TWO TALES EMERGE FROM SHOOTING OF BEACH MAN BY SWAT OFFICER

VIRGINIA BEACH -- An unarmed man shot through the hand by a SWAT officer
during a drug search at a Pungo-area home this week said on Thursday that he
thinks police targeted the wrong house.

A drug dealer suspect listed in a search-warrant affidavit, Eric ``Bubba''
Ennis, does not live in the home police searched. However, the man who was
wounded, 42-year-old Kevin Comeau, said that Ennis lives nearby, in a
similar house.

``I think this is a case of mistaken identity,'' Comeau said. ``Maybe they
got the houses mixed up.''

Comeau, interviewed from his bed at Virginia Beach General Hospital, said
Thursday that he is not involved in drug sales. He admitted he has used
marijuana.

But police said Thursday there was no mistake. Investigators said they found
``a substantial quantity'' of marijuana and what they believe is cocaine.

A police sergeant said detectives also found several items used to package
and distribute drugs, such as scales, baggies, and a powder used to dilute
powdered cocaine. Comeau said he didn't know there were drugs in the house.

On Thursday, two very different accounts of what happened Tuesday night
emerged from Comeau and the police.

Comeau said he was asleep in his bed when a SWAT officer shot him without
warning. The bullet blasted through his right hand and broke apart. A chunk
of the 9 mm slug lodged in his chest.

Doctors have told Comeau they may have to amputate his ring finger, and that
the damage to nerves and tendons could be permanent, he said.

``I woke up to the sound of a commotion. I heard someone coming into my
bedroom,'' he said. ``I rolled over and heard a `Pow,' and my hand felt like
it was on fire.''

Comeau said he started cursing, thinking one of his two roommates had tossed
a firecracker into his bed as a prank. Then, he said, he was handcuffed. His
left eye is black. His left cheek has several fresh cuts.

He said the officers assured him he would be fine, and made small talk about
the fishing awards in his room.

But attorney and state Sen. Ken Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, who represents
Officer Richard J. ``R.J.'' Smith, said the investigation into the shooting
backs Smith's account. Smith is the officer who fired the gun.

Stolle said this is what happened:

The SWAT team deemed the search ``high-risk'' because it was suspected that
there were several guns in the house. Officers detonated at least one
``flash-bang'' grenade inside the home to disorient the residents. A
``flash-bang,'' also called a Light and Sound Diversionary Device, explodes
with a deafening boom and blinding light. Police said no one should be able
to sleep through the explosion.

The SWAT team members searched the two-story house room by room. Upstairs in
a bedroom, Smith found Comeau in a bed. Smith, armed with a Heckler & Koch
MP5 machine gun, screamed at him several times to show his hands, but Comeau
refused. At least twice, Comeau looked at Smith, and then turned away. Then,
Comeau lunged at Smith and thrust his right hand forward, as if he had a
gun. Smith shot him once.

Stolle said Comeau hurled obscenities and, for some reason, shoved his bare
buttucks at Smith. Comeau then fought with the police who were trying to
handcuff him.

Stolle said the path of Smith's bullet also backs the officer's account.

``It is physically impossible for his hand to get shot any other way than
the way R.J. said it happened,'' Stolle said.

Comeau was not armed, but he said he does keep one handgun, three or four
shotguns and a hunting rifle in his room.

Police confiscated seven guns from the house.

The search warrant for the home where Comeau and two roommates lived was
based almost entirely on anonymous tips. Two of those tips were more than
two years old.

Comeau is mentioned only briefly in the affidavit, identified by anonymous
neighbors as a drug seller. Comeau denied the accusation.

The bulk of the search-warrant affidavit details anonymous complaints that a
resident of the home was dealing drugs, and that Ennis was also dealing
drugs. It does not establish a solid link between Ennis and the house where
Comeau lived.

In the affidavit, the detective said he corroborated the anonymous tips by
checking the home's trash. The detective, Shawn Mahoney, said he found a
baggy with white residue that a preliminary chemical test showed was
cocaine. He said he also found other items that led him to believe drugs
were being used and packaged in the Princess Anne Road home.

A magistrate approved the warrant. It is the magistrate's job to determine
whether a police officer has presented a credible case for a search warrant.

Comeau has not been charged with a crime.

Comeau said he worked 20 years as a high-voltage line worker before the
company that employed him folded. Since then, he said, he has worked odd
jobs. He said he has lived in the Pungo house more than five years and ``has
never had a lick of trouble there.''

A police database shows that Tuesday night's search was the first time
police had been sent to that home in the past few years.

Because he doesn't have a steady job, Comeau has no insurance. Attorney
Richard G. Brydges said his firm will represent Comeau in a claim against
the city.

The Tuesday night shooting is similar to one that happened two years ago.

On Oct. 14, 1996, a SWAT officer shot and wounded a man sleeping in a hotel
bed. That man, Rodney Medlin, was a fugitive who later pleaded guilty to
three burglaries.

In that case, police initially tried to explain the shooting, saying Medlin
made a threatening move. Later, they said the officer's gun went off by
accident. Brydges' firm also represented Medlin. The city paid $42,500 to
settle Medlin's claim.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett