WEST PALM POLICE SLAYING REMAINS MURKY

Federal Drug Inquiry Keeps Lid On Shooting Case

It might be months before the public learns what happened in the darkness
outside a West Palm Beach motel last week when an officer gunned down a
drug suspect.

More than three days after the incident, authorities still have not
released the name of the officer or identified the dead man.

The reason is that the shooting happened during an ongoing, undercover drug
investigation involving federal agencies, officials said. And federal
investigators aren't always as forthcoming as local officials in
immediately divulging the names of officers and victims of police
shootings, experts said.

More than likely, the identity of the officer involved in the early Friday
morning shooting might not be known until the Palm Beach County State
Attorney's Office finishes a review of the shooting, which could take months.

Likewise, the dead man's identity could be tied up in the murky world of
undercover drug operations for some time as well.

Investigators also have released only scant details about what led to the
shooting.

All they are willing to say is that the officer felt threatened and fired
at a man during a confrontation in the parking lot of the Days Inn near
Interstate 95 and 45th Street shortly after 1 a.m.

The man was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, where he
died about an hour later.

How many times the man was shot and whether he was armed are among the
questions investigators have declined to answer, citing the ongoing
investigation, sheriff's spokesman Paul Miller said.

The Sheriff's Office assisted the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the joint narcotics operation.

David Klinger, a former police officer who is now a professor at the
University of Missouri-St. Louis, said law enforcement agencies must answer
such basic questions as soon as possible to maintain the public trust.

He finds it hard to understand, for instance, how the ongoing drug
investigation can be compromised if investigators reveal how many bullets
were fired at the suspect.

"Why create suspicion between the police and the policed?" Klinger said.
"Anything that looks like the police are trying to cover up anything is not
good."

Miller explained that the authorities aren't releasing further information
because they don't want to take any chances that could jeopardize the
investigation.

"No one is trying to conceal anything. It will all be made public after it
reaches the State Attorney's Office," he said.

The State Attorney's Office will determine whether the officer will be
cleared and face charges.

Officials aren't even identifying where the officer involved in the
shooting works, merely saying that it is a local agency and that the person
in question is on paid administrative leave.

Investigators have some ideas who the dead man is but they haven't
positively identified him or reached his family. He is the seventh person
shot and killed by a law officer in Palm Beach County in a little more than
nine months.

In most of those cases, police released the names of officers and victims
shortly after the shooting or in the next day or two.

Again, Miller maintained that this case is different in that it entails an
ongoing investigation while most others were the result of specific incidents.

Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.