Community leaders and family of 29-year-old Ricky Bodden held a press conference yesterday outside Boston Police Headquarters in Roxbury, protesting the lack of answers in the investigation of Bodden’s Dec. 27 shooting death by a Boston Municipal police officer.
Officer Kyle Wilcox shot Bodden in the neck while pursuing him on foot. Bodden allegedly had fled after refusing to allow Wilcox to frisk him.
Wilcox reportedly had suspected Bodden to be in possession of marijuana and shot him after a chase that allegedly ended with Bodden pulling a gun on Wilcox.
According to a statement read by Black Community Information Center director Sadiki Kambon, he and leaders were told at a Jan. 25 meeting with Police Commissioner Paul Evans that the investigation would be complete in two weeks.
“Well, here we are back two months later and still no meeting,” Kambon said.
City Councilor Chuck Turner (South End, Roxbury) called for a change in the procedure for handling situations such as the Bodden shooting. The lack of information, he said, is “cruel or unusual punishment for a family that’s already lost a member.”
Carol Bodden, Ricky Bodden’s older sister, remembered her brother yesterday as loving.
“He was the sweetest little kid. He was no angel,” she added, referring to her brother’s criminal history, “but he didn’t deserve to be shot and killed.”
Also questioned was Wilcox’s experience. He had graduated from the police academy two months prior to the shooting.
“When you have a 23-year-old man with a pistol, with basic security guard training, you have an inherent danger,” Kambon said.
Further complicating the case is a witness statement alleging Bodden never pulled a gun on Wilcox, contradicting Wilcox’s report.
Bodden was shot in the back of the neck, something Carol Bodden said causes her to find Wilcox’s account suspicious.
Wilcox has been on leave without pay since the December incident.
Terry Marshall, of the Streets Are Watching group, announced plans for a march protesting Bodden’s death and the handling of the investigation. The march will be held on March 27, beginning at the Park Street T Station and ending at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.
“The intention is to demand answers,” Marshall said.
The Boston Police Department refused to comment on the Bodden case, but issued a statement saying the investigative report has been forwarded to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.
Carol Bodden, who has moved temporarily to Boston from her home in Louisiana since her brother’s death, said she and her family would continue to demand answers.
“We’re here,” she said. “We’re not going away.”
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