Civil Rights Division Emmett Till Act (Cold Case Closing Memoranda)
Willie Countryman
On May 25, 1958, at about 1:30 a.m., Dawson Police Department (DPD) Officers Weyman Cherry and Robert Hancock, the subjects, entered the yard of Willie Countryman, the African-American victim, reportedly to investigate a suspicious noise. The subjects claimed that the victim jumped from behind a tree and cut Cherry’s cap with a knife, whereupon Cherry broke free and shot the victim. Countryman sustained a gunshot wound to the stomach and was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
John (Larry) Bolden
On May 3, 1958, John (Larry) Bolden, a 15-year-old African-American high school student, was fatally shot by Officer William Henry Taylor of the Chattanooga Police during an altercation in South Chattanooga, Tennessee. The incident began when a resident complained she was being “annoyed” by several youths. Officer Taylor and his partner, Lester Lee Shell, responded and confronted the victim, his XXXXXX and his XXXXXX Shell communicated with XXXXXXXXXX and Taylor attempted to arrest the victim. According to the subject, the victim “jumped” him. The subject then struck the victim with a nightstick and the victim threw a trash can at the subject. In response, the subject fired his gun three times, striking the victim twice in the chest. The victim died in the hospital the next day.