FAMILY BLAMES COPS IN 80-YEAR-OLD's FATAL SHOOTING

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - If anyone besides police had fatally shot
80-year-old Issac Singletary on his own Jacksonville property, they'd
be charged with murder and in jail awaiting justice, his family said
Friday.

Standing on the front lawn of the Westmont Street property where
police fired four shots that killed Singletary six months ago Friday
during an undercover drug operation, some local leaders along with the
family's lawyers demanded that the police officers be held
accountable.

Singletary came outside on Jan. 27 to tell two undercover detectives
he mistook for drug dealers to get off his property, "which the law
said he had every right to do," lawyer Benjamin Crump said, also
standing with local NAACP President Isaiah Rumlin and state Sen. Tony
Hill.

Crump said Singletary's autopsy report shows police shot the man four
times, including once in the back, something else that makes the
family believe that authorities used excessive force.

In April, State Attorney Harry Shorstein cleared police of any
criminal wrongdoing in the case, although he found some aspects of it
troubling. After one police official changed stories about whether he
believed Singletary or a detective fired first, Shorstein said police
actions were justified anyway since the 80-year-old man was an armed
civilian who refused orders to drop his gun.

Shorstein discounted the testimony of a convicted drug dealer who said
police fired first because they said he couldn't be considered
"particularly credible." But Crump said Friday he has sworn statements
from four others who backed up that witness' testimony.

The Sheriff's Office police shooting review board will consider the
incident Wednesday in an open public meeting.

The five-member board will make a recommendation to the sheriff about
whether the officers involved in the shooting should receive more
training or discipline. Both lawmen that opened fire, detective James
Narcisse and detective Donald Maynard, are expected to testify.

Hill joined Singletary's family and the NAACP on Friday in asking that
the Sheriff's Office take Narcisse and Maynard off the street until
the matter is resolved.

"I think we should now move to suspend them, put them on
administrative leave, until we can get a more in-depth review from the
state attorney," Hill said.