THE STORY BEHIND THE PICTURES (only one of them is the true picture, can you discover
which?)
Laron A. Ball was shot and killed by police on Wednesday
29 May 2002 in a Milwaukee courtroom. Ball, who had just been convicted of murder,
lunged at a deputy and tried to take his gun. The deputy was wounded when his
gun discharged. A Milwaukee police officer who had testified against the defendant
shot and killed him after the deputy was injured.
A murder defendant lunged for a deputy's gun on
Wednesday 29 May 2002 as the jury came back with a guilty verdict and was shot
to death by a police officer in the courtroom. The sheriff's deputy was wounded
in the struggle.
The defendant lunged and struggled with the deputy.
There was a shot that fired, and the deputy was injured.
A Milwaukee police officer who had testified in
the case and was in the courtroom awaiting the verdict fired on the defendant,
killing him.
The defendant was Laron Ball, 20. Ball was charged
in the death of Amon Rogers, 27, who was killed during a robbery in December 2001.
The shooting occurred on the third floor of the Milwaukee County Safety Building,
which also houses the sheriff's department and other offices.
The sheriff's deputy was hospitalized with a wound
to the abdomen and released. Another deputy and a lawyer also were hurt in the
commotion. Their injuries were not serious.
Before he was shot, Ball jumped onto a window sill
and tried to throw himself through the window, but it didn't break.
Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr. had ordered
Ball held in solitary confinement in April 2002, after he learned through an informant
that Ball was planning an escape by trading identification wristbands with a prisoner
set to be released or by attacking deputies during his trial.
Ball was not shackled nor handcuffed in the courtroom.
A man just convicted of murder and armed robbery
was shot and killed by police in a Milwaukee County courtroom Wednesday 29 May
2002 after the defendant jumped over the jury box, grabbed a bailiff's gun and
shot him.
The wounded deputy was treated at the hospital
and later released.
Laron Ball, though just 20, was an entrenched gangster
and father of six - all under age 3 by three different women - and a seventh child
on the way
Laron Ball had just heard the jury's guilty verdict
when the incident unfolded late Wednesday morning at the Safety Building in front
of Circuit Court Judge Jacqueline Schellinger. Ball, 20, was a co-defendant in
the armed robbery and murder of Amon Rogers, 27, who was shot twice in the back
as he tried to flee his robbers on the night of 27 December 2001 in the 5600 block
of N. 91st St. in Milwaukee.
Jurors were being polled on the verdict when Ball
suddenly stood up, jumped across the jury box and toward a window behind the jurors.
While attempting to break out the window with his shoulder, Ball was grabbed by
two bailiffs and a struggle ensued. During the tussle Ball got hold of one of
the bailiff's guns and shot him in the upper leg. While the other deputy continued
to struggle with Ball, holding the slide of the gun in Ball's hand, a Milwaukee
police detective who had testified in the trial fired several shots at the defendant
and killed him.
The wounded deputy, 35, was taken to Froedtert
Memorial Lutheran Hospital, where he was treated in the trauma unit and later
released. The other deputy was treated for a bite wound and later released.
Police had received an anonymous tip in April 2002
that Ball planned to attempt to escape from jail or attack deputies during his
trial. He was placed in secure detention at the jail at that time.
The Safety Building, where the courtroom is located,
and which also houses the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department and other offices,
was closed after the shooting.
A team of county mental health specialists was called
to counsel the jurors in the case.
In addition to the 29 May 2002 murder verdict,
Ball faced a jury trial in June 2002 on different felony charges of eluding an
officer and escape. His record showed nine felony criminal complaints and five
misdemeanor complaints filed against him in adult court since 1999
Laron Ball was facing the prospect of life in prison. But seconds after the 20-year-old
was found guilty of murder and armed robbery Wednesday, he scrambled over startled
jurors toward a window, setting in motion a courtroom shooting that left a sheriff's
deputy wounded and Ball dead.
Deputy Mike Witkowski was shot with his own gun,
which discharged as he and another deputy struggled with Ball. An instant later,
Ball, gripping the gun he wrested from Witkowski, was shot to death by a homicide
detective on hand for the trial. Witkowski, 35, suffered a gunshot to the upper
thigh; he was treated and released from Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital.
The shooting that unfolded in front of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jacqueline
Schellinger and a shocked jury brought to fruition the fears of court and law
enforcement officials. While Ball was being held in the County Jail, he had been
heard discussing an escape.
Moments after the verdict was read, Laron Ball,
20, ran into the jury box and began to kick against a window. Two courtroom deputies
tried to wrestle Ball under control, but he got hold of one deputy's gun, which
holds 15 rounds. Ball shot the first deputy in the lower abdomen, but was unable
to pull the trigger again after the second deputy grabbed the gun in a way that
prevented another round from entering the chamber. Ball regained control of the
gun, but Milwaukee Police Detective Alfonso Morales, the lead detective in the
case against Ball, drew his own weapon and fired three shots, striking and killing
Ball.
Before his trial began last week, court officials
decided to add security and fit him with a stun belt, an electronic device used
to subdue prisoners. But on the day the jury decided his fate, Ball was not wearing
the stun belt, nor was there extra security in place as there had been earlier.
Even Ball's family had cause for worry. The night
before the verdict, Ball spoke by phone with his younger brother, Jacoby V. Jackson,
a conversation that led Jackson to the chilling conclusion: "He'd rather be dead
than in jail." In his short life, Ball had fathered six children, family members
said, and had been charged with a dozen felonies and several misdemeanors.
After a five-day trial on the murder charge, jurors
began deliberating at 08:30 on Wednesday 29 May 2002. They returned to the courtroom
at midmorning for more instruction from the judge and came in with their verdict
at 11:25. They found Ball guilty of felony murder and two counts of armed robbery
in the death of Amon Rogers, a 27-year-old Oregon man who was visiting Milwaukee
in December and was shot in the back for his Rolex watch.
Judge Schellinger read the verdict and polled the
jurors. The previous night Ball had assured his brother he would beat the charge,
telling him by phone, "Don't worry about me. Just pray for me and in the grace
of God, we'll be talking about what they're putting me through and laughing."
But it didn't work out that way. Now, Ball was
facing up to 200 years in prison. Suddenly, he leaped to his feet and clambered
over the defense table. He was climbing over the jurors in the jury box, and they
were freaking out. Jurors screamed, and three of them fled into the judge's chamber
with Rogers. In the courtroom, Ball reached a third-floor window about one meter
behind the jury box, and began kicking it and hurling himself against it in an
apparent attempt to "smash it out" and escape
Witkowksi and another deputy rushed to subdue Ball.
While they wrestled, Ball got hold of Witkowski's gun, which went off, hitting
the deputy in the upper thigh. The second deputy then grabbed and held the slide
on the .40-caliber 15-shot Glock, preventing Ball from firing more shots. As they
struggled, Ball locked his teeth on the second deputy's arm.
Ball's lawyer, James A. Hanley, said his client
pointed the gun toward one end of the courtroom. It was then that Milwaukee Police
Detective Alfonso Morales, the lead investigator on the case, shot Ball.
The deputy who was shot was Witkowski, who normally
works in her courtroom next to where the shooting occurred.
Clarke confirmed that his department had requested
a "secure courtroom" because Ball was an "escape risk." He did not know why Ball
was not wearing the stun belt Wednesday but said that it would not have stopped
him from leaping into the jury box.
Laron Ball: Prison not in the cards,
brother says
Ball hinted in phone call the night before that he would rather die than spend
his life behind bars .
Even before a jury handed down a guilty verdict
in his felony murder case on Wednesday 29 May 2002, Laron Ball hinted in a phone
conversation with his younger brother that he was ready to take extreme measures
if things didn't go his way.
He'd rather be dead than in jail. In so many words,
that's what I got out of it. - Jacoby V. Jackson, referring to a telephone conversation
with his brother, Laron Ball
He'd rather be dead than in jail," Jacoby V. Jackson,
19, said Wednesday afternoon of the call he says he received the night before.
"In so many words, that's what I got out of it." Ball told Jackson to care for
Ball's six young children, all under age 3 by three different women - and a seventh
child on the way - when Ball was "gone."
Dying young was not a big leap for Ball, who described
in a March jailhouse interview being entrenched in a gangster lifestyle that already
had him tilting toward death. Just 20 and with a deceptively boyish face, he belonged
to a group of bandits who made a career of robbing drug dealers. They call themselves
the "3-6 M.O.B." after N. 36th St.
In the interview for a story about life in gangs, Ball
talked about having been shot at least once, of seeing a friend die. Of the 20
or so 3-6 M.O.B. gangsters, he estimated, "Three are dead and seven are in jail."
Ball openly acknowledged the 3-6 M.O.B. "robbed people to steal their drugs."
Ball boasted that he associated with the Murda Mobb and Ghetto Boys, gangs that
became infamous in the past year.
He was the son of a mother who was convicted of
running a drug house and child neglect when he was 15, records show.
In the interview, he talked with detachment, as
if he couldn't see the forest, but only the trees, couldn't fathom another way
to live - or die. "We was at war with the B.O.S.," he said, mentioning the Brothers
of Struggle gang that was the subject of a massive federal indictment in the 1980s
but has made a resurgence since. Thought he'd beat the case
Although Ball was long ago prepared for death,
he told his brother Tuesday that he would probably beat the case - as he had done
so many times before - and that they'd soon be reunited. "Last night my brother
told me: 'Don't worry about me. Just pray for me and in the grace of God, we'll
be talking about what they're putting me through and laughing,' " Jackson said.
He had good reason to be optimistic. Since 1998,
Ball had been charged 12 times with felonies, and seven misdemeanors. But the
only cases that stuck, before Wednesday 29 May 2002, were two misdemeanors. He
was charged with such things as carrying a gun at age 16, recklessly endangering
safety, battery and bribing a witness. Two other times in about as many years,
he had been questioned as a suspect in murder investigations.
In 2001, two separate juries deadlocked and acquitted
Ball on felony recklessly endangering safety and felony battery charges, respectively.
Other cases were dismissed over the last three years.
He faced another jury trial in June 2002 on different
charges of eluding an officer and escape (both felonies). Another felony charge,
bribing a witness, was scheduled for trial in July 2002.
Like a gambler who goes off the deep end when his
winning hands have suddenly vanished, Ball carried out a last-ditch attempt to
avoid prison Wednesday, grabbing the gun of a bailiff in a courtroom and shooting
him as the jury announced a guilty verdict for felony murder, the most serious
charge he had faced yet. A homicide detective, Alfonso Morales, shot and killed
Ball.
Ball had asked family members not to attend his
court proceedings in order to spare them the agony of seeing him on trial and
possibly convicted, said Ball's cousin, Troy Jackson, 26. "He didn't want nobody
stressing over him," Troy Jackson said. Family grieves
But Wednesday, grief beset the family and the mothers
of Ball's children as word spread that Ball's life came to a dramatic end. Both
Troy and Jacoby Jackson said Ball had no legitimate job - something they attributed
in part to his ongoing troubles with the law. But both men - convicted of dealing
cocaine - also acknowledged that they and Ball had chosen a criminal lifestyle.
Troy Jackson is a four-time felon. Jacoby Jackson was recently released from jail
after a cocaine conviction imposed by Judge Jacqueline Schellinger, the same judge
presiding over Ball's case. Both Troy and Jacoby Jackson admitted affiliation
with the 3-6 M.O.B., and said the acronym M.O.B. stood for "Money Over Bitches."
Jacoby Jackson said police have been investigating the group for the past decade.
"Thirty-sixth was our block," Jacoby Jackson said.
Defendant bolted, panic ensued, court clerk recalls
It happened so fast, according to Deputy Court Clerk
Sharon Rogers.
One minute, Laron A. Ball was told that he was
found guilty of murder and armed robbery and the next, he was out of his seat,
clawing his way over jurors and fighting for control of a bailiff's gun. "He knows
my name!" one horrified woman told Rogers. "He knows where I live!" For several
minutes - Rogers isn't sure how many - she cowered in the judge's chambers with
three jurors, peeking out occasionally while deputies scuffled with Ball for control
of a .40-caliber Glock. When she finally emerged, after hearing a series of gunshots,
Rogers could hardly believe what she saw. "I didn't think there would be any shots
fired," she said. "I didn't know if anyone was shot, and I wanted to see." Ball
was dead, shot in the head, and a deputy was wounded in the groin. "There were
warnings before the trial even started," Rogers said. "Everybody knew he said
he was going to try and escape. "Now he's dead and a deputy is shot."
Rogers, a county employee for 13 years, was seated
a few feet in front of Circuit Judge Jacqueline D. Schellinger after the judge
announced that the jury found Ball, 20, guilty of felony murder and two counts
of armed robbery after a trial that began on 21 May
"I was under the impression that he would have
a stun belt on today like he did earlier in the trial," Rogers said. "He didn't,
and I don't know why." After Schellinger polled the jurors individually on the
guilty verdicts, Ball stunned the courtroom by leaping over the defense table
and scrambling over the jurors still seated in the two-row jury box. As Ball clawed
his way over the jurors, two deputies raced toward him, Rogers said. "They were
freaking out," she said of the jurors. "Some of them came running to me. "But
the jurors in the top row were trapped, including a pregnant woman. She couldn't
get out." Rogers and three female jurors raced behind Schellinger to the chambers
behind the judge and closed the door. "These jurors were very scared, and I tried
the best I could to console them," she said. "I told them that he didn't know
where they live, that we don't put that in the file."
Occasionally Rogers opened the door to peek out
and see what was happening. "It seemed like it went on for so long," she said.
"The last time I looked out, Laron was standing by a window on the east wall,
trying to get out." After she closed the door the last time, she said, she got
on a telephone to call for help, hooking up at one point with personnel in another
courtroom. Suddenly, a shot sounded and was followed moments later by three or
four additional shots. "Shots fired!" she hollered into the handset. "Room 316
safety building!" When she opened the door to the courtroom, she saw a pair of
legs on the floor, poking out from behind the jury box. The trousers told her
they belonged to a deputy, she didn't immediately know who, she said. She saw
another deputy emerge from behind the box, white-faced and sweating. "He staggered
toward the window ledge and sat down," she recalled. Schellinger was standing
in the courtroom, as was the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney James Griffin.
"Where's Laron?" Rogers asked. "Laron's dead," Griffin replied.