SHOOTING WAS UNJUSTIFIED

On Jan. 21, Baltimore County police served a search warrant on my parents'
Del Haven Road home of a type that normal people think is used only against
terrorists and drug kingpins. In the process of serving this warrant, a
Baltimore County police officer shot my mother, Cheryl Noel, not once, not
twice, but three times, killing her in her own bedroom.

The Baltimore County police have completed their investigation of the
Baltimore County police and have determined that they were justified in
killing my mother. Does that even sound right?

My mother was a good woman, she was a good mother and a loving wife. She
was a true Christian and gave to her family, neighbors and community
without reserve. She went to church on Sunday and was a substitute Sunday
School teacher when needed. She led a Bible study group on her lunch break
at work.

My parents had been together for 23 years and had just celebrated their
20th anniversary. They were a nearly perfect couple. The back door of my
parents' house was almost never locked. Neighborhood kids knew that it was
a safe place if they needed to escape danger. Young people in the
neighborhood also knew that they could come talk to my mother about
anything and get advice and words of encouragement.

If the killing of such a kind, loving and wonderful person like my mother
can be justified, who among us is safe? You may say that the police have no
reason to attack you in this way. We didn't think they had any reason to
attack us, either, until Jan. 21.

Anyone who knows this family knows that the police could have knocked on
the door and they would have been admitted without resistance. The search
warrant could have easily been executed in a number of other ways that
would not have put anyone in deadly danger.

I've been told that the decision to use such tactics is left in the hands
of the officers serving the warrant, not a judge. If you read up on such
things, you will find that these tactics are used to prevent the
destruction of evidence, or "flushing" as they call it. There was virtually
no evidence in my parents' house to destroy, but evidently it was more
precious than my mother's life. ...

I recently celebrated my birthday, my first one without my mother. Don't
let this happen to you or your loved ones. My mother would not want this to
ever happen to anyone else.

If you would like to help, if you find this situation frightening, or if
you knew my mother and want to see justice done, here is what you can do:
Call all of your elected officials (state and local) and demand further
investigation of this case and the decision-making process for using these
tactics. Tell them that there is no place in our neighborhoods for this
kind of excessive force.

If we change the process by which this warrant was served, we can save
other innocent lives and we might be able to feel safe in our beds at night.

Jacob R. Noel

Barry Road