Protesters After ICE Shooting: 'We're Not Going to Burn Down Our City'

Terrance Kellom’s father said his son, who was shot multiple times Monday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent serving a fugitive warrant, wasn’t armed with a hammer, as authorities said. (Photo via Twitter)

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Demonstrators questioning the death of a 20-year-old Detroit man who was shot multiple times by a federal agent serving an arrest warrant vowed Tuesday to peacefully protest while still demanding answers.

Terrance Kellom, was shot by an officer with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), working on a fugitive apprehension task force. Police said he was armed with a hammer.

Several dozen protesters gathered outside the house where Terrance Kellom was killed Monday. The demonstration was a sharp contrast to rioting in Baltimore, MD, over the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody.

“We haven’t had one bottle thrown,” said Bobbie Davis, a spokesman for the Franklin Park Neighborhood Association, according to a report in The Detroit News.”We’re standing behind (the Detroit Police Department). We have some good police officers here. We’re not going to burn down our city; we’re going to build up our city. We’re going to show we’re not savages.

“But we’re going to demand answers,” Davis said. “Let things be handled by the Justice Department.”

Kellom’s father, Kevin Kellom, vehemently denied his son had a hammer.

“They assassinated my son, right in front of me,” he said at the rally. “That was an execution, right in my face.”

Patch’s earlier report:

A suspect armed with a hammer and killed in Detroit Monday by a federal agent sustained multiple gunshot wounds, according to autopsy results released Tuesday by the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Terrance Kellom, 20, was shot by an officer with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), working on a fugitive apprehension task force. Kellom was on probation for a 2013 weapons offense and fled in August, the Detroit Free Press said.

The Free Press reported Tuesday afternoon Kellom was hiding in the attic when agents arrived at the house. Earlier in the day, a woman making a domestic violence complaint tipped off police to the fugitive’s whereabouts. There was no forced entry, and members of the Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team were allowed into the home on Evergreen Road shortly after 1 p.m. Monday.

He was wanted on a four-count warrant as a suspect in the armed robbery of a pizza driver, a source told the Free Press.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig, whose department is investigating the shooting, said the agent used deadly force because he “felt that he was in imminent danger because the suspect was advancing on him in possession of this hammer.”

Kellom was “assassinated right in front of my face,” his father, Kevin Kellom, told WJBK.

“His hands went from open to clutched; he was shaking,” Kevin Kellom told the TV station. “The last two words my son said was, ‘Daddy, Daddy.’ After the first two shots rung out, right after that, as I was rushing towards them in the dining room - bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. At least – at least – eight more shots rung out. And I know that for a fact. My son was shot 10 times.”

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Kevin Kellom questioned why deadly force was used. “Why not use Tasers?” he asked, according to WJBK. “Why not shoot him in his legs?”

Not only did his son not have a hammer, “there was no weapons in my house, period,” he told the TV station. “I don’t have weapons in my home.”

U.S. Attorney’s Office Monitoring Investigation

An internal review of the shooting is under way by the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility. That’s standard procedure, ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls said, according to a WJBK-TV report.

The agent has been placed on administrative leave. The Detroit native, who hasn’t been named or charged, is a seven-year veteran of the agency. Before beginning his federal service, he was a decorated 12-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department, Walls said.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade extended her condolences to Kellom’s family and called the shooting “a tragedy.” She said her office is monitoring the investigation.

“Police work sometimes requires use of deadly force, but officers may use only as much force as is reasonable under the circumstances,” she said. “In a situation like this, it is important to protect the rights of both the deceased and the officer. Therefore, we are closely monitoring the investigation.”

A rally was planned Tuesday afternoon at Evergreen and Chicago, near where Kellom was shot and killed. Rally organizers say they want more information about what happened before the fatal shooting.

The shooting occurred on the same day that riots broke out in Baltimore, MD, over the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody, adding to mounting tensions between police and citizens nationwide.

“In light of national incidents, we find this latest shooting appalling, distressing, and despicable that another young black man has to be killed in his house in front of his family with multiple gunshots,” said Ron Scott, a spokesperson of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, according to a Free Press report.

A community meeting will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Grace Community Church of Detroit, 20021 W. Chicago.