IN DEATH'S AFTERMATH

City Code Brought To Bear: Residents Must Move From Building, Cited As
Illegal Boardinghouse, Where Officer Was Killed

Rain did little to wash away the dirt and grime from the 1800 block of
Lakewood Terrace on the day after an Atlanta police officer was shot and
killed during a drug raid.

In the lot across the street from where the shooting occurred, abandoned
televisions, sofas and doors vied for space among broken bottles and bags
of trash. With school out for spring break, neighborhood kids rode up and
down the streets on bikes and scooters while some walked an occasional pit
bull. All day, cars drove by to catch a glimpse at the house where Atlanta
police Officer Sherry Lyons-Williams, 39, was killed.

Lyons-Williams was killed April 4 during a drug raid on 1855 Lakewood
Terrace by gunman Michael Thompson, 30, who was also killed in the shootout.

"This is a slum," said Johnny Myers, on his way to "make some money." "A
low-income little neighborhood. And when you live in low-income
neighborhoods, this is what happens."

Katherine Whetstone, a city housing inspector, spent much of that morning a
week ago inspecting 1855 and 1857 Lakewood Terrace --- which have a common
owner --- to see if they were operating illegally. She said both houses
were worse inside than out.

In citing them as illegal, she said they had several violations, including
faulty smoke detectors and narrow passageways. But the basic violation was
that neither house was zoned as a boardinghouse.

According to Whetstone, 1855 had 11 units, which were being rented at $65 a
week. But according to tax records, the home, built in 1925, actually has
only two bedrooms and six total rooms. She said that 1857 was divided into
nine units, although tax records show it has only two bedrooms, one
bathroom and a total of six rooms.

Tax records show that both of the houses were sold in October 2000 for
$10,000 each. If each of the 20 units in both homes was occupied
year-round, the owner could garner $67,000 annually in rent for properties
meant for single families.

The city cited the owner, who will be forced to turn the buildings back
into single-family homes. That means the residents will have to leave. "I
told them they might as well prepare to leave," said Whetstone.

That is what Myers is trying to do. By midday on the day after the
shootings, he was making plans to earn some cash so that he could move.

Myers, who said he had lived at 1855 Lakewood Terrace for about three
months, said his boardinghouse was the type of place where nobody really
knew anything about anybody else. He said he didn't know if Thompson was
selling drugs.

"He lived in his room and I lived in my room," said Myers. "He and I
weren't the best of friends."

Myers said that because Thompson lived in the basement, which apparently
had no windows, he spent most of his time on the porch playing music on his
boombox. Occasionally, Thompson's twin sons would visit. Myers didn't know
any of Thompson's family.

"He seemed to be a good father to his kids. He loved his kids," said Myers.

Tina Lucas, who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years, said she knew
there were drugs in the neighborhood, but had no idea they were so close.
"I see people hanging around the corners and cars coming by, but these are
boardinghouses," she said. "I didn't know they were selling it two doors
from here."

Lucas, who has lived next door to one of the boardinghouses for 10 years,
said the neighborhood has gone down so much that she doesn't even let her
four children go outside to play because of the drugs, prostitutes and gunfire.

She said her husband heard the gunshots Wednesday afternoon, but paid no
attention to them until he heard the helicopters and noticed all the
commotion outside his door.