Thread: Irishmans killing spurs uproar abroad

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Andrew Hanlon's Silverton relatives receive a mystery CD linked to an alleged witnessSaturday, July 05, 2008 JOSEPH ROSE and KIMBERLY A.C. WILSONThe Oregonian Staff
SILVERTON -- Four days after Andrew Hanlon was shot by a police officer in this tiny Willamette Valley farming community, his death had emerged Friday as the biggest news story in his home country of Ireland.

Halfway around the world, charges of police brutality in small-town America dominated the headlines. And now, with the surfacing of a mysterious audio recording that offers a detailed account of the events, the 20-year-old Irishman's family says his only crime may have been banging on the wrong door.

Silverton police were responding to a burglary call late Monday night when Officer Tony Gonzalez confronted Hanlon on street nearby, yelled a warning and fired. Family members who viewed Hanlon's body at a Silverton funeral home said he had several bullet wounds.


Police and the Marion County district attorney's office confirmed that Gonzalez shot Hanlon but declined to provide details, including whether Hanlon was armed, pending an investigation.

"I can't imagine my brother being armed," said Hanlon's sister, Melanie Heise, who lives in Silverton with her husband, Nathan. "It was a hot night. He was a kid in his bare feet. He couldn't really run away from the police."


Mental health problems


Hanlon had been showing symptoms of paranoia and possibly schizophrenia. At times, he came banging on the Heises' door at night, disoriented, delusional and needing a place to sleep, she said.

Melanie Heise believes that Hanlon may have been in the midst of a delusional episode Monday night, taken a wrong turn and scared residents on a different street by hitting and kicking their doors. Neighbors said Hanlon practiced karate. About 40 minutes before the shooting, Hanlon left a phone message asking if the Heises were home, one more indication that he was trying to find their home when he was killed.

Hanlon, known to friends as AJ, came from Ireland to the United States last summer and stayed illegally after his visa expired. He had a small apartment in Silverton and worked odd jobs, including busing jobs at a local restaurant.

"He stayed because he wanted to go on a big road trip to see the rest of America and never thought he would have a chance to come back," said friend Ariel Burton, one of about 100 people who protested the shooting outside the police station Wednesday.

Audio account


A mysterious voice recording left at the Heises' home on Steelhammer Road supports the family's theory that Hanlon was acting out of confusion rather than criminal intent the night he was killed.

Using a Sharpie marker, someone wrote a cryptic message on the CD left for the Heises: "On the scene, an unbiased approach." In the recording, an anonymous woman claims to know what happened.


The voice on the CD says the string of tragic events started with Hanlon pounding on a door about six blocks from his sister's house, terrifying a woman inside. The woman reportedly called 9-1-1 to report a burglary in progress. She then called her husband, who rushed home with a friend. The two men chased Hanlon away, according to the audio account.

Gonzalez was responding to the burglary call when he saw Hanlon running down the road, according to the anonymous account.

Hanlon tripped at the bottom of the hill and tried to get back up, the woman in the recording claims. The police officer then ordered Hanlon, who stood 5 feet 9 inches and weighed 120 pounds, to stay down.

Police have said Gonzalez shot Hanlon near Oak and Mill streets about 11:15 p.m.

"The whole thing with the CD is very strange," Nathan Heise said. "We don't know what to think of it. And we don't have any idea who it might be."

On Friday, a resident living near the shooting scene said she heard the officer yelling at Hanlon outside. The woman, who didn't want her name used, said Gonzalez shouted, "Get down! Get down!" She said she then heard him ask, "Do you want me to shoot you?"

After firing several shots, she said, the officer approached the body and started cursing loudly. With a sweeping motion, she said, he pushed something from the body. "I couldn't tell what it was."

The witness said she was indirectly behind the mysterious recording. "I shared what happened that night with a friend" who recorded the CD, said the woman, adding that she is also related to the family who lives in the house where Hanlon pounded on the door.

The Heises declined to provide a copy of the recording, saying they wanted to first consult with an attorney.

Silverton police and Marion County District Attorney Walt Beglau could not be reached for comment on the recording. Their offices were closed for Independence Day.


Gonzalez, 35, who joined the Silverton Police Department in 2006, is on administrative leave during the multi-agency investigation, which is routine in officer-involved shootings. Beglau has said no information will be released until the investigation is complete.

That apparently applies to the family as well.

"We're not getting any answers because they're closing ranks on us," Dorothea Carroll said in an interview Thursday with RTE Radio in Dublin. "As his mom, I'm being kept out of the loop. Nobody's telling me anything."

In Silverton, Melanie Heise said pleas for information from authorities have been ignored. "It took them six hours to contact me to tell me my brother was dead," she said, "even though he was killed less than a mile down the street."


Family arrives from Ireland


Carroll and other family members were expected to arrive late Friday from Dublin. A mob of Irish reporters likely will be in tow.

Hanlon's death has become the hottest story in Ireland. Irish television, radio and newspapers have inundated officials, family members and friends.


"There's a great deal of interest in this story from people in Ireland," said Fiach Kelly, a reporter at the Irish Independent in Dublin. "Police don't carry guns over here. And a lot of people in their 20s go away to America. So it's a big shock when one of our young people is killed -- and killed by a police officer at that."

Hanlon's death has dominated Irish front pages. "Shot four times at point-blank range," declared The Daily Mail in Dublin. "Mother claims son was unarmed," said the Irish Times. And in the evening Herald: " 'Why wasn't a Taser used?' asks sister of Irishman shot dead."

The Irish minister for foreign affairs, Michel Martin, has contacted Marion County prosecutors extending his condolences to Hanlon's fami

Despite feelings of being stonewalled by investigators, Carroll offered kind words for Silverton Mayor Ken Hector, who called her back. Speaking in an interview with RTE radio, she said Hector was polite, a nice man, though he couldn't really tell her anything either.

Now, she faces a $15,000 mortuary and airline bill to bring her boy home.

Carroll told RTE that her son grew up in a broken family. Andrew Hanlon's father lives in Texas.

Andrew was living with her in the south of France when Melanie and Nathan Heise came to visit. At their urging, she agreed that a trip to the United States would be good for him.


Secretive process


The secrecy of the process grates on Hanlon's family. An official with the Irish Consulate General in San Francisco met Friday with Beglau, arranging a meeting for next week between the prosecutor and the family.

Details of police shootings often come to light slowly, limited first during a confidential investigation, then by closed proceedings before a grand jury, which is asked whether the shooting was justified. The grand jury's decision focuses on a slender part of the sequence of events -- what was happening at the exact moment the shots were fired.

On Thursday, the Heises viewed Hanlon's body for the first time. They hadn't been told where or how many times the young Dubliner had been shot.

"We pulled back the covers a little bit," Nathan Heise said. "It was out of morbid curiosity and the fact that we had no information about what happened. We had to steel ourselves and look at the body."

The family said Hanlon had two gunshot wounds in the middle of his left arm, three wounds to his abdomen, one in the back of his shoulder and one on his thigh.

In interviews, Melanie Heise described her brother as gracious and kind. A quiet kidder. When they were young, they lived in a house overlooking Dublin, she said.

When her brother began struggling with mental health issues, she said she tried to find help. But it proved difficult because of Oregon's limited treatment options and her brother's status as an illegal immigrant.

Of her four siblings, Melanie Heise, 32, said she was closest to AJ.

"We were both peas in a pod," she said. "Everywhere I went, he followed. And he never wanted to leave." Joseph Rose: 503-221-8029; josephrose@news.oregonian.com %%endby%% Michael Rollins of The Oregonian contributed to this report.



http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonia ... thispage=4

Of course, had he:

1. Not overstayed his visitor visa... it wouldn't have happened.
or
2. If he hadn't been pounding on stranger's doors at 11pm or midnight... it wouldn't have happened.
or
3. If he were in control of his illness... it wouldn't have happened.
and, last but not least,
4. If he hadn't been drinking and wandering the neighborhood... ya, you know.

While the situation is tragic, there was certainly a lack of respect for norms of behavior considered normal vs. those considered threatening. Plus, HE was in control of nearly all the factors that combined to produce this tragic result. While people are quick to jump on the local PD about this, where is [his] personal responsibility? (eg. I, my neighbors, my family, my friends know better than to do something similar)

Hanlon had been showing symptoms of paranoia and possibly schizophrenia. At times, he came banging on the Heises' door at night, disoriented, delusional and needing a place to sleep, she said.

Melanie Heise believes that Hanlon may have been in the midst of a delusional episode Monday night, taken a wrong turn and scared residents on a different street by hitting and kicking their doors. Neighbors said Hanlon practiced karate.

Oh brother. And his reason for being here illegally was because he wanted to take a big road trip around America and nver thought he'd have a chance to come back.

How touching! What an excellent excuse!!

Millions of Americans would like to take a big road trip around America too, but a lot of people can't afford to do it.

Details of police shootings often come to light slowly, limited first during a confidential investigation, then by closed proceedings before a grand jury, which is asked whether the shooting was justified. The grand jury's decision focuses on a slender part of the sequence of events -- what was happening at the exact moment the shots were fired.

Could it be that the critics in Ireland simply don't understand how the criminal investigative process works here??? No investigative agency would openly publish important or confidential information at this stage of any similar investigation (other than the most basic facts - names, dates, locations, etc).

Oh brother. And his reason for being here illegally was because he wanted to take a big road trip around America and nver thought he'd have a chance to come back

In both my university experiences I encountered international students who's goal was to a). 'attend classes' and b). recreate (as in recreation, not reproduction ) - eg. 'drive around and see things' basically. Many European students here see a visit here as a sort of academic holiday (eg. the coursework was really secondary and recreating took precedence).

This guy's experience is not all that out of the ordinary (other than the obvious reason we're here discussing this). He still broke the rules and there are consequences when people break rules (well, at least in theory).

Hanlon, known to friends as AJ, came from Ireland to the United States last summer and stayed illegally after his visa expired. He had a small apartment in Silverton and worked odd jobs, including busing jobs at a local restaurant.

Q. How can a non-national work any job here on a visitor visa???
A. It is illegal - unambiguously. It is illegal for the worker to accept such job, and it is also illegal for the employer to hire such a worker.

I want to know the name of that restaurant