CROWD HOLDS VIGIL, MARCHES DOWNTOWN FOR SHOOTING VICTIM

LIMA -- More than 100 people marched across Lima's south side
Saturday, demanding justice after a Friday night drug raid left one
woman dead.

Family, friends and concerned community members gathered at about 5
p.m. at the Cheryl Allen Center on South Central Avenue to light
candles and pray for 26-year-old Tarika Wilson. Lima Police Department
Chief Greg Garlock said an officer shot and killed Wilson when the
Lima police SWAT team stormed her home at 218 E. Third St. on a
"high-risk search warrant" looking for illegal drugs. The SWAT team
also shot Wilson's 1-year-old son, Sincere Wilson, in the hand and
arm, said the boy's aunt Tania Wilson. He was flown by helicopter to
Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, where he was being treated.

At the vigil, volunteers distributed candles and homemade fliers
printed with the words, "We Want Justice for Tarika Kay Wilson Right
Now." Brenda Johnson, director of the Cheryl Allen Center, stood on a
chair in the room's center and called for unity among the vigil's
participants.

"We're going to pay homage to what went on last night," she said. "We
are going to march to show solidarity. Remember that baby that's in
that hospital, and remember that girl that's laying on a slab being
dissected, because the Lima police overstepped their bounds, and we
need to call them back into check."

Multiple leaders in Lima's black community attended the vigil,
including the Rev. C.M. Manley, of New Morning Star Baptist Church,
the Rev. Arnold Manley, of Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church, and
Jason Upthegrove, president of the Lima chapter of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The crowd of men, women and children marched from the community center
to the house where Wilson died, just more than a half-mile north. An
impromptu banner covered in signatures and words of encouragement lead
the crowd, with one corner held up by Darla Jennings, Wilson's mother.
They traveled north on Central Avenue, holding candles and banners and
singing gospel songs.

Several people who participated in the march declined to be
interviewed by The Lima News or declined to provide their names. While
some of them did not know Wilson, they said they thought Lima police
had not told the truth about the raid, while others said they simply
wanted to support the family.

"It was devastating," said 24-year-old Sophia Hall, a demonstrator
whose brother fathered a child with Wilson. "Two people were shot for
no reason. You don't kill innocent bystanders. You don't shoot people
for no reason."

Once they arrived, they found police officers waiting at the scene.
The demonstrators in the street and on the sidewalk, tossing stuffed
animals beyond the yellow crime tape onto the house lawn and front
porch. Even as most crowd members called for peace, some shouted
obscenities at the police, while others called for justice.

"It is time for all of us black sisters and brothers to stand
together," Arnold Manley said to the waiting crowd. "We must demand
what we want. We want some answers, and we want them very soon."

Demonstrators moved on foot and by car from the house to Main Street,
ending the vigil on the front steps of the Lima Police Department.
Johnson again addressed the crowd, calling for continued action in the
days and weeks to follow. Johnson and Arnold Manley encouraged
demonstrators to attend the Lima City Council meeting Monday night, as
well as to boycott various bars and businesses in the city and to
march every Saturday until the investigation is over.

The vigil was extremely important, said Arnold Manley, as a means to
motivate Lima's black community to take a stand. Manley indicated
Friday night's raid, as well as Wilson's death, could have been a race
issue.

"We're trying to bring the black community together," he said. "It was
a peaceful meeting to show that we want to be treated equally. The
police don't raid Shawnee, they don't raid Elida. They make it seem
like the south end is the only place with drugs. We're tired of our
kids being arrested and pulled over at night. We want to be treated
right, and that didn't happen."