Alexandria, Louisiana

From Alexandria’s The Town Talk of February 18, 2006

Officials urge calm in slaying case

A local group of black ministers is attempting to organize a boycott of all Arab-owned businesses in the wake of Sunday's fatal shooting of a black man by an Arabic store owner who claimed he was being robbed.

Meanwhile, Alexandria city leaders are asking that everyone remain calm.

The Rev. Freddie Banks of First Union Baptist Church in Alexandria said that while he could not be certain the shooting was race-related, he did feel it was unjust.

Banks appeared Thursday morning on the "Eyes Open With Tony Brown" radio show on station KAYT to promote the boycott and to say he would urge his congregation Sunday to not patronize Arab-owned stores.

Some ministers met Friday to discuss the boycott. The Rev. Floyd Kirts, who lives near the Alexandria store and is the minister at Bright Morning Star Baptist Church in Pineville, said he is one of the ministers asking people not to frequent the businesses -- but also not to resort to violence.

"We will speak with our money and not with our fists," he said.

Alexandria City Council President Charles Frederick Smith Jr. said he has asked residents not to overreact and to be calm. He said the police and the District Attorney's Office should be allowed to handle the investigation.

"Let's not destroy neighborhoods," he said.

Walter Louis Walker, 39, of 1244 Huffman St. was shot in the head by store owner Hussam Zeidan after Zeidan said Walker attempted to rob his store at 2350 Overton St., according to police records. No gun was found on Walker.

Four days before the shooting, the store had reported another robbery. In that incident, police said, two men are suspected of robbing a store employee at gunpoint.

No charges have been filed in Sunday's incident, and police are continuing to investigate. A file will be prepared for the Rapides Parish District Attorney's Office, police said, and that office will decide whether to present it to a grand jury.

Alexandria Police Chief Daren Coutee said Friday that detectives are waiting on an autopsy report. In conducting their investigation, he said, investigators were relying on statements from the clerk and crime scene evidence.

Police were told the store had surveillance, but that it was broken, Coutee said. The chief said the camera also wasn't working when the store last was reported robbed.

State officials said Friday that at the time of Sunday's shooting, Walker was on probation for a charge of obtaining a controlled dangerous substance by fraud.

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From Alexandria’s The Town Talk of March 17, 2006

Cocaine factored into convenience store shooting, DA says

A preliminary autopsy report on Walter Louis Walker who was shot to death by an Arab convenience-store owner revealed that Walker had been using cocaine, Rapides Parish District Attorney James C. Downs said at a Thursday night meeting.

About 50 people -- including Alexandria Police Chief Darren Coutee, some City Councilmen and leaders of black and Arab communities -- gathered at the Nazarene Baptist Church on Overton Street to discuss the police investigation of the shooting.

Walker, 39, was shot in the head by store owner Hussam Zeidan in what police said was an attempted robbery. The evidence, Downs said, doesn't support an arrest warrant for Zeidan and a grand jury will not be called.

The Northern and Central Louisiana Interfaith Group hosted the meeting in an attempt to heal the rift that Walker's death has caused.

Walker's death has caused tension between black and Arab communities, including a threatened boycott of Arab-owned businesses by some black leaders and the Overton Street store where the shooting took place. The store has remained closed since the February incident.

No gun was found on Walker's body. Those who knew Walker describe him as a gentle man, leaving many in the black community to question the circumstances of his death.

Downs said his statements about Walker's drug problems were not meant to disparage a dead man, but to help explain the shooting.

"Apparently, Mr. Walker was a gentle man who was not inclined to violence. I, in no way, want to demean his character. I just want to give some facts to help shed light on what has happened," Downs said.

Downs also spoke of Walker's prior run-ins with the law, including a January 2004 incident in which he allegedly tried obtain codeine from a drug store with a forged prescription and an August 2004 incident in which he allegedly possessed a crack cocaine pipe and crack cocaine.

Downs' revelations were not well-received by some, including Walker's long-time friend, Terrell Bush, who claimed to have spoken with Walker about 10 minutes before the shooting.

"He didn't seem to be under the influence to me, and I have known him quite a while. If he would have been, then I would have noticed," Bush said Thursday night. Bush added that police never took a statement from him, even though he called them to make one.

As tempers flared, black community leaders stepped forth to remind those gathered in the church that Thursday's event was meant to bring unity and healing.

"We can't be divided whether we are black, white, rich or poor. We must be in one accord," said Alexandria Councilman Roosevelt Johnson.