16-year-old shot by security guard dies
Posted on 11/04/2002 6:13:26 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
16-year-old shot by security guard dies
Teen theft suspect dies; security guard charged
11/04/2002
A 16-year-old who witnesses said was shoplifting died Saturday night, several hours after being shot in the head by a shopping center security guard.
Leshard Wilson was shot about 2:15 p.m. in a parking lot behind a shopping center as he and two other boys ran from the security guard. Dallas police Sgt. Gary Kirkpatrick said Sunday that the two other boys fled from the shopping center in the 1500 block of South Buckner Boulevard and have not been identified. Leshard died about 8:50 p.m. at Baylor University Medical Center.
WFAA-TV Police take security guard Bernie Pointer Jr., right, into custody. |
The private guard, Bennie Franklin Pointer Jr., 50, of Dallas, was charged Saturday with aggravated assault, but the charge was changed to murder on Sunday after Leshard died. Mr. Pointer remained in custody at Lew Sterrett Justice Center on Sunday, awaiting arraignment on the murder charge.
Mr. Pointer's family declined to comment.
Family members and friends gathered Sunday at Leshard's home, less than a mile from the shopping center. They declined to comment on the incident but said that funeral plans were still pending.
A representative of Mr. Pointer's employer, North American Security Group, said Sunday that the company would make a statement Monday afternoon.
Police said that the three boys were thought to have been shoplifting at the Family Dollar store on Buckner, just north of Lake June Road. Sgt. Kirkpatrick said that there was no evidence behind the store to show that Leshard had stolen anything.
Although state law allows security guards to use deadly force to protect property, Sgt. Kirkpatrick said that Mr. Pointer appeared to have overstepped his authority as he fired the single shot that hit Leshard.
E-mail imccann@dallasnews.com
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