What would lead police to shoot and kill an unarmed young mother holding her baby boy in her arms? We flew to Lima, Ohio to find out.
We found a community with a deep distrust of its police force that was brought to the surface with the shooting of Tarika Wilson.
This past January, Lima police stormed Wilson’s home with a warrant for her boyfriend who was a suspected drug dealer. Wilson’s family says during the raid, police shot Wilson while she held her 14-month-son in her arms.
Wilson died, and her baby was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his shoulder and hand. The raid is now under investigation.
Lima has been under scrutiny since the raid. Many people have pointed to racial tension in the town between the residents, many of whom are African American, and police, who are mostly white.
The tension is reflected in emails sent from angry community members to a local newspaper.
Many emails were critical of Tarika Wilson, pointing to the fact she had several children with different fathers. These comments are troubling to her family and supporters. What does her having several children have to do with circumstances surrounding the shooting?
We wanted to speak with Police Chief Greg Garlock about the rift between the community and his force. Garlock initially agreed, but then canceled the interview with no explanation.
To his credit, Lima’s mayor was candid about the problems facing the community, and urged everyone to wait for the results of the investigation.
But the facts remain, Tarika Wilson was unarmed; she’s dead; her wounded son is left without a mother; and so far no one has been able or willing to explain why.
-Jason Carroll, CNN Correspondent
| teresa, ohio |
February 27th, 2008 9:59 pm ET Did you ever notice the cops can shoot and kill someone NOT MEANT to be killed, but cant ever shoot the bad guys….unless they’re using their sharpshooters? As the article stated: MANY residents are african american and the cops are white. I seriously wonder if it might not be a better IDEA to have african american COPS police cities where the majority of citizens are african american? I wonder if the citizens would feel more comfortable and safe? Much peace to Tarika’s family. |
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| Dino Mangano |
February 27th, 2008 10:17 pm ET This is a sad example of how crime affects everyone. The police, who are more and more on edge, obviously weren’t making calm and rational decisions in this instance. This women who was tragically killed, not because she was a criminal, but because a criminal brought trouble to her doorstep. Multiple victims of the same sad drug culture. |
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| Annie Kate |
February 27th, 2008 10:25 pm ET This sort of tragedy happens all too much and is completely unacceptable. How many children she had with how many fathers is beside the point completely and should not even be brought up in the pursuit of knowledge on what happened to cause this to happen. My condolences to Tarika’’s family and I hope her now motherless children will be ok and well taken care of. Annie Kate |
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| Michael, NC |
February 27th, 2008 10:42 pm ET It is unfortunate to hear such tragic stories, especially ones tainted with racial inequality. It seems sad that the problem is still happening across the nation. I completely agree with you teresa. |
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| Fay, California |
February 27th, 2008 11:50 pm ET The fact that the angry members of the community appear to believe that the biggest ‘crime’ here is that Tarika had children with different fathers makes clear why the police may not have given a second thought about shooting an unarmed .African-American woman. It will be interesting to see what the investigation turns up. |
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