The police story of what happened has begun to unravel. In order to justify their shooting the police initially reported that the three cops who shot and killed Singleton--Brian Wilson, Rafael Borroto, and Javier Gonzalez--had been fired upon. But a search of the area where the killing occurred in Overtown, a largely Black section of Miami, turned up 19 spent shells, all from police-issue guns. Tests showed no gun residue on Singleton's hands.

The continuing occurrence of police shootings in Miami and the failure to bring any of the cops to justice has fueled anger over police brutality and racism. Most of the people killed have been African Americans. In response to rising outrage and in an effort to deflect it from local authorities, Miami mayor Joseph Carollo and three city commissioners are backing the call for a federal investigation into the police killing of Singleton. "The longer we look the other way, the more tensions will build in the community," said Miami commissioner Joseph Sanchez, who like the mayor is a former cop.

In the last 11 years judges here have held at least 102 inquests over killings by police officers in Miami-Dade County and in each case the judge has ruled in favor of the cops. An indication of the widespread distrust of authorities here is the fact that federal prosecutors are now reinvestigating at least six of these cases. Five of them were initially signed off as "good shoots" in a series of reviews by police homicide detectives, major crimes prosecutors, internal affairs investigators, city police review boards, and court inquests.

In one of the cases designated a "good shoot" by Miami and Florida State cops and courts, 73-year-old Richard Brown was killed in a rain of 123 bullets fired by members of the Miami SWAT team. In March, federal prosecutors indicted five Miami cops on charges of obstructing justice for their part in the shooting.

The May 5 funeral for Singleton was held at the New Birth Baptist Church of Bishop Victor Curry, president of the Miami-Dade NAACP. Rev. Jerome Starling said at the service that what happened to Singleton "should not go on. We should get some justice for this family and make sure Nick's death is not in vain."

On April 25 in Stuart, Florida, 100 miles north of Miami, a grand jury cleared police officer George McLain of any wrongdoing in the shooting death of 32-year-old Stacey Scales. McLain shot Scales seven times April 14 after stopping him for allegedly driving his car with the lights off. The grand jury accepted the cop's story that Scales tried to flee, dragging the police officer on the side of the car, and that McLain felt his life was in jeopardy after the car stopped. McLain's attorney, David Golden, had earlier justified the shooting of the unarmed Scales, saying, "You have to pull the trigger and continue to pull the trigger until the threat is over."

Speaking at a Militant Labor Forum on May 4, Martin County NAACP president Rosalind Hall stated, "The investigation is not over until the NAACP completes its investigation into the killing." She pointed out that in the days after the shooting she received calls from McLain's attorney, the police, and city officials, who tried to convince her of the cops' story. Instead, the NAACP helped organize a meeting of 250 people to protest the killing, where residents pointed to the racism in the 42-member all-white police force. Hall stated there would be another mass meeting to protest the grand jury decision and to discuss further steps to win justice in the case.  
 
 
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