[Posted Dec. 7, 2007]
Chesapeake Family
Displaced By
Faulty Police Raid
By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter
New Journal & Guide
A Chesapeake woman and her family have been promised by Chesapeake’s City Manager that the city will get their home restored “rapidly” after they were rendered homeless by a mistaken police raid.
William Harrell, who was sworn in as the City Manager in June, said he hopes to have the family back in their home by Christmas.
The Morris home remains inhabitable, but city officials hope to have family members back home for Christmas.
On November 28, a Chesapeake Police Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit got a secret tip that Shawn Sir Charles Ward was in the home of Marva Morris at Stalham Road in South Norfolk.
Ward was among a group of men being sought by police in the death of one-year-old Nyasia Tilmon and the wounding of three adults in a shooting incident at a Bainbridge Blvd. apartment earlier that month.
The police said they watched Morris’ home for a number of hours before they forcefully invaded the house on the night of November 28, shooting out windows, and firing tear gas into the dwelling.
Ms. Morris, who attends NSU, told the New Journal and Guide that she was at work when she got a call informing her Chesapeake Police had surrounded her house and then entered it with force, assuming that Ward was in the dwelling.
Ward was not in the house, but Ms. Morris said six children from five months to mid-teens were present when the SWAT team entered.
“I do not think anyone gave them some secret tip,” she said. “After watching my house all those hours they should know who was in there and who was not. All of my six kids were in the house when they went inside there with guns.
“They said my children were taken to the home of relatives after the police entered. But they were sitting in the back of a police car.
A SWAT team member handed my grandbaby to me wrapped in a blanket.”
Ms. Morris said she does not know who may have given the Chesapeake Police information that Ward was in her home. She said Ward had previously tried to court her daughter, but she had sought to bar him from her home because she feared he was involved in some form of criminal activities.
She said she filed warrants prohibiting him from entering her premises but her complaints and pleas for assistance from the police department “were ignored.”
“If they had paid any attention to my pleas, do you think I would be homeless at this time,” she asked. “I tried to warn the Chesapeake Police Department about my problems with this young man and they did nothing.”
At the time of the intrusion, the house was decked for the holidays and presents were under the tree. But with the mix of noxious chemicals which still inhabit the house, the family could not stay there.
Also, the lights had been shot out, windows blown out and the phone lines severed.
The city manager said that some forms of assistance would be provided to help Ms. Morris and her family, including counseling for any trauma she or any of the children may have experienced.
“We will also take care of the cost of clothing, food and other expenses associated with this situation,” Harrell said. “We are sorry for the inconvenience in which the police aggressively entered the home seeking the men who were involved in the tragic shooting. And we want to do everything in our power to make Ms. Morris whole again.”
Harrell told the New Journal and Guide late Monday afternoon (Dec. 3) during a phone interview that Ms. Morris would be placed in a hotel and all of her expenses related to her stay will be borne by the city.
At that time, Ms. Morris was still living with a friend in Norfolk when the New Journal and Guide called her cell phone. She said she was to meet with city officials Tuesday (Dec. 4) to discuss restoring her home. She said she would be acquiring estimates on the cost of repairing her home which she will forward to the city for compensation.
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