[N8 v2.0]

Police: Witness shot man five times
By KIMBERLY VETTER
Advocate staff writer
Published: Feb 21, 2006

No arrests will be made in the death of 24-year-old George Temple II, a local businessman shot and killed by a witness during a scuffle with a Baton Rouge police officer on Friday.

“We are not arresting anyone,” Greg Phares, chief criminal deputy with the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, said Monday. “However, this is not the end of the process. Our investigation will be taken to the district attorney.”

Phares said Perry Stephens fired a shot to Temple’s head after witnessing a fight between Temple and Officer Brian Harrison.

Phares declined to release Stephens’ age and address.

He said Stephens shot Temple with a .45-caliber handgun five times, four times in the chest and once in the head. The incident occurred about 2:15 p.m. Friday in the parking lot of the AutoZone at 9007 Greenwell Springs Road at Joor Road.

Phares would not talk about bullet entry points, but said, “It is my understanding that Mr. Stephens attempted to place his shots in a way to minimize harm to the police officer since the two were so close.”

Stephens had a concealed handgun license, Phares said.

Phares said that investigators found a handgun in Temple’s car, but that it did not play a part in the altercation. Temple was the owner of Expert Sound, 7221 Airline Highway.

Harrison, 32, shot Temple once in the stomach during the struggle, Phares said

Attempts to reach Harrison Monday were unsuccessful. The Advocate left one message at his home.

While working for the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, Harrison accidentally shot a customer in 1995 when two men robbed a convenience store in Baker, The Advocate has reported.

In that robbery, the customer was armed with a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol. After the bandits left the store, the customer followed and fired at least one shot.

Harrison, who was in uniform but unarmed, obtained a .357-caliber pistol from the store owner and fired a single shot at a figure running west in the direction that the robbers also ran, accidentally shooting the customer in the lower back.

No charges were filed against Harrison, East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court records show.

Stephens also could not be reached for comment. The Advocate left two messages at his home and made a visit to his house on Monday but did not reach him.

At a news conference Monday, Phares said Stephens walked out of the AutoZone and got his weapon after hearing Harrison, who was fighting with Temple on the ground, yell for help.

As Stephens, who was wearing a neck brace and using a cane, walked toward the men, he heard shots and Harrison again call for help.

At that point, Stephens asked Temple to get off Harrison, Phares said. When Temple did not comply, he shot Temple four times in the chest.

Stephens ordered Temple again to get off Harrison. When he did not comply, he shot Temple in the head, killing him, Phares said.

How the fight between Harrison and Temple began is still unclear to investigators. What they do know is that Harrison was off-duty and working as a motorcycle escort for a funeral procession going west on Greenwell Springs Road when a black S550 Mercedes driven by Temple cut into the procession, Phares said.

Harrison pulled Temple into the AutoZone parking lot and wrote him a ticket for a traffic violation. That’s when an argument began. What the two argued about is still unknown because Harrison has yet to be interviewed, Phares said.

Phares said investigators have talked with Harrison’s attorney and feel confident an interview with the officer will happen soon.
Words turned into a fight after Harrison attempted to remove Temple from his car, Phares said.

The fight left Harrison with face contusions. He is on administrative leave during the investigation, Police Chief Jeff LeDuff said at the news conference.

“This is a tragic scene all the way around,” said LeDuff, who added it is a police officer’s duty to keep unwanted cars out of a funeral procession. “I’ve written that ticket a hundred times.”

Wayne Laird, manager of Rabenhorst Funeral Home East, said his funeral home was involved in the procession that day.

“People are bad about cutting in a funeral procession and cutting on their lights and following the process and then dropping off wherever they want,” he said. “We don’t know if that actually happened, but that sort of thing is typical. It is very dangerous.”

According to court records, Temple was on probation for simple battery and simple damage to property at the time of his death.

A case against him also was pending involving counts of simple battery, simple trespassing and simple criminal damage to property, according to records at the Clerk of Court’s Office.

 

[manimal]

hmmm...wow....i have mixed feelings on this one.

the shooter obviously has some issues from the past, "shooting in the direction that the robbers ran and hit a bystander in the back..."

not exactly the kind of guy you want to have a concealed carry permit

was the officer in a compromised position where he could not win the fight and was in danger of serious injury or death? was temple going for the officer's gun? i'm pretty sure that there are plenty of people out there who would have just helped the officer win the fight. i'd probably be pretty pissed if some hack just started popping off rounds in my general direction unless i was in IMMINENT theat of death.

i'm all for the right to bear arms but this dude kinda scares me.

 

[ohio]

hmmm...wow....i have mixed feelings on this one.

the shooter obviously has some issues from the past, "shooting in the direction that the robbers ran and hit a bystander in the back..."

That was actually the COP (Harrison) that had previously shot a bystander, not the shooter in this situation (Stephens). Not sure why it's relevant, but that's what the article says.

Without any info about the fight itself, pretty hard to pass judgement. It says the cop also shot the guy (Temple) once... I'm assuming before Stephens did. So there was probably a good reason to shoot him.

Stephens asked Temple to get off Harrison, Phares said. When Temple did not comply, he shot Temple four times in the chest.

Stephens ordered Temple again to get off Harrison. When he did not comply, he shot Temple in the head, killing him, Phares said.

Either Temple was one tough mother****er (one shot from the cop and four to the chest from Stephens and he still "did not comply") or Stephens was ordering around a mostly dead man, and then shot him in the head for being incapacitated. Wierd.

 

[binary visions]

the shooter obviously has some issues from the past, "shooting in the direction that the robbers ran and hit a bystander in the back..."

The article is written in a confusing way, IMO, but I think it was the cop that shot at the robbers and ended up hitting the customer.

edit: ohio beat me to it.

Either Temple was one tough mother****er (one shot from the cop and four to the chest from Stephens and he still "did not comply") or Stephens was ordering around a mostly dead man, and then shot him in the head for being incapacitated. Wierd.

That is rather bizarre - I wonder if the article is just worded poorly. It could very well have been a situation of, "GET OFF!" <bang, bang, bang, bang> "GET OFF HIM NOW!" <bang>

 

[manimal]

hmmm...ok, i guess i misread it. if the dude had already been shot by the cop then it was an obvious lethal force situation and the shooter did ok by me.

now...the COP shooting in the direction of a robber should have been fired. perhaps it's WAY different in baton rouge but around here you'd be fired faster than you could pull the trigger if you ever took a crap shoot like that. that's just rediculous! i think this might be a case of an overly aggressive cop.