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"Hoodlums" 911 caller indicted in black man's fatal shooting

N.C. man charged with murder after shooting black man outside his home 01:59

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A grand jury has indicted a North Carolina man accused of fatally shooting a young black man leaving a neighbor’s house party.

Local media outlets report that Chad Copley was indicted Monday on murder charges in the Aug. 7 death of 20-year-old Kouren-Rodney Thomas.

According to authorities and 911 tapes, 39-year-old Copley fired a shotgun from inside his garage after calling police to complain of “hoodlums” in his neighborhood. Copley also told a dispatcher he was on the neighborhood watch, “locked and loaded” and was going to “protect my neighborhood.”

Thomas’ mother says her son was struck while walking with a friend to their car.

Copley, who is white, told a dispatcher he “fired a warning shot” to people “showing a firearm.” But the party’s host says he didn’t see anyone with a gun.

Thomas’ family says they hope the indictment sends the message that “this kind of malicious behavior cannot, and will not, be tolerated.” 

Justin Bamberg, an attorney for Thomas’ family, has referred to Copley as “Zimmerman 2.0,” referring to George Zimmerman, a Florida neighborhood watch volunteer who was acquitted of murder in 2013 in the fatal shooting of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin.

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