By Steve Huffman
Salisbury Post
Salisbury Police have identified a man killed in a shootout with officers early Sunday.
Alphonso Leroy Howard Simmons Jr., 20, of 801 Grace St., died after being shot multiple times. Police officers say he fired at them first.
Police Chief Mark Wilhelm said Monday he wasn’t yet releasing the names of the three officers who fired at Simmons. He did not explain why, except to say the State Bureau of Investigation is conducting an inquiry, standard procedure when an officer shoots someone.
The shooting happened at Civic Apartments, 715 Hall St., near the J.C. Price American Legion Post.
A woman who answered the door at 801 Grace St., Simmons’ home address, was polite but had little to say Monday morning to a Post reporter.
“I’m still trying to get myself together,” she said.
The house is a neat, white, frame structure located at the dead-end of Grace Street, about a half-mile off Lincolnton Road and not far from the rear of the Salisbury High School campus.
Monday morning, two boys who looked to be about 4 years old rode Big Wheel-type trikes in front of the house.
A pedestrian could cut through woods at the end of Grace Street and be at Civic Apartments ó the scene of Sunday’s shooting ó in minutes. The distance is less than a half-mile.
According to police, Simmons was a suspect in an armed robbery.
He was being pursued by one officer when he rounded a corner of the apartments and found himself facing three other officers.
Police say Simmons drew a handgun and shot at the officers, who then returned fire. Simmons died instantly.
According to police, the incident began at 2:09 a.m., when a woman called 911, saying she had been robbed at gunpoint while pumping gasoline at the Rushco station at Jake Alexander Boulevard and Mooresville Road.
She told dispatchers four men involved in the robbery drove away in a white Toyota Camry. The woman gave the dispatcher a partial license number and said one of the vehicle’s windows was broken out and covered with plastic.
Another witness said he saw the suspect vehicle behind Harris-Teeter, near the intersection of Jake Alexander Boulevard and Brenner Avenue and not far from Civic Apartments.
Shortly thereafter, police found a car matching the description of the suspect vehicle in the apartment complex.
Accompanied by a Rowan County sheriff’s deputy, police officers approached the door of the apartment to inquire about the vehicle that was parked out front.
When officers knocked on the front door, a male exited through the back door. An officer who was stationed at the rear of the apartment spoke to the man, who then ran around the side of the building toward the front.
That’s where he confronted the three officers and the shooting ensued.
Police were still searching for the other three suspects in the robbery.
The woman who was robbed at Rushco left before officers arrived, police said.
The last time a Salisbury officer shot a suspect was in the fall of 2005.
Staff writer Shavonne Potts contributed to this article.