Target of raid receives sentence

5/31/2008

LIMA, Ohio - A local man arrested during a drug raid in which police fatally shot his girlfriend was sentenced yesterday to seven years in prison.

Just a few hours after Anthony Terry was in Allen County Common Pleas Court, Lima Police Chief Greg Garlock released a lengthy statement about the controversial case, in which he said police were unaware that Terry's girlfriend, Tarika Wilson, and her six children were living in the Third Street house they raided for drugs in January.

Wilson, 26, was shot to death by Sgt. Joseph Chavalia after the SWAT team entered the house Jan. 4. Her 1-year-old son was wounded in the gunfire. Terry, 32, was arrested for possession of drugs found inside the house.

"At no time during the surveillance of 218 East Third were either Tarika Wilson or her children observed and the investigators had no information she was living with Terry," Chief Garlock said.

Just two days before the raid, he said, Wilson was stopped by police for a traffic violation while driving Terry's car. He said Wilson gave her mother's address as her own.

Still, he said, the SWAT team saw children's toys on the porch of the house and decided to throw a distraction device outside the house before entering rather than tossing it through a window as they typically would.

The chief said he decided to publicly outline the Terry investigation to answer some of the questions that were posed in the aftermath of the shooting - an incident the Rev. Jesse Jackson called "a botched raid.

The sergeant who fired the fatal shots has been on paid leave since the incident. He was indicted by an Allen County grand jury in March on misdemeanor counts of negligent homicide and negligent assault.

Terry pleaded guilty in March to one count of trafficking in cocaine and two counts each of trafficking in marijuana and permitting drug abuse. Prior to his sentencing yesterday, Terry told the court he only sold drugs to support his own habit.