Police kill 18-year-old carrying broken BB gun
Kionte Desean Spencer
The Roanoke Times | Feb. 29, 2016
By Amy Friedenberger and Sara Gregory
On the floor of Brandon Milliner’s bedroom, Kionte Desean Spencer saw something that caught his eye: a black BB gun.
“He saw it and was like, ‘Yo, can I have it?’” Milliner, 17, recalled Monday. “I was like, ‘It’s broken. Have it if you want it.’ ”
A few minutes later on Friday afternoon, Spencer said he was headed home. He said goodbye to Milliner and thanked his mom for letting him come over. He seemed calm and happy, Milliner said.
“He put his headphones in and went out the door,” Milliner said.
That was the last time Milliner saw his friend of several years. Two hours later, with the gun in his hand, the 18-year-old black teen was shot by two Roanoke County police officers about a mile from Milliner’s apartment at the Villages of Garst Creek.
He died later Friday night at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
Roanoke County Police Chief Howard Hall said a preliminary investigation indicates his officers repeatedly commanded Spencer to drop the pistol when they encountered him near the Walgreens pharmacy in southwest Roanoke County. When he turned around, still holding the BB gun, two officers opened fire, striking Spencer twice — in the hip and near the collarbone, Hall said. Police did not say how many total shots police fired.
Hall said police recovered a 4.5 mm Crosman CO2-powered BB pistol from Spencer. At a news conference Monday, Hall showed an image of a 9 mm handgun alongside the BB pistol to convey how challenging it can be to tell the difference between the two.
On Monday morning, police said they did not know how Spencer came into possession of the pistol. Asked later Monday if police were aware that the BB gun did not work, police spokesman Amy Whittaker said in an email, “Whether the BB gun was functioning or not is irrelevant.”
Milliner said he was devastated when he heard about Spencer’s death from a mutual friend on Monday. He threw his phone across his room and cried, he said.
“In a way I feel like it’s somewhat my fault that it happened,” Milliner said. “I’m the one that gave it to him.”
Police said multiple officers have been placed on administrative leave, which is departmental policy after officer-involved shootings. Hall said he would not disclose how many officers were placed on leave or the names of the officers who fired weapons. He would not explain why he was withholding that information beyond saying it would not be released at this time. Under Virginia public records law, police departments have discretion over the release of this information.
The incident began about 7:15 p.m. Friday, when at least one person called 911 and said an armed man with a bandanna over his face was walking in the parking lot of the Walgreens at the intersection of Electric Road and Brambleton Avenue.
Several witnesses have told The Roanoke Times they saw a man waving a gun around.
Thomas Gill said he was pulling out of the Kroger parking lot at the busy Cave Spring Corners shopping center when he spotted a person walking in the street holding what appeared to be a handgun in his right hand.
“He was waving it at cars, and he turned around and waved it at me,” Gill said Friday night.
Hall said the first officers arrived within two minutes and saw a black handgun in Spencer’s hand. When he didn’t put the gun down following police commands, and instead continued to walk onto Electric Road, police followed him. An officer got close enough to deploy a Taser two times, but it was not effective; Hall said that is part of the investigation.
At the news conference, Hall showed stills from dash-cam video from the police cars. Two images showed a man walking along the road, a bandanna around his neck, headphones over his ears, and what appeared to be a gun in his right hand. Hall said he has no plans to release the video. Under Virginia public records law, police departments have discretion over the release of such video.
Police again told Spencer to put down the gun. But he turned around, and police shot him, Hall said. Officers provided medical aid to Spencer until an ambulance arrived.
It’s unclear why Spencer didn’t comply with officers’ commands. Monday, some of his friends and family speculated that he couldn’t hear the order because of the loud music he often listened to. Spencer’s Facebook page shows a young man who took a lot of selfies while wearing a bandanna over his face and headphones.
“Just imagine the possibility that you don’t even know you’re about to get killed,” said Carl Spencer, Kionte’s older brother.
Hall called the situation “tragic” but said preliminary investigations showed officers responded as they were trained to do when faced with a possible deadly encounter.
The Roanoke County Police Department is conducting a criminal and administrative investigation, and Hall said the department will submit a report to the commonwealth’s attorney. Police are still looking for witnesses, so anyone with information can call the department’s criminal investigations division at 777-8641.
Friends said Spencer bounced from school to school and sometimes struggled to fit in.
He moved to the Roanoke Valley from Martinsville a few years ago. According to Martinsville City Schools spokeswoman Sarah Byrd, Spencer attended public school there from 2004 until 2012.
During the 2012-13 year, his first in Roanoke, Spencer attended Patrick Henry High School, according to school officials.
It’s unclear where he was enrolled between that school year and the current one. Last fall, he enrolled at Northside High School before transferring to Hidden Valley High School in November, officials said. He was classified as a junior.
Roanoke County Schools spokesman Chuck Lionberger said Spencer didn’t attend classes in the week before the shooting, although he would not say why, citing federal education privacy laws. The privacy law does not apply after the death of a student 18 or older, however. Pressed on that point, school officials said they had no more information to share.
Recently, Spencer had lived in a group home in the 4700 block of Garst Mill Road, between Milliner’s apartment and the site of the shooting, police said. The home is run by Intercept Youth Services, whose facilities are designed provide a structured, therapeutic environment to teens with behavioral, emotional or developmental needs, according to the agency’s website. It’s unknown why Spencer was in a group home. A call to an Intercept official was not returned Monday afternoon.
Diamond Hoston, who met Spencer when they were living in a group home in Roanoke, said he was her “right hand” and she relied on his advice when she ended up in the foster care system for the first time. She would ask him questions about how things worked and he would comfort her, Hoston said.
“It was my first rodeo in foster care and I was telling him like, when it going to end? Why did this happen?” Hoston recalled. “He would understand where I was coming from.”
The two stayed in touch, Hoston said, and they grew closer after they both ended up living in Intercept’s independent living facility in Roanoke County. Hoston’s apartment was a few doors down from Spencer’s, and sometimes they would hang out and have dance parties in her living room, she said.
Hidden Valley student Yosuf Hameed said he was close with Spencer, and they talked of making a rap mix tape together.
“We will one day,” Hameed said.
By Amy Friedenberger and Sara Gregory
On the floor of Brandon Milliner’s bedroom, Kionte Desean Spencer saw something that caught his eye: a black BB gun.
“He saw it and was like, ‘Yo, can I have it?’” Milliner, 17, recalled Monday. “I was like, ‘It’s broken. Have it if you want it.’ ”
A few minutes later on Friday afternoon, Spencer said he was headed home. He said goodbye to Milliner and thanked his mom for letting him come over. He seemed calm and happy, Milliner said.
“He put his headphones in and went out the door,” Milliner said.
That was the last time Milliner saw his friend of several years. Two hours later, with the gun in his hand, the 18-year-old black teen was shot by two Roanoke County police officers about a mile from Milliner’s apartment at the Villages of Garst Creek.
He died later Friday night at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
Roanoke County Police Chief Howard Hall said a preliminary investigation indicates his officers repeatedly commanded Spencer to drop the pistol when they encountered him near the Walgreens pharmacy in southwest Roanoke County. When he turned around, still holding the BB gun, two officers opened fire, striking Spencer twice — in the hip and near the collarbone, Hall said. Police did not say how many total shots police fired.
Hall said police recovered a 4.5 mm Crosman CO2-powered BB pistol from Spencer. At a news conference Monday, Hall showed an image of a 9 mm handgun alongside the BB pistol to convey how challenging it can be to tell the difference between the two.
On Monday morning, police said they did not know how Spencer came into possession of the pistol. Asked later Monday if police were aware that the BB gun did not work, police spokesman Amy Whittaker said in an email, “Whether the BB gun was functioning or not is irrelevant.”
Milliner said he was devastated when he heard about Spencer’s death from a mutual friend on Monday. He threw his phone across his room and cried, he said.
“In a way I feel like it’s somewhat my fault that it happened,” Milliner said. “I’m the one that gave it to him.”
Police said multiple officers have been placed on administrative leave, which is departmental policy after officer-involved shootings. Hall said he would not disclose how many officers were placed on leave or the names of the officers who fired weapons. He would not explain why he was withholding that information beyond saying it would not be released at this time. Under Virginia public records law, police departments have discretion over the release of this information.
The incident began about 7:15 p.m. Friday, when at least one person called 911 and said an armed man with a bandanna over his face was walking in the parking lot of the Walgreens at the intersection of Electric Road and Brambleton Avenue.
Several witnesses have told The Roanoke Times they saw a man waving a gun around.
Thomas Gill said he was pulling out of the Kroger parking lot at the busy Cave Spring Corners shopping center when he spotted a person walking in the street holding what appeared to be a handgun in his right hand.
“He was waving it at cars, and he turned around and waved it at me,” Gill said Friday night.
Hall said the first officers arrived within two minutes and saw a black handgun in Spencer’s hand. When he didn’t put the gun down following police commands, and instead continued to walk onto Electric Road, police followed him. An officer got close enough to deploy a Taser two times, but it was not effective; Hall said that is part of the investigation.
At the news conference, Hall showed stills from dash-cam video from the police cars. Two images showed a man walking along the road, a bandanna around his neck, headphones over his ears, and what appeared to be a gun in his right hand. Hall said he has no plans to release the video. Under Virginia public records law, police departments have discretion over the release of such video.
Police again told Spencer to put down the gun. But he turned around, and police shot him, Hall said. Officers provided medical aid to Spencer until an ambulance arrived.
It’s unclear why Spencer didn’t comply with officers’ commands. Monday, some of his friends and family speculated that he couldn’t hear the order because of the loud music he often listened to. Spencer’s Facebook page shows a young man who took a lot of selfies while wearing a bandanna over his face and headphones.
“Just imagine the possibility that you don’t even know you’re about to get killed,” said Carl Spencer, Kionte’s older brother.
Hall called the situation “tragic” but said preliminary investigations showed officers responded as they were trained to do when faced with a possible deadly encounter.
The Roanoke County Police Department is conducting a criminal and administrative investigation, and Hall said the department will submit a report to the commonwealth’s attorney. Police are still looking for witnesses, so anyone with information can call the department’s criminal investigations division at 777-8641.
Friends said Spencer bounced from school to school and sometimes struggled to fit in.
He moved to the Roanoke Valley from Martinsville a few years ago. According to Martinsville City Schools spokeswoman Sarah Byrd, Spencer attended public school there from 2004 until 2012.
During the 2012-13 year, his first in Roanoke, Spencer attended Patrick Henry High School, according to school officials.
It’s unclear where he was enrolled between that school year and the current one. Last fall, he enrolled at Northside High School before transferring to Hidden Valley High School in November, officials said. He was classified as a junior.
Roanoke County Schools spokesman Chuck Lionberger said Spencer didn’t attend classes in the week before the shooting, although he would not say why, citing federal education privacy laws. The privacy law does not apply after the death of a student 18 or older, however. Pressed on that point, school officials said they had no more information to share.
Recently, Spencer had lived in a group home in the 4700 block of Garst Mill Road, between Milliner’s apartment and the site of the shooting, police said. The home is run by Intercept Youth Services, whose facilities are designed provide a structured, therapeutic environment to teens with behavioral, emotional or developmental needs, according to the agency’s website. It’s unknown why Spencer was in a group home. A call to an Intercept official was not returned Monday afternoon.
Diamond Hoston, who met Spencer when they were living in a group home in Roanoke, said he was her “right hand” and she relied on his advice when she ended up in the foster care system for the first time. She would ask him questions about how things worked and he would comfort her, Hoston said.
“It was my first rodeo in foster care and I was telling him like, when it going to end? Why did this happen?” Hoston recalled. “He would understand where I was coming from.”
The two stayed in touch, Hoston said, and they grew closer after they both ended up living in Intercept’s independent living facility in Roanoke County. Hoston’s apartment was a few doors down from Spencer’s, and sometimes they would hang out and have dance parties in her living room, she said.
Hidden Valley student Yosuf Hameed said he was close with Spencer, and they talked of making a rap mix tape together.
“We will one day,” Hameed said.
