White homeowner who complained of 'hoodlums' found guilty of murdering unarmed black man
By Derek Hawkins February 23 at 6:07 AM
Chad Copley is led out of a courtroom at the Wake County Justice Center in Raleigh, N.C., in August 2016. (Chuck Liddy/News & Observer via AP)
In a case that drew comparisons to the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch volunteer, a white North Carolina man was found guilty of murder Thursday for gunning down an unarmed 20-year-old black man after complaining about “hoodlums” outside his house.
A jury in Wake County, N.C., deliberated for less than two hours before finding Chad Copley, 40, guilty of premeditated first-degree murder in the shooting death of Kouren Thomas in August 2016, the Associated Press reported.
Thomas was leaving a late-night party two doors down from Copley’s home in Raleigh when Copley called 911 and told a dispatcher there were “hoodlums” causing a ruckus and flashing guns at him. He said he was with a neighborhood watch group and that he was “locked and loaded.” Moments later, from inside his darkened garage, he fired on Thomas with a 12-gauge shotgun, killing him. Police found no other weapons at the scene.
Copley, dressed in a beige suit with his hair slicked against his head, stood silently with his two attorneys as the judge read the jury’s verdict, which said the defendant had been “lying in wait” for Thomas when he killed him, according to courtroom video.
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