Jan. 19, 2014
Man Ordered to Stand Trial in Killing of Black Motorist Seeking Help
By Frederick H. Lowe
Renisha McBride and Jonathan Ferrell. They were both shot to death while
seeking help following separate traffic accidents.
Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from TheNorthStarNews.com
(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Theodore Wafer, a Dearborn Heights, Mich., man on Wednesday was ordered held over for trial on second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the deadly shooting of an African-American motorist who knocked on his door seeking help, following an automobile accident.
Wafer, who has admitted to killing Renisha McBride, a 19-year-old Detroit woman, was arraigned before Wayne County, Mich., Court Judge Qiana Lillard. His jury trial is scheduled to begin June 2, 2014.
The 54-year-old Wafer shot his gun through a locked screen door, wounding Hunt in the head after she pounded on his door seeking help on November 2. Police responding to a 911 call found her body on Wafer's front porch.
Wafer said through his attorney he believed Hunt was attempting to break into the home, where he lived with his elderly mother, but Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said there were no signs of attempted forced entry. Wafer has pled not guilty to the charges.
He remains free on bond.
McBride was the second Black motorist shot to death iin 2013 while seeking help following an automobile accident.
In September, Randall Kerrick, a cop with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC) Police Department, shot to death Jonathan Ferrell, who was seeking help after he had been in a traffic accident.
Ferrell, 24, knocked on the door of a woman homeowner. She panicked, fearing he was a burglar. She called the police. When Kerrick and two other police officers arrived, Ferrell ran toward them his arms outstretched, apparently thinking they were there to help him.
They weren’t.
Kerrick fired his pistol 12 times, wounding Ferrell 10 times, killing him instantly.
On Monday, Christopher Chestnutt, the attorney for Ferrell's family, sued Kerrick, Police Chief Rodney Monroe, the county and city of Charlotte over Ferrell's death. Police charged Kerrick with voluntary manslaughter.
Roy Cooper, North Carolina's Attorney General, issued a statement on Monday in which he said he would seek an indictment of voluntary manslaughter against Kerrick before the Mecklenburg Grand Jury.