NAACP Forum Will Discuss Slaying by Police

Concern over the Jan. 19 police shooting of an African American woman carrying a knife will be the focus of an NAACP public forum Sunday in Long Beach.

Long Beach Police Chief Jerome E. Lance will attend the 3:30 p.m. meeting at the California Recreation Park community center, 1550 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.

Concern about the shooting has mounted among civil rights organizations, community groups ranging from environmentalists to peace and park activists, and even self-described anarchists. There have also been newspaper letters to the editor supporting the police and questioning why the family did not ensure that Marcella Byrd received treatment for her mental illness. The case is under investigation by the department and the district attorney’s office--routine procedure after officer-involved deaths.

Officials have said the three officers who fired their guns felt endangered when Byrd raised the knife as if to throw it.

Byrd, 57, was fatally shot after as many as seven officers repeatedly ordered her to stop and drop the knife and she refused, police say. She had been shot moments before with two pellet-filled miniature bean bags that did not deter her.

Police were called because she left a market without paying for groceries and, when confronted by store workers, reportedly brandished a knife. She left the market premises without groceries.

After the shooting, police found out that Byrd had schizophrenia, for which her family says she refused to take medication and which she denied having. Police say it was not her failure to follow orders, however, but her raising of the knife that made officers feel they had to shoot.

Byrd’s death has prompted what the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People described as an unprecedented number of calls to the Long Beach chapter, and a protest by what police estimated were 100 to 125 people who marched peacefully through the city’s downtown on Saturday.

The family has filed a $25-million wrongful death claim against the city.

Another civil rights group, the Compton-based National Assn. for Equal Justice in America, also is examining the case and said it has met with police and Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach).

The NAACP Long Beach chapter president said Thursday that she hopes for a good turnout by the public and that those attending “hopefully recommend positive, proactive solutions.”

“What I do want persons who attend the meeting to understand,” said Naomi Rainey, “is that we realize that cases that are in litigation cannot be [fully] discussed. However, we can share our concerns, make recommendations. And also learn how we can be more vigilant, proactive and involved in the decisions regarding the policing of our community.”

The police chief has met with numerous community groups since the shooting. Department spokesman Dave Marander said Thursday that Lance will respond to what he can but that the wrongful death claim filed by Byrd’s family limits him.