Shooting victim’s family says drugs likely involved in robbery
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 2, 2009
By Sarah Nagem
snagem@salisburypost.com
Alphonso Simmons Jr., who was shot and killed by police early Sunday, probably sold drugs, his family said.
But his sister, 22-year-old Shardel Simmons, wanted to make one thing clear: Her little brother didn’t deal drugs so he could buy the latest fashions or seem cool.
After losing at least a couple of jobs, 20-year-old Alphonso, known by family members as “Al Boogie,” sold drugs to help support his young children, Shardel said.
“Times is hard right now,” Shardel said. “He’s got four kids.”
Alphonso’s arrest record in Rowan County is short. He was scheduled to appear in court Oct. 31 for driving without a license in August. He had no history of drug arrests here, according to records in the Rowan County Courthouse.
Alphonso and three other unidentified men were suspects in a robbery at the McDonald’s/Rushco station on Jake Alexander Boulevard Sunday morning, police have said.
A woman called 911 a little after 2 a.m. and said she had been robbed at gunpoint while pumping gas there.
The woman gave a description of the car in which the four suspects were riding, and police soon found the car at the Civic Apartments off Brenner Avenue.
Police knocked on the door of an apartment, and a man, later identified as Alphonso, left through the back door, police have said.
After passing by one officer stationed at the back of the apartment, he encountered two police officers and a sheriff’s deputy who were standing at the side of the building. Police say he fired at them, and they shot back, killing him.
“The robbery was about drugs, it had to have been,” Shardel said.
Alphonso’s stepfather, James Jones, agreed.
“It was a drug thing,” he said.
Salisbury Police have not released a possible motive in the robbery. Authorities are trying to find the man and woman who reported the robbery that morning.
A rocky start
Simmons lived with his mother, Tamie Jones, and his stepfather at 801 Grace St. in Salisbury.
His children are 3, 2, 1 and 10 months, Shardel said.
“Fatherhood came kind of early for him,” Jones said.
Alphonso did the best he could in terms of being a father, Shardel said. Jones was the only father figure in his life.
“He didn’t ever have no father,” Shardel said.
She said Alphonso attended Granite Quarry Elementary and Knox Middle School. She’s not sure if he ever enrolled in high school.
Shardel said she dropped out in the ninth grade, and Alphonso followed in the footsteps of his older sister.
But Alphonso had enrolled in the GED program at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and had dreams of opening a barber shop, she said.
He was a talented athlete ó the family has pictures of young Alphonso playing football ó and liked to hang out with his friends, the family said.
“Everybody liked Al,” Shardel said. “He was a churchgoing person.”
Her brother attended church in Salisbury every Sunday, Shardel said.
Alphonso apparently had a spotty job history. He wasn’t working outside the home when he died, Shardel said.
He had worked at Subway on Jake Alexander Boulevard for a few months, but the job ended about three months ago, Jones said.
Before that, he said, Alphonso had worked at the Food Lion warehouse.
Money was tight. Jones said Alphonso didn’t own a car.
“Poverty, I guess, led him to do the things he did,” Jones said.
The shooting
Jones said Alphonso left the Grace Street house around 2 p.m. Saturday. He was going to spend some time with his girlfriend.
That was the last time Jones saw his stepson.
Alphonso had planned to get his 3-year-old son, Damarrion, for the weekend, Jones said. He was also waiting for a call from his grandfather about a church band rehearsal.
Her brother was musical, Shardel said. He played the drums and the keyboard.
Jones and Shardel said they don’t know well the other three men suspected in the robbery. But the men hung out together often, they said.
Shardel got a phone call early that morning saying her brother had been shot by law enforcement officers.
Jones said Alphonso owned a 9mm pistol, but it didn’t work. Alphonso had tried to fire it the day before, Jones said, and it blew up in his hand.
“He was just totin’ it around,” Jones said. “It was more or less a scare tactic.”
Jones said Salisbury Police have said Alphonso shot at officers with a 380mm gun, a type of weapon Jones said Alphonso did not own.
Salisbury Police have not identified the weapon they say Alphonso used to shoot at the officers. The State Bureau of Investigation, which is looking into the case, has also not released that information.
Shardel said her brother probably knew people who lived at the Civic Apartments. Jones lived there until about four years ago.
Jones said police came to the Grace Street home about six months ago looking for Alphonso. They had heard Alphonso was carrying a gun, Jones said.
The officer said then if he saw that gun, he was going to “lay him down,” Jones said of Alphonso.
Jones said he wonders if that incident had anything to do with Alphonso’s death this week.
He and Shardel said they think police could have apprehended Alphonso without shooting him.
“I’m just devastated by the whole situation, because I know there was a better solution,” Shardel said.
She said the family is struggling to find enough money to bury her brother.
The NAACP contacted the family this week about the shooting, Jones said.
Shardel said she worries about Alphonso’s children.
“They don’t know,” she said. “But when they get older, they’re going to know … and it’s going to hurt.”