Los Angeles News

LOS ANGELES Transcripts from a 911 call released today support the claim that Inglewood police officers were responding to a domestic dispute call before an officer fatally shot a postal employee who allegedly answered the door of his apartment with a gun in his hand and raised it toward officers.

The transcripts of the call regarding the fatal shooting of Kevin Wicks at about 12:20 a.m. Monday indicate the caller said "...in apartment 10 there is a black guy with a white T-shirt on, and black...(inaudible) it looks like. And they're fighting with...(inaudible) a girlfriend...in a green Chevy Lumina."

The dispatcher asked if the man was in the car at the time and the caller said the man was not.

"I believe it is apartment number 10," the caller said. "I can't really tell. But I think it's the middle apartment."

The caller gave the address as 124 N. Hillcrest Blvd.

The dispatcher, possibly for clarification, repeated the description of the suspect, "It's a male black with a white T-shirt with blue shorts you said," and the caller responded: "Black, I believe...that's the color of the shorts and he's in black flip flops."

"And he...and you went to apartment 10 and he's having a fight with a female?" the dispatcher asked.

"Yea, they were arguing," the caller said.

"Okay, arguing. Are they still arguing now?" the dispatcher asked.

The caller replied, "I can't really tell right now, but the way my apartment is, but I know he has a green Chevy Lumina."

"Okay, but he's not in that car. He's, that car's outside, right?" the dispatcher asked.

"Yeah," the caller answered. "it's the car on the street. I can see the street...(inaudible)...walking back and forth."

At this point the dispatcher told the caller someone would be sent out to the location.

A transcript of communication between the dispatcher and officers indicates officers asked the dispatcher to confirm the location was apartment 10 before they reached the scene, and the dispatcher responded "Affirmative, it's No. 10."

Wicks, who was alone in the apartment, was declared dead at a hospital about an hour after the shooting, Inglewood police Lt. Mike McBride said. A loaded handgun that had been in his possession was recovered by police at the scene, he said.

The officer who fired the fatal shot was identified as Brian Ragan, a five-year member of the department who had been placed on leave in May after being involved in a shooting in which a 19-year-old man died at a restaurant near Crenshaw Boulevard and 85th Street.

Ragan had returned to duty earlier this month, but was again placed on administrative leave in the wake of Monday's shooting.

Wicks' sister, Nadia Battle, said police went to the wrong apartment, insisting that her brother lived alone and was not involved in any kind of domestic dispute. Inglewood police have insisted that officers went to the right address.

Battle said if her brother came to the door with a gun it was because it was after midnight and he lived in a dangerous area.

She called Wicks "a nice guy, a wonderful person."

Wicks worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 19 years and was a "sales, service/distribution associate" at the West Los Angeles Branch on Santa Monica Boulevard, according to the USPS.

The shooting has drawn calls from activists for an independent investigation.

"This is the time for a Christopher-style commission in the city of Inglewood," said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Inglewood-based Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, referring to the Christopher Commission that investigated the inner-workings of the Los Angeles Police Department in the wake of the 1991 videotaped Rodney King beating.

"You had one shooting, that's tragic enough," Hutchinson said. "Two, that's even more catastrophic, but when you have three, four, five, I think the term is a pattern and practice."

Hutchinson met with Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn and City Manager Timothy Wannamaker and urged the city to begin an exhaustive review of the department, noting that there have been three fatal shootings by Inglewood police in as many months.

Hutchinson said city officials told him they would "strongly consider" his proposal.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)