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No winners here..Elderly woman shot by Police

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sjwsti:
Obviously there comes a time when the elderly can no longer operate a motor vehicle safely and they should no longer be allowed to drive. Tough conversation to have with mom and dad for sure.

What about a loaded firearm for protection? When is that no longer a good idea?

http://www.wset.com/story/19608792/family-believes-towler-couldnt-see-or-hear-officers

Altavista, VA - Delma Towler's family wants an apology from Altavista police. Friday, her oldest daughter spoke with ABC 13 News for the first time since Wednesday night when an Altavista officer shot and killed Towler.

Madeline Clark says it was impossible for her mom to have seen officers or even hear them saying drop the weapon. Towler's hearing aids were not in her ears, and her glasses were not on.

Friday, the family took us inside Towler's home. They showed us first-hand why they say Towler is a victim in this case. They showed us her hearing aids still in the house and bullet holes in the ceiling. They say she was not trying to shoot at an officer, but was chasing what she believed was an intruder out of her home.

"Someone came in to this house terrorizing her. And she started shooting just to scare them. There's bullet holes up on the ceiling. There's another one right there," said Madeline Clark, Towler's daughter.

Delma Towler's daughter says the 83-year-old was protecting herself. She was a good Christian woman, who had never fired a gun in her life. She says Towler would never have fired at an officer.

"If she were shooting at somebody to kill, she wouldn't have been shooting at the ceiling. She's just trying to frighten them away," said Clark.

Family says there may have been an intruder. Their proof: Towler's pocketbook is gone.

"And she kept it sitting right here beside her recliner - and it's missing," said Clark, pointing to a table alongside the living room chair.

Events inside Towler's home are just the start; questions remain about Towler's final moments. Her family says, for safety, Towler left her own home and walked to her sister's two doors down. It was there, an officer shot and killed Towler. Her sister Margaret says she saw the whole thing.

"And Margaret said she did not have a gun pointed at anybody. She was trying to get in to the deck gate to get in to the house," said Clark.

But, the state police investigation indicates Towler refused to put down her gun. Her family says Towler couldn't have seen or heard the officer. Her glasses were in her home and her hearing aids off.

"She didn't have her hearing aids on because here they are right here," said Clark.

More than anything, family wants an apology from Altavista Police.

"How do you move forward?" we asked Clark.

"I don't know," she replied. "They took my mama."

Delma Towler's funeral is Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Altavista Church of Christ.

bkoenig:
Wow.  Lots of unanswered questions in that article.  Why were the police there in the first place?  Was a threat of some kind reported?

sjwsti:
This report has more details.

http://www2.wsls.com/news/2012/sep/20/33/altavista-woman-shot-killed-state-police-officer-ar-2220120/

ALTAVISTA, VA --
UPDATE: 12:45 p.m.

Altavista Police Chief Clay Hamilton said Friday that while his department’s initial internal investigation of Wednesday night’s fatal shooting shows that the officer involved followed department policy, he is awaiting the outcome of the Virginia State Police investigation for a final determination.

Hamilton requested that VSP investigate the shooting. That work is ongoing; there has been no new information released by state police as of noon today.

A search warrant filed Thursday in Campbell County Circuit Court at the victim’s residence showed officers recovered a bullet fragment from the rear door and an answering machine message.

UPDATE: 11 p.m.

The fatal Wednesday night shooting of an 83-year-old Altavista woman by police was justified, Altavista Police Chief Clay Hamilton said Thursday.

Now, family, neighbors and investigators are trying to determine if Delma Towler was a genuine threat, suffering from declining mental faculties or a victim of a horrible accident.

Shortly before 10 p.m. on Wednesday, authorities arrived at 813 Tenth St. where Towler lived alone.

A woman at the residence called 9-1-1 but hung up before speaking with dispatchers, Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said Thursday.

Two officers went to the home where identical statuettes of the Sacred Heart of Jesus flank the steps up to the front door.

The details leading up to the fatal shooting remain unclear.

Geller said officers made repeated attempts to determine if anyone was inside. Multiple neighbors reported seeing the police approach and hearing officers ask repeatedly for anyone inside to come out.

A handgun was fired from within the house, Geller said. She declined to elaborate on the shots fired from within the house but shattered glass from the back door littered the yard Thursday.

Towler left her house from the back door, gun in hand, Geller said. Neighbors said she walked toward her sister’s home, two houses down.

Police saw her outside and ordered her to put down her weapon, Geller said. Towler pointed the gun at officers.

One fired, killing her feet from her sister’s back porch.

No officers were injured.

The Police Shooting Investigative Team of the Virginia State Police is investigating the shooting at Hamilton’s request.

He said the Altavista Police officers, who were carrying less-lethal weapons including tasers, mace and batons, were justified in using deadly force and followed department procedures.

Shooting to kill is appropriate “whenever you feel a threat on your own life or when you’re protecting someone else’s,” Hamilton said.

Police have responded to “several” calls from the victim in the past, Hamilton said. None lead to arrests.

Neighbors said they couldn’t imagine anyone being scared of Towler.

“I never knew her to hurt anything,” Towler’s grandson Carl Barbour said.

“They’re going to have to explain it to me.”

Neighbor Shimice Jones said Towler was “like family to the entire neighborhood.”

“She was just trying to get to her sister. I guess that’s the only place she felt safe.”

Margaret Davis said her sister frequently spoke of her fear of break-ins and had owned a handgun for years.

Two houses on the street had been burglarized in the past year and a half, neighbor Tiffany Poindexter said.

Some neighbors are furious and don’t understand why police would shoot an elderly woman.

Towler wore hearing aids, neighbors noted, and may not have heard the officers identify themselves.

Her house, and the two adjacent homes, did not have apparent outdoor lights. However, there is a light on a telephone pole a few dozen feet from her home.

“Everything is lit up,” said Tina Hall, who lives down the street.

Authorities continue to investigate the case, Geller said. State police are conducting criminal investigations and the Altavista Police Department is conducting its own internal investigation.

Officers still are trying to confirm the timeline of events.

Meanwhile, the medical examiner has conducted a preliminary examination and confirmed Towler died of wounds caused by gunfire, but the specifics of her injuries have not been disclosed. Authorities also are not releasing the 9-1-1 recordings or in-car camera footage from the scene, citing the ongoing investigation.

The officer who pulled the trigger is on administrative leave. He has not been named, but Hamilton called him a veteran of the force with over a decade of experience.

The shooting has shaken the whole community and especially the sister Towler was trying to reach when she was shot.

“It just tore some of her heart out,” Jones said.

 Staff writer Barrett Mohrmann contributed to this report.

Famous556:
Wow this is a really unfortunate set of events. While the details are still not very clear. It seems as though the woman might have been confused or otherwise unable to identify the officers.  My heart goes out to the woman's family and also the officers involved in this incident. I hope that all of these parties can find peace.

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