2,000 Attend Services for Man Killed by Deputy

About 2,000 Christians and Muslims gathered at a Los Angeles church Saturday to mourn a Nation of Islam member who was shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies in a confrontation that sparked tensions in some segments of the black community.

The service at First African Methodist Episcopal Church was marked by an impassioned eulogy given by Nation of Islam national leader Louis Farrakhan, who called the shooting of 27-year-old Oliver Rodell Beasley “murder” and labeled him a “martyr.”

Farrakhan, who flew from Chicago to attend the service, also chastised law enforcement officers who he said resent a Nation of Islam campaign to improve conditions in crime-ridden neighborhoods.

“Police are nowhere to be found when drug dealers are dealing on the corner,” Farrakhan said from a pulpit overlooking the gray casket, which was flanked by floral displays in the shape of a Christian cross and a Muslim star with crescent moon. Muslims saluted the casket as they passed by.

“The moment someone puts on a suit and a bow tie to clean up the problem, here come the police to shoot them dead,” Farrakhan continued.

Beasley was one of two men shot early Tuesday morning in an unincorporated area south of downtown Los Angeles after a deputy and a trainee stopped a car for a minor traffic violation.

Sheriff’s officials maintain the shooting started after several men from a nearby apartment building attacked them and took a handgun away from the trainee. The trainee drew a backup weapon and fired five shots, hitting Beasley once in the head and the driver of the car, David Hartley, 18, in the shoulder.

Hartley has been charged with removing a firearm from an officer, battery on an officer and resisting arrest with threats of violence.

Prosecutors, citing insufficient evidence, declined to file charges against five other males who were arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder.

Nation of Islam leaders have insisted that the deputies used excessive force and provoked the deadly confrontation. The Sheriff’s Department said deputies acted in self defense.

An autopsy conducted Friday confirmed that Beasley died of a gunshot wound to the head, and also sustained a graze wound to the right hip.

“The sheriffs say they are sorry for what happened, but sorry with a cover-up is not good enough,” said Farrakhan, whose statement drew a standing ovation. “We, in fact, know it was murder. . . . It will continue until we say, ‘Never again!’ ”

Beasley was eulogized as a veteran who had served his country for years in the U.S. Air Force. Only a month ago, family members said, he became committed to the Nation of Islam and its life style of proper diet, exercise and emphasis on morality.

Danny Bakewell, leader of the Los Angeles-based Brotherhood Crusade, told the mourners he came to “let you know that we will not turn our heads and let this brother’s death go unaccounted for.”

Beasley, who graduated from Gardena High School in 1979, was remembered by his immediate family and friends in interviews Friday as a “halo kid” and a “respectable young man” with a passion for helping others with their problems.

“I was on the verge of doing a lot of wrong things,” recalled Shuntain Thomas, 23, “and he would always tell me, ‘You don’t have to listen to people on the streets. You have your own way. Follow it.’ ”

Amid the attention surrounding the controversial incident, relatives said they do not know which of nearly a dozen accounts of the shooting to believe.

“I’ve counted 11 different stories of what happened,” said Beasley’s older sister, Patricia. “I believe that if we wait, listen and watch, the truth will come out.”