ANSWERS SOUGHT AFTER FATAL RAID

Activist Wants Feds To Look At Woman's Death

An Atlanta civil rights activist is calling for a federal
investigation into the fatal shooting by Atlanta police of a
92-year-old woman during a drug raid at the woman's home.

Police contend they wanted to search Kathryn Johnston's house because
an undercover drug purchase had been made there earlier on Tuesday,
the day of the shooting. Johnston wounded three officers, emptying a
six-shot revolver before being shot to death, police said.

The Rev. Markell Hutchins, the civil rights activist, said he will
deliver a letter to the Justice Department on Monday urging the
agency to investigate "what we believe are at worst, gross violations
of this woman's life, and at best, poor judgment on the part of the
police officers."

Hutchins said he talked Friday morning with police Chief Richard
Pennington, who was out of town when the shootout occurred.

"His officers should have known at a minimum who was living in that
residence before they went in there with guns blazing," Hutchins said.

Johnston was a frail woman who lived behind burglar bars at a home
owned by her niece.

Police contend they obtained a no-knock search warrant for the Neal
Street house after buying drugs Tuesday afternoon from a man inside the home.

The no-knock warrant is frequently used in suspected drug cases
because police believe their surprise entry into a home prevents drug
dealers from flushing or destroying the evidence. In this case, the
warrant did not name a person, referring only to a "John Doe, aka
Sam," the standard reference when a person's name is not known, police said.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been unable to independently
confirm the police account about the need for the no-knock warrant
because it has not been allowed to look at the sworn statement that
police provided to a judge to obtain the warrant.

State Court Administrator Stefani Searcy refused again Friday to
release the documents, even though they are public records subject to
immediate disclosure under Georgia law. Searcy has cited "office
policy" as her reason for withholding the information.

Assistant Chief Alan Dreher has maintained police seized drugs from
Johnston's home, but he has not said what the drugs were or where
they were found.

Police said they knocked on Johnston's door about 7 p.m. before
pulling off the burglar bars and knocking down the front door.

Dreher said Johnston should have recognized the men as officers even
though they were not wearing uniforms. He said all three wore
bulletproof vests that had the word "police" across the front and
back. He said they shouted they were police as they burst through the door.

Johnston met the narcotics investigators with gunfire, police said.
Medical examiners said she was shot twice in the chest and in extremities.

The three officers are recovering from their wounds and are on leave
with pay until the investigation is complete. The police department
said its internal affairs unit would investigate the shooting. The
Georgia Bureau of Investigation also is reviewing the incident.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard also has vowed to
investigate. He said a preliminary review of the Johnston shooting
indicated that the officers "had a legal right" to search the home.

Hutchins wants more.

"Clearly, the police had a right to exercise a search warrant. I
intend to ask the Justice Department to determine, did they have
sufficient evidence for a no-knock warrant. What evidence did they
have? That's what the community needs to know."

On Friday on Johnston's block, just off Joseph P. Lowery Boulevard,
residents still buzzed about what happened.

Police have described their drug suspect as 6 feet tall and 250 to
260 pounds. Nobody seemed to know a man fitting that description in
the neighborhood. Some expressed doubts about the police account of
what happened. "I think that's just something they made up," said
Curtis Mitchell, Johnston's longtime neighbor.

Three days after the shooting, yellow police tape still surrounded
Johnston's home, where a memorial of flowers and stuffed animals
rested at the edge of her lawn.

Johnston's home is attracting visitors --- those who want to see the
location of what has become a national story in hopes of making the
senseless somehow make sense.

"Is this the house?" Willie Stone, 74, asked from his car. He said he
hadn't been in the neighborhood in 50 years. The last time was to
visit a woman he was dating.

"I was just coming to see it," said Stone, who lives in the city's
Collier Heights neighborhood. "I've got my doubts about what happened."

Tabitha Crowder, who lives nearby, also came over to catch a glimpse.
"We just walked past just to see," Crowder said. "It's so sad and hurtful."

Staff writers S.A. Reid and Saeed Ahmed contributed to this article.