Man in standoff died from police gunfire, investigation finds

PORTSMOUTH

Police were bringing a negotiator’s phone to a mentally troubled man during a standoff at his Churchland home when the man shot and wounded two officers, and then apparently died in the return volley of police gunfire, Chief Edward G. Hargis said Friday.

The chief said he was “comfortable” that officers acted appropriately based on the preliminary investigation into Thursday’s shooting death of Marshall Franklin Sr., 60, of Campbell Street. Meanwhile, members of Franklin’s family and neighbors complained that police didn’t give them a chance to talk Franklin into surrendering.

Officer Francisco J. Natal, 42, an 18-year veteran of the department, remained in the intensive-care unit of Sentara Norfolk General Hospital with shotgun wounds to an arm, Hargis said Friday. Officer Scott Blystone, 30 and a 5½-year veteran, was treated Thursday for a leg wound and released.

Hargis said that at 12:32 p.m. Thursday, police were asked to accompany a worker from the city’s Department of Behavioral Healthcare Services seeking to evaluate Franklin at his home in the Ebony Heights neighborhood. Police began a program last year to train officers to deal with issues of mental health, and one of the first officers responding was so trained, Hargis said.

A neighbor, Fred Jones, said Franklin was grilling outside, which he often did.

Franklin, armed with a knife or other sharp object, didn’t comply with the worker or police and ran back into his house, grabbing on the way what police believed to be another knife off a picnic table. The visitors retreated, cordoned off the area, evacuated nearby homes and called for negotiators and other help.

About 2:45 p.m., a line of tactical-response officers approached the back of the house and dropped a phone through a window for negotiators to use. Officer Blystone, holding a shield designed to stop rifle fire, protected the rear of the line of officers as they retreated.

About 2:48 p.m., Hargis said, Franklin fired multiple shotgun blasts at the officers, downing Blystone with a leg wound. Officer Natal, the next man in line, grabbed Blystone, but rounds hit him in the arm. Four officers fired back with rifles and handguns.

The wounded Natal pulled Blystone to safety behind a backyard shed, where other officers provided first aid to both and evacuated them. Police heard nothing more from inside the house, so they called Virginia State Police, Norfolk police and the FBI for technical help, including the use of a remote-controlled robot and an armored vehicle.

The robot’s camera showed Franklin lying motionless on the kitchen floor. Police used an armored car and a stun grenade to try to get a response and, 5½ hours after it began, ended the standoff by rushing the house. Franklin was dead.

A state medical examiner’s office spokeswoman, Donna Price, said Friday that Franklin died from two rifle wounds to the chest.

Inside, police found three shotguns, a pellet gun, several shotgun shells and .22-caliber bullets. Nine shotgun shells were in Franklin’s pants pockets, and a knife was found on the floor, Hargis said.

“Everyone had the intention to resolve this incident peacefully. Unfortunately, it didn’t go that route,” Hargis said.

He said negotiators interviewed family members as they prepared to talk with Franklin and wanted first to make the area safe. Family and neighbors weren’t convinced Friday, as they picked through debris in the house and cleaned blood off the floor. Window blinds were shredded. The refrigerator was riddled with holes, said Eartha Mills, a neighbor.

They asked why family members weren’t called before police.

“My brother was shot down like an animal,” said Juanita Ebron, one of Franklin’s sisters. “We didn’t get a chance to try and get him out.”

She said her brother was one of 10 children who grew up in the same single-story home where he died and that he developed problems while serving two tours of duty in the Vietnam War.

Mills said Franklin painted portraits of family members, gardened, and sang along on the porch to 1960s rhythm and blues artists.

“He was no one to fear – never,” Mills said.

 Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-3893, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com

Jen McCaffery, (757) 446-2627,jen.mccaffery@pilotonline.com