
DATE: Saturday, June 21, 1997               TAG: 9706210348

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  108 lines

WITNESSES TO FATAL SHOOTING CRITICIZE POLICE SHOTS WERE FIRED AFTER A THIRD OFFICER JUMPED FROM HIS CAR WITH GUN DRAWN, EYEWITNESSES SAY.

A police officer who drove up suddenly and jumped out of his vehicle as two other officers confronted a knife-wielding teen-ager last Sunday apparently precipitated a shooting that resulted in the teen's death, eyewitnesses said Friday.

Bryan Dugan, 19, was shot at least three times by police Sunday morning when he refused to drop knives that he was holding as he taunted and lunged toward the officers near the entrance of the Liberty Ridge townhouse development, police said.

Dugan, the grandson of developer Edward S. Garcia, bled to death when a major artery near his leg was severed by one of the bullets that struck him.

The two officers involved in the standoff had been attempting to get Dugan to drop the knives before the third officer drove up to the scene, about 6:30 a.m. Sunday, police said. The shooting apparently began when the officer jumped from the car with his gun drawn and Dugan feinted toward the officer, witnesses said.

Two of the officers fired their weapons, sources said. One of the two officers involved in the standoff, a female, did not fire. One of the officers involved in the incident is a rookie. Another has two years of experience. Police on Friday would not release their names.

It was at least the seventh time Beach police have shot a suspect in the past 18 months. Three of the shootings, two this year, have been fatal. Nearly all involved armed men.

Witnesses to the Sunday shooting and members of Dugan's family on Friday questioned whether the shooting was justified.

``I saw enough of it to see that the police officers could have handled it another way,'' said Theresa Haynes, who lives in the 600 block of Governor's Way, next to the location where Dugan was shot. ``There were enough officers there to handle it without shooting.''

Another neighbor agreed: ``They were definitely wrong,'' said a man who lives in the townhouse directly behind the site of the shooting. ``There was no need for them to shoot that boy three times.''

The man asked that his name not be used.

But Mike Carey, a police spokesman, disagreed.

``Mr. Dugan was given every opportunity in the world to drop the weapons that he had,'' Carey said on Friday. ``It was very unfortunate that he continued to challenge and threaten the officers.''

Meanwhile, family members on Friday erected a memorial to Dugan on a grassy area behind the scene of the shooting, placing photographs of the teen-ager and yellow ribbons on a fence and on a tree. They also placed a handwritten sign that said: ``It was not a man who was shot and killed here. It was only a young boy named Bryan Dugan.''

Garcia, Dugan's grandfather, vowed on Friday to continue asking questions about Dugan's death until he receives a satisfactory explanation.

``We have not found or heard a satisfactory answer as to why he was shot,'' Garcia said on Friday. ``I don't want this to turn to bitterness in my heart. It has to be truthful enough that I can buy into it. If I can't, I'll always be searching some kind of sensible answer. It has to make sense.''

Garcia said he and his family are conducting their own investigation into the shooting.

The Virginia Beach Police Department is conducting two investigations into the shooting. The Virginia Beach Commonwealth's Attorney's Office is conducting another. All are standard following a fatal shooting involving police.

Carey could not say Friday when the investigations would be complete.

Dugan had an outstanding warrant for simple assault on file against him, Carey said. He had agreed to turn himself in to police. The charge had nothing to do with Sunday's incident.

Police received a 911 call of a domestic disturbance about 6:22 a.m. Sunday in the 600 block of Chancery Square. When they arrived at the scene Dugan had left through a rear door. Dugan's girlfriend and another woman were still in the residence, police said.

The townhouse had been trashed by Dugan, who was having an argument with his girlfriend, police said. The women told police where Dugan had gone and that he did not have a gun.

Three teen-agers who live on Counselor Lane and witnessed the entire incident said they saw the two police officers backing down the road and attempting to get Dugan to drop his weapons. Dugan, they said, was taunting the officers to ``shoot me, go ahead and shoot me.''

The witnesses said the two police officers tried to get Dugan to drop the knives, using a long prodding device and pepper spray.

Dugan dropped one of the knives, they said, but continued to hold at least two as he walked to the spot where he would be shot.

Moments later the third police officer drove to the scene and the shooting began.

Because Dugan was lunging toward the officers, the three youths said they thought police were justified in shooting him, but not in fatally wounding him.

``They had to shoot him to stop him,'' one of the teen-agers said. ``But they didn't have to kill him.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color Photos

TAMARA VONINSKI photos/The Virginian-Pilot

A memorial to Bryan Dugan, 19, was erected near where he died by

family members, including his grandmother, Sandy Garcia, left in

photo at right, and grandfather Edward S. Garcia, who is hugging

Dugan's mother, Angela Mozer.

Graphic

WHAT HAPPENED

Bryan Dugan, 19, died Sunday after being shot at least three

times by Virginia Beach police officers whom he had been taunting

with knives. Police have said Dugan had every chance to surrender.

But some witnesses to the incident, and Dugan's family, are raising