Sunday, October 29, 2000
LAPD Officer's Gunfire Kills Actor at Party
Shooting: Halloween reveler at mansion pointed what
turned out to be a fake pistol at patrolman, who feared for his life,
police say.
A Los Angeles
police officer responding to a loud Halloween costume party at a Benedict
Canyon mansion early Saturday morning shot and killed an actor, who
authorities said pointed what turned out to be a fake handgun at him.
Anthony Dwain Lee, 39, of Van Nuys, who
appeared in the movie "Liar, Liar" and on such television shows as "ER"
and "NYPD Blue," was shot at multiple times by Officer Tarriel Hopper, who
fired from outside through a window, authorities said.
Scores of costumed party-goers, many of them
actors and other entertainment industry professionals, were inside the
mansion--known to some as "the Castle" for its extravagant design, spires
and stained-glass windows--when the shooting occurred about 1 a.m.
"He was a Buddhist. He hated violence. It is
amazing he died this way," said Mitch Hale, a writer friend whose play
"Buffalo Soldier" starred Lee and earned him a local acting award. "He was
an incredibly gifted actor and person. It's devastating. . . . Why did
they shoot someone at a Halloween party?"
Police said
Hopper and Officer Natalie Humphreys were attempting to locate the owner
of the home in the 9700 block of Yoakum Drive after neighbors complained
about the noise. The officers were walking along an exterior walkway at
the rear of the house when Hopper looked into a small room that appeared
to contain three people, police said.
"When one of the individuals observed
the officers, he suddenly produced what appeared to be a handgun and
pointed it directly at Officer Hopper," Officer Charlotte Broughton said.
"Officer Hopper, in fear for his life, fired several rounds from his
service pistol, wounding the suspect."
It was not clear whether the victim knew
that Hopper was a real police officer. One guest said some party-goers
were dressed as police officers.
Upon
examination, Broughton said, the alleged weapon was determined to be "a
replica semiautomatic pistol, dark in color."
Lee, who was identified by the county
coroner's office, died at the scene.
"This is a tragedy," said Broughton.
"It's a very unfortunate incident.'
The
shooting is being investigated by the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division and
a team from the district attorney's office. Hopper, 27, has been with the
department three years, while Humphreys, 25, joined the force two years
ago, police said.
Erik Quisling, 29, a
party-goer, said a friend of his, who is a nurse, tried to revive Lee. "He
was wedged up against the bed on his side," Quisling added.
Quisling said he was standing in the
doorway of the bedroom where Lee was shot. He said he did not witness the
moments before the shooting or the shooting itself. He also said he did
not hear police officers give a warning, although there was music blaring
at the time.
"I heard this 'pop pop,'
saw the holes in the glass, smelled the smoke, and then there was this guy
on the floor totally dead," he said. "The cop shot from outside through a
window to inside the house and kills this guy four feet from me. One
minute he was talking; the next minute he was dead."
Quisling said the small room looked out
onto a dimly lit grotto with a small pool. The officers, he said, were
standing in a paved area by the pool.
At
the time of the shooting, Quisling said, many people had left by shuttle
because the party was moving to an artist's studio. The mansion is on a
narrow canyon road, home to an eclectic array of houses.
Another party-goer, Robert Hull, 28, who
works in movie production, said he did not see the shooting because he was
in an adjacent hallway. "It was a shock that an officer would shoot at
such a party," he said.
"This was an
exclusive party with security," he said. "Some of these people are making
six figures, and this officer saw a toy gun at a Halloween costume party
and opened fire."
Victim Turned
Life Around, Friend Says
Hale, 44,
who had known the victim for 15 years, said Lee usually wore a devil mask
costume with a hood and carried a replica gun to Halloween parties. Hale
was not at the party.
Authorities did
not say whether the victim was in costume at the time of the shooting.
Lee's costume and gun, Hale said, were
"a symbol of the past he had left behind him." As a youth in Northern
California, Lee had followed the gangster life before becoming a stage
actor, first in Ashland, Ore., then Seattle and eventually Los Angeles,
Hale said.
"He was dressed as a devil,
not a gangster," he said. "How could this happen?"
Hale said his friend was committed to
peace and had even persuaded him to become a Buddhist.
Kirsten Blackburn, Hale's wife, said the
Lee she knew would never point a gun at anyone. She said his friends are
planning a candlelight vigil in front of the LAPD's West Los Angeles
station.
"We are going to try for Monday
night. We're going to invite everyone who knew and loved Anthony," she
said. "We're devastated, and we're not alone by any means."
Lee's former girlfriend, Annie Esty, 40,
who lived across the hall from him, described the actor as a
compassionate, reflective person whose apartment was filled with books on
acting and directing.
As she talked, she
leafed through old pictures and newspaper clippings of him and was
comforted by another friend, Mary Lin.
"His biggest fear was getting killed by
cops, because he's a tall black man. He said that before," recalled Lin,
of Burbank.
The light was still on at
Lee's apartment late Saturday. Lin said that when she walked into the
apartment complex and "saw the light coming out, I just felt his presence.
It was everywhere, a positive feeling, like him saying, 'I'm still here.'
"