin Luther King III and the Rev. Al Sharpton are appropriate responses to the deadly raid Friday night, Mr. Glenn and other African-American leaders said at a news conference yesterday. [continues 880 words]
LIMA -- More than 100 people marched across Lima's south side Saturday, demanding justice after a Friday night drug raid left one woman dead. Family, friends and concerned community members gathered at about 5 p.m. at the Cheryl Allen Center on South Central Avenue to light candles and pray for 26-year-old Tarika Wilson. Lima Police Department Chief Greg Garlock said an officer shot and killed Wilson when the Lima police SWAT team stormed her home at 218 E. Third St. on a "high-risk search warrant" looking for illegal drugs. The SWAT team also shot Wilson's 1-year-old son, Sincere Wilson, in the hand and arm, said the boy's aunt Tania Wilson. He was flown by helicopter to Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, where he was being treated. [continues 598 words]