New thread is here
Some excerpts from the new story:
FBI fired as victim unbuckled, lawyer says Agents ordered man from car at gunpoint
By Gail Gibson and Laura Barnhardt
Sun Staff
Originally published March 5, 2002
Joseph Charles Schultz, the Anne Arundel County man shot Friday after being mistaken for a bank robbery suspect, was reaching to unfasten his seat belt to comply with an FBI agent's order when the agent opened fire, an attorney for Schultz's family said yesterday.
"They told him to get out of the car, and he was trying to comply with that," attorney Joseph C. Asensio said.
A single bullet from an M-14 assault rifle struck Schultz, 20, in the face, shattering his right cheek and jaw.
He remained in serious but stable condition yesterday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where relatives and his girlfriend, Krissy Harkum, 16, were at his bedside.
Schultz and Harkum, both of Pasadena, were returning home in her red Pontiac Grand Am after a shopping trip about 6 p.m. Friday when FBI agents in plain clothes and an unmarked car pulled the couple over on Fort Smallwood Road in Pasadena.
The agents were looking for (a suspect named) Blottenberger, who was wanted in connection with the Feb. 20 robbery of an Allfirst Bank branch and who was believed to be driving in a red sedan Friday.
Asensio, a Glen Burnie attorney, said yesterday that two agents carrying assault-style rifles approached the car that Harkum was driving and ordered her and Schultz to put their hands in the air.
After the couple complied, Asensio said, the agents ordered them to get out of the car.
Schultz was shot when he reached over to unbuckle his seat belt, said Asensio, who met with Schultz, Harkum and their families at the shock trauma center Sunday.
FBI officials have acknowledged that Schultz had no connection to the crime or to the suspect.
Special Agent Barry A. Maddox, a spokesman for the FBI's Baltimore field office, said yesterday that he could not comment on Asensio's version of events. Citing bureau policy, Maddox said he could not provide any details of the shooting investigation or names of the agents involved in the incident.
"It's an ongoing investigation, so we're very limited about what we can say about it," he said.
For the first time, however, the FBI indicated that the agent who fired the weapon Friday has been temporarily reassigned. "The agent involved in the shooting has been assigned to duties that will likely not involve armed confrontation," Maddox said.
A team of FBI investigators was dispatched from bureau headquarters in Washington over the weekend to investigate the shooting. The FBI's findings will be reviewed by the Justice Department's civil rights division, which could bring charges in the case.
Schultz, who is expected to recover, remained at the shock trauma center yesterday. He was attached to a ventilator, making it impossible for him to speak, and his face was covered by bandages. Asensio said that Schultz is conscious and able to communicate.
"He can nod his head. I spoke to him a little bit, and he can understand," Asensio said.
Schultz, an Eagle Scout, graduated from Northeast High School in Pasadena in 2000. Asensio said that Schultz was laid off in December from his most recent job, working with fiber optics at a local medical company.
As a result of Friday's shooting, Schultz had a shattered right cheekbone and jaw, as well as damage to his nasal passages, the attorney said. The bullet had lodged in his left cheek, and it was unclear whether or when doctors would try to remove it.
"There's certainly going to be some extensive reconstructive surgery that's needed," Asensio said.
Agents pulled Harkum from the car and threw her to the ground after the shooting, but she was not injured in the incident, Asensio said.
At the hospital, Harkum and Schultz's relatives declined to comment yesterday.
Asensio said: "Right now with regard to the family, they're just interested in finding the best medical treatment at the time and will go from there."
Sun staff writer Jackie Powder contributed to this article.