The home of Raleigh shooting suspect 39-year-old Chad Cameron Copley is seen Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016, in Raleigh, N.C. Police say Copley fired a shotgun from inside his garage and fatally struck a 20-year-old black man. Witnesses say the body lay close to a mailbox. (AP Photo/Jonathan Drew) (The Associated Press)
RALEIGH, N.C. – The mother of a young black man who authorities say was killed by a white man firing a shotgun from his garage says her son was known as "Safety 101" because he always urged people to buckle their seat belts.
Simone Butler-Thomas spoke by phone Tuesday with The Associated Press about the killing of her 20-year-old son, Kouren-Rodney Bernard Thomas.
Police have charged Chad Cameron Copley with murder. They released 911 calls from Copley's house in which a man says he fired at a group of armed black "hoodlums" outside.
Butler-Thomas says her son was leaving a house party down the street when he was fired on. She said her son was only weeks away from moving into his first apartment after working a series of restaurant jobs.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
