Raid, Shooting Near Vander Criticized

A Fayetteville woman says law officers had no reason to shoot when
they raided a house near Vander on Thursday. She said no one inside
was armed.

The woman, Andrea Whitted, said her niece and nephew were in the house
when lawmen burst in.

A resident of the house, Charles Alford, who is 45, was critically
wounded by a gunshot. He was listed in stable condition Friday at Cape
Fear Valley Medical Center.

The Sheriff's Office and the State Bureau of Investigation would not
give details Friday about the raid.

Sheriff Moose Butler identified the deputy involved in the shooting as
Lt. LaRue Windham. He is the son of Chief Deputy Cuyler Windham.

LaRue Windham, who has been with the Sheriff's Office for about 10
years, heads a special response team that serves high-risk search
warrants. He is on paid administrative leave, which is routine in such
cases.

The shooting happened at 312 Ministry Lane, which is on a dirt road
off Lock's Creek Church Road and Old Vander Road east of Fayetteville.
The lawmen entered the house about 8 p.m. Thursday to search for drugs
and serve arrest warrants.

"When they came in, they came shooting," said Andrea Whitted. "That
explains all the bullet holes in the house."

She said her nephew, 13-year old Xavier Whitted, and his sister,
Makayla, who is 8, told her they were watching television when they
heard people outside trying to break down the door. They heard two
loud bangs and jumped to the floor, Andrea Whitted said.

"They could hear the whistling of the bullets flying," she
said.

"If they would have knocked on the door, someone would have opened
it," Whitted said.

She said Xavier and Makayla are the children of her sister, Tanisha
Whitted, who is the girlfriend of Garry Jermaine Alford,.

Alford, who is 31, and his sister, Lakina Paulette Alford, who is 28,
were arrested at the home on federal drug charges Thursday.

The State Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the
shooting, said about 15 lawmen from the Sheriff's Office, Drug
Enforcement Administration and SBI assisted in the search.

No Details

The Sheriff's Office and SBI would neither describe how lawmen
executed the search warrant nor say how many shots were fired. The
Sheriff's Office would not say what was seized in the search and
referred questions to the DEA. The DEA did not return a telephone call.

"We won't be able to answer any of those questions until the
investigation is complete," said Jerry Weaver of the SBI.

Garry Alford had served five years in Central Prison for drug
trafficking, the state Department of Correction said.

On Friday, Alford's mother, Janet Rose Alford, was arrested on drug
charges. She lived at the home. In 1999, she was placed on probation
for selling drugs.

The three were taken into federal custody to face charges of
manufacturing, distributing, selling and delivering cocaine. Bond
information was unavailable Friday.

Whitted said her niece and nephew have not been able to sleep since
the shooting.

"If they say they've been investigated for months, common sense would
say there's kids in the house," Whitted said. "Why start shooting?
They don't even check and see if there were kids in the house. That's
really not the way to conduct business."

The children stayed home from school Friday, she said.

"They are not doing good at all," she said. "They are constantly
worried. They want to know what's going on. The (Sheriff's Office)
wouldn't tell us nothing."