Shooting was justified, Halifax report states

By Denice Thibodeau

Published: August 15, 2008

The police shooting of Randolph Neal Seamster, 22, on July 2 was justified, according to a report released Friday from Halifax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Kimberley S. White.

White released the report and video of the incident during a news conference held at Halifax Country Circuit Court.

All it took was 16 seconds for the events that caused the death Seamster to unfold, according to the surveillance video taken July 2 at Sheetz in South Boston.

On that day, Seamster purchased a cigar at Sheetz and returned to the vehicle he had driven to the store. His girlfriend, Cecile Nicole Oliver, went into the store also, but returned to the car before him.

Unknown to them, the SUV next to them had a police officer in it. That vehicle had parked next to them and three of the four plain clothes officers in it went into the store. The officers were all members of the Halifax/South Boston Regional Narcotics and Gang Task Force.

White said undercover officers normally wear their badges on chains around their necks, so they can hide them under their shirts, but pull them out quickly if needed.

The officer in the SUV, Cpl. Mike McGregor, reported that he saw Seamster tap the tobacco in the cigar out the window, part of a procedure commonly used to create a “blunt” — basically, a marijuana cigar.

According to the report, McGregor called one of the officers in the store, Investigator Tom Lewis, and told him what he had seen.

He then told the other two officers, Agent Mark Campbell and Investigator Tracy Mocarsky, about the suspicious activity.

The video shows Mocarsky approach the vehicle, with no weapon drawn or badge showing. In the next few seconds, Mocarsky is seen pulling the chain from under his shirt and Seamster backing out of the parking space.

In the space of seven or eight seconds, all of the officers are in the parking lot, and two have been hit by the car Seamster is driving. Lewis, the second to be hit, fires his weapon when he is on the hood of the car, shattering the windshield; he rolls over the edge of the roof to the trunk and falls on the ground at the rear of the car.

Seamster stops the car and puts it into park. Within minutes, a medic arrives and arranges for Seamster to be taken out of the car and laid on the ground, where it is soon determined he has died from a gunshot wound to the chest.

White speculated that Seamster attempted to flee because he has had several brushes with the law, was driving on a suspended license and had pending cases in Danville for shoplifting and possession of marijuana.

Angela Meredith, Seamster’s aunt and the family spokesperson, said the family is not satisfied with the results of the investigation.

She questions White’s impartiality on the case, saying White should have called in a special prosecutor since she worked closely with the officers involved in the incident.

The family also questions whether the officers were actually hit by the car, since neither required medical attention, and debates just how close Seamster came to hitting the bicyclists.

Meredith said some elements in the report are incorrect, citing a passage that says Oliver knew Seamster for less than a week before July 2; she said Seamster and Oliver had been dating for three weeks.

She also said the list of offenses White said Seamster was accused of included at least one error: White said Seamster was a “person of interest” in a theft in Caswell County, N.C., just two days before the shooting; Meredith said he was at Buggs Island that day.

Seamster’s mother, Alisa Fay Seamster, of Pelham, N.C., was also at the news conference, holding photographs of her son as tears ran down her face.

“He didn’t deserve to die like this,” she said after the report was released. “They could have done something different.”

Meredith said the family has been contacting lawyers and human rights organizations to get help in clearing up the inconsistencies the family sees in the report.

Rev. Avon Keen, president of the Danville Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said he attended the news conference at the request of the family.

“I’m here to see if I can help, or point them toward people who can,” Keen said.

• Contact Denice Thibodeau at or (434) 791-7985.