By Javier Erik Olvera And Kim Nguyen, Rocky Mountain News
July 12, 2003

Victoria Marcel gets a knot in her stomach each time she reads news stories about police shooting victim Paul Childs.

She can't help but wonder: "What's next?"

"As an African-American and as a mother, this set off all my concerns, all my fears, all my worries," said the stay-at-home mother of three boys, ages 8, 12 and 14.

"This shooting sent shivers down my back."

Fifteen-year-old Childs was shot at his home July 5 after his sister called police because he threatened their mother with a knife.

His death has rattled the city and put clergy leaders on guard, with leaders of an influential church organization calling for a federal probe.

Most people are quick to cut the conversation short when the word "riot" pops up, saying it is unlikely in Denver.

'Something big' near

But Marcel and others believe "something big" is near - maybe demonstrations or protests.

They want answers.

Kyle Jones struggles to make sense of the death, and questions whether it would have happened if it weren't for the color of Childs' skin.

"You wonder if it was a different neighborhood, a different-looking person and a different city, would that hesitation or moment be taken?" asked Jones, 34. Jones' mother is white and his father is black.

The musician's skin is dark, and he has noticed that strangers often have an unwarranted fear of him.

"People of ethnicity are more cautious than others," he said. "As a young black male, you have to be smart and you have to know what you're viewed as."

Behind Hispanics, blacks are the city's second-largest minority group, making up 11 percent - or 61,649 - of the total 554,636 residents, according to 2000 Census.

In Colorado, the black population has also steadily increased, and now makes up about 4 percent - or 165,063 - of the state's 4.3 million residents.

Race relations with law enforcement were shaky until the 1990s, when several city advisory committees were created.

Whether race played a role in Childs' death now haunts residents - with many, depending on their own backgrounds, arguing it did.

At a news conference this week, the Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance likened the police officer's actions to that of the Ku Klux Klan.

"We definitely don't want his kind on our police force," said the Rev. James D. Peters Jr., pastor of New Hope Baptist Church and an alliance vice president.

Patricia Lomeli is a recent Manual High School graduate who says race was a factor in the officer's decision to pull the trigger.

"The excuse is always that their lives are in danger," said the 19-year-old Hispanic.

Residents of all ethnic backgrounds voice a variety of opinions.

Lack of training

Gabriel Barrera, 44, doesn't believe race played a role in the shooting, but that lack of police training did.

"He could have been (electrically stunned). That could have stopped him from being shot," the landscaper said. "They could have used a little more patience."

Joe Douglas, 41, agrees. "It's ridiculous, what happened. Why couldn't they use a baton or shoot him in the leg?"

Douglas, who is black and who owns a painting business, said these types of problems have gone on far too long.

"The community should be upset," he said, adding that it took only one officer to make the entire police force look bad. "It's messed up. Are they peacemakers or undercover killers?"

Since the shooting, 911 tapes reveal that Childs' sister calmly told a dispatcher that her brother had a knife, but that she was cut off before she could say he was developmentally disabled.

Moments later, officer James Turney shot the boy in the hallway of his family's northeast Denver home when he didn't drop the knife.

The clergy alliance - which includes more than 65 churches - is demanding a list of changes at the police department, including extensive sensitivity training of officers.

Alliance President Reginald Holmes has said the group is trying to be the calming voice in the community: "There's so much that's going on that could inflame the situation."

Easing tensions

Denver Police spokesman Sonny Jackson said the department is working with black leaders to ease tensions in the community.

Joanne Belknap, professor of sociology at the University of Colorado, said maintaining an open dialogue is crucial.

"Communication is important; the public must have faith in the police," she said. "If they (the community) believe African-Americans will be targeted, then you will have a breakdown, and then there will be an increased crime rate."

Belknap, an expert witness in the investigation of the Rodney King beating incident in Los Angeles in 1992, said starting a community review board would be a big step in addressing community concerns.

"When there's something questionable, the board could review some of the reports," Belknap said. "This way it gives community back that faith - it is not secretive and not unfair."

"My experience is that people may be hurt, some may be angry," she said. "If the problem is not addressed and not heard, then that hurt will be compounded with rage. That's when you get riots - when people get fed up that something is not happening."

Inquiries under way

Internal police investigations are under way.

Jackson said internal investigations can take up to three weeks, but assures the department is "doing a thorough and just investigation."

For Jimmy Squires, Paul Child's face will always be burned into his memory.

"How could it not?" asks Squires, a 67-year-old retired mechanic who is black. "He looks like such an innocent boy, the kind who didn't know what he was doin'."

He never met Childs, but has been deeply moved by the boy's picture splashed across TV screens.

"Everyone should look at his face, and never forget. Nothing bad has to happen - his face is the only way anyone will learn."

olveraj@RockyMountain News.com or (303)892-5113

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