POLICE CHARGE 7 IN CHILD'S DEATH

Authorities charged seven people with capital murder Saturday in
connection with the December slaying of 6-year-old Kearis Bonham, who
died in a hail of gunfire Prichard police said was intended for them.

When the Bonham family was informed of the arrests, Prichard Police
Chief Sammie Brown said, they were "elated" by the news.

Reached by telephone Saturday afternoon, Willie Bonham, the child's
grandfather, said he and his family would reserve comment. "We're just
waiting" to learn more, said Bonham, who along with his wife, raised
Kearis from birth.

Brown said he was satisfied that the department was able to identify
and arrest the suspects.

"We made a promise to the Bonham family that we would make an arrest,"
he said, "and we kept that promise."

But, Brown said, he expects more arrests, though he declined to say
how many or when they would take place.

"I am not going to close it (the investigation) until I am completely
satisfied that we have all responsible parties in jail and completely
charged," Brown said.

"Everyone that was involved, everyone who had knowledge, will be
prosecuted."

Police and the FBI had earlier said that the Dec. 12 shooting might
have been gang-related. Brown said on Saturday that he wouldn't use
the term "gang" in association with the shooting, but that "I believe
it was an organized effort."

Police arrested: Daryll West, 28, of Mobile; Willie Pearson, 28;
Marvin Graves, 25; Tamika Cabble, 22; Shanta Phillips, 26; and Vander
Gilmore, 18, all of Prichard; and Myron Jones, 18, whose address was
unavailable. The specific role each suspect is believed to have played
in the shooting has not been revealed by police.

Five of the suspects were taken into custody during an early morning
raid involving several agencies, including the Alabama Bureau of
Investigation, the Mobile Police Department, the Mobile County
Sheriff's Department, Alabama State Troopers, the Mobile County
District Attorney's office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
according to a Prichard Police Department news release.

Phillips surrendered to authorities Saturday afternoon, and Gilmore
was already being held at Mobile County Metro Jail for traffic
violations, police said.

Brown said more charges against the seven, such as assault with intent
to murder, may be forthcoming. Prichard Police Officer Lance LaPorte
was wounded in the incident, which authorities described as an ambush
on Prichard police officers.

Police believe at least two guns, a shotgun and an AK-47 assault-style
rifle, were used to fire at officers, Brown said at a December news
conference. Authorities later located an assault rifle that may have
been used.

Harry McGadney, spokesman for Prichard Police, said on Saturday that
he did not know if investigators have determined whether that gun was
used in the shooting.

Shortly after the incident, authorities called the shooting that
killed Bonham and wounded LaPorte a retaliatory act for the shooting a
day before of three young men by undercover Prichard police officers.

Some who were angry about the earlier shooting had threatened an
ambush. Authorities said officers were lured to the Dec. 12 scene by a
report of shots fired in the Queens Court apartment complex, near the
Mobile-Prichard city line.

Two marked police cars pulled up to the apartments. The officers got
out of their cars to investigate what turned out to be a false report.
After they returned to their cars, someone opened fire on them,
authorities said.

Brown said the officers did not return fire. Instead, they retreated
to Clark Avenue and St. Stephens Road, about two or three blocks away,
and called for backup.

The bullets apparently traveled across the street, about 175 yards
away, where at least one struck Bonham as he stood on his
grandfather's front porch, police said. The boy was rushed to the
University of South Alabama Medical Center, where he was pronounced
dead less than 20 minutes later.

LaPorte was struck in the neck by a bullet after it ricocheted off his
bullet-resistant vest, authorities said. He was treated and released
from the hospital the same day.

The shooting followed a day of protest and threats against
police.

On Dec. 11, a pair of undercover narcotics officers, whose names have
not been released, opened fire on a car full of young men in the
Alabama Village neighborhood.

Three in the car were hit. A fourth escaped.

Several people at that scene said the police opened fire without
reason and that the men were unarmed.

Brown said Saturday that no arrests have been made in that
case.

That shooting prompted cries of protest by some residents of the
village, a crime-plagued, poverty-stricken neighborhood about a mile
away from where Bonham would be shot the next day.

Brown said that someone from Queens Court, also an area with drug and
crime problems, made threats to the police department.

Several people -- including Brown and Bonham's grandfather -- called
for the closing of Queens Court. Brown later backed away from that
demand.

Queens Court Apartments, 10 buildings off Clark Street in south
Prichard, actually are two separate entities -- Queens Court I and
Queens Court II, as they were called -- with a total of 85 apartments
but with different owners.

Joseph Payne, who recently took over as owner of Queens Court I and
manager of Queens Court II, promised to improve conditions. The
portion that he owns has been renamed Canaan Apartments.

Following the two shootings, a group of Mobile-area ministers called
The Ambassadors pleaded with citizens to remain calm. Rev. Fleet
Belle, the group's chairman, issued a series of "Great!" after he
learned of the Saturday arrests.

The group had been planning a mid-December open forum to discuss the
shootings but canceled that event at the request of Brown and Prichard
Mayor Charles Harden, Belle said.

The religious group wanted to give police the opportunity to make
arrests, Belle said, because the group believed that was the right way
to resolve the issue.

Of the Saturday arrests, Belle said, "We think this is just the
genesis" of law enforcement working with citizens to make Prichard
safer.