HUNDREDS MARCH TO PROTEST POLICE SHOOTING

LIMA - Standing in front of a large crowd marching north, Ivory Austin
demanded justice for the death of his daughter.

Austin, a 55-year-old resident of Lima, blended with the crowd and
spoke fondly of his daughter, Tarika Wilson, 26, who was shot and
killed Jan. 4 by a Lima police officer during a raid at her 218 E.
Third St. home. Wilson was holding her 1-year-old son, Sincere Wilson,
who was also shot and injured, but survived.

A crowd of more than 160 demonstrators began marching at 5 p.m.
Saturday from the Cheryl Allen Center on South Central Avenue,
demanding justice for Wilson. The crowd grew in size as it traveled to
the front door of the Lima Police Department, where the demonstration
reached a climax shortly after 6:30 p.m.

"They have not come to me and said nothing," Austin said, holding a
cane and keeping pace with the crowd. "No apologies to anyone, except
when they want to make themselves look good on TV. Now I have six
grandchildren without a mother. We have to raise them now, me and my
daughter's mom."

Austin said he'll miss the calls he got from his daughter every
day.

"She'd call me every day or every other day and said, 'Dad, I love
you,'" Austin said. "She loved all her kids and brothers and sisters.
She was the runt of the bunch, the shortest one. She loved living. She
loved life. She was a good girl. She was daddy's girl."

On Friday, Austin and the rest of Wilson's family buried
her.

Austin said he tries not to think about it. He said he tries to think
she is off some place resting.

"The pain is indescribable," he said. "I've never felt a hurt like
this before, not even when my father died. I will never get over this.
I will feel this the rest of my life; it's a heavy burden on my heart."

Bringing the officer to justice, he said, will bring some relief and
closure, Austin said.

Although many in the crowd would disagree, Austin said he doesn't want
to believe his daughter's death was racially motivated.

"On the same side, there's a lot of profiling on the south side," he
said. "I don't understand how a 30-year veteran can make a mistake
like this. What was the purpose? Did he feel threatened? How can you
feel threatened by a 4-foot-11 woman holding a baby? He's got to
realize how many lives he's wrecked, and not just black lives. My
daughter's mom is white. Half my daughter's family is white."

Austin said he wants to see the officer go to prison.

And, he's not the only one.

"She was murdered in cold blood and we want justice," said Thelma
Flint, who works at the Cheryl Allen Center.

Flint marched a short distance behind Austin, among a crowd carrying
signs, singing songs and chanting.

"Justice is prison, not paid vacation," Flint said. "That officer
should be brought up on murder charges and attempted murder charges. I
have four kids and it's a shame that I can't teach them to trust the
police."

Allen County Sheriff Dan Beck and numerous deputies atop horses
patrolled the event and escorted the crowd through a packed downtown
Lima. People gathered to watch the demonstration from all around, from
porches and storefronts to spots along the road. Many showed support.
Some looked on with blank stares.

"It makes me feel wonderful that a community can get together without
violence," Austin said. "I don't want violence. It will just hurt more
people."

However, quoting Malcolm X, he said he believes violence might be
necessary if justice is not served.

"If he's not charged, violence might be necessary," Austin
said.

When asked what he meant, he replied "What happened to
Rome?"

"I have to look at my grandbabies every day and answer every day about
their mommy," Austin said.

As the march grew closer to downtown, more and more people joined in,
running up to the crowd from behind.

Throughout the south side, the crowd was vocal, but still somewhat
docile until it reached downtown, at about 6 p.m.

By then, after a fight nearly erupted among a small group, the chants
grew louder and more aggressive. There were more than 200 people
marching, followed by a string of about two dozen cars showing support.

A man who said he represented the Nation of Islam in Toledo, Marques
X, said he was marching to stand up for his sister, "who was brutally
murdered." He said he was the only person from the Nation of Islam at
the event and he went because Lima is his hometown.

Joining local residents were several local pastors and community
leaders and representatives from the Dayton office of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference

Another person marching, Willie Hall, 35, said he was close to Wilson
growing up.

"She was like a little sister to me," he said. "She called me big
brother."

Hall said he believes the shooting was racially motivated and, he
said, "the Lima police have been getting away with it for years."

"If he was a black officer, he'd be prosecuted," he said. "Everybody
wants answers. Everybody wants the truth. They're covering this up."
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