FBI probes Fort Lauderdale police shooting - Black community leaders sought federal investigations of shootings by Fort Lauderdale police officers

The FBI is investigating the shooting of two unarmed men Tuesday by Fort Lauderdale police officers, and the local branch of the NAACP has filed a complaint with the Department of Justice.

Troy Eddines was shot to death, and Travis Jackson was wounded when officers fired on the stolen SUV they were riding in near Sistrunk Boulevard in a mostly black community.

The widening scrutiny of the shooting comes amid an outcry from black community leaders that the Fort Lauderdale department has lost the ability to police itself.

Eddines' fatal shooting was the fourth in six months by Fort Lauderdale police officers.

"This community is outraged. We will not stand for any police officers, not one, not two, not any of them to continue to kill unarmed victims," Florida NAACP President Adora Obi Nweze, told reporters Friday.

Police Chief Bruce Roberts couldn't be reached for comment Friday. But city spokesman Ted Lawson welcomed the federal investigation.

"We always welcome other jurisdictions and other levels of government bolstering our resources, particularly in an investigation where community comfort and support of the eventual outcome is so important," Lawson said.

Eddines and Jackson were unarmed when they were shot on Tuesday, but they had been in the days leading up to the shooting, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office, Plantation and Coconut Creek police.

Eddines was identified Friday as the man who held up a Plantation laundromat on Nov. 21 at gunpoint, said Plantation Detective Phil Toman.

"He went inside, pulled a gun on the cashier and demanded money," Toman said of the robbery at 3809 W. Broward Blvd.

No one was injured. A cashier identified Eddines from photographs as the robber.

Jackson, meanwhile, was arrested Thursday in the robbery of three teenage boys Nov. 26 in Tamarac.

And Coconut Creek police have identified Eddines as one of three people who carjacked the SUV he later died in. Eddines was also identified as the gunman, officials said. It was a flier on the stolen 2006 white Mitsubishi Endeavor that led Officers Robert Norvis and Todd Hill to pull the men over in the 500 block of Northwest 17th Avenue, said Detective Kathy Collins, police spokeswoman.

The officers knew it had been taken in an armed carjacking. As they neared the SUV, it reversed and hit one of them in the leg.

Police haven't said exactly how many shots the officers fired, but said it was fewer than eight, Collins said.

Police haven't said whether Norvis and Hill knew who was driving the SUV or that they were suspects in other crimes when they pulled them over.

The FBI opened its investigation into the shooting after phone calls Thursday from Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Carlton Moore and the NAACP, FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela, said Friday.

"It's not unusual for us to get involved in these investigations," she said.

The case will be handled by agents from its public corruption and civil rights unit. Fort Lauderdale NAACP President Marsha Ellison said the chapter has also filed a complaint with the Department of Justice, asking it to look into the police department's procedures and policies "in regards to the use of deadly force in the city of Fort Lauderdale against our communities."

NAACP leaders also called for a reform of the police department's internal oversight system, saying the department had lost the ability to police itself.

"It's not the feeling of this community that the police department is making an effort to find out what took place," Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Carlton Moore said.

Hill and Norvis were placed on a three-day administrative leave. A decision will be made by Monday whether they will return to work or continue on leave, Collins said. Neither officer has given an official statement on the shooting, she said.

The frustration in Fort Lauderdale mirrored angst around the U.S.

"We're tired of burying unarmed black men," Bishop Victor Curry, president-elect of the Miami-Dade NAACP, said Friday.

"Black men in this country, in this city . . . in Broward and Miami-Dade counties don't receive the benefit of the doubt, and this has to stop."

Some residents said in a meeting with police Thursday night that they feel unsafe around officers and fear retaliation if they file complaints.

Lawson said Friday that the police regularly meet with homeowner groups, community and religious leaders and will continue to do so.