Suspect in Police Officer Killing Turns Himself In

03 Aug, 2015

An ex-con accused of fatally shooting a police officer who interrupted a drug deal turned himself in Monday, ending an intensive two-day manhunt, a spokesman for a U.S. attorney said.

Tremaine Wilbourn, 29, was with his family when he arrived at a federal building in Memphis, said Louis Goggans, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.

Wilbourn was a passenger in a 2002 Mercedes Benz that was parked illegally in a southeast Memphis neighborhood on Saturday night, police said. Officer Sean Bolton approached the car, Wilbourn got out of the Mercedes and the two men got into a struggle, police said.

Wilbourn took out a gun and fired, striking Bolton multiple times, and then he and the driver ran away as a civilian used Bolton’s radio to notify police about the shooting, authorities said.

The driver later turned himself in to police, and was released without charges. Police sought Wilbourn on a first-degree murder warrant.

Officers said they found about 1.7 grams of marijuana in the car.

Wilbourn was on probation for an armed bank robbery. A sentencing memorandum filed by Wilbourn’s lawyer on May 16, 2006, said Wilbourn was persuaded by his uncle to join the robbery to help him with his finances and “he was awaiting news regarding a possible college scholarship based on his athletic ability.”

He was sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison and released on probation in July 2014. He used marijuana in December and was ordered to undergo mental health treatment July 7, according to federal court documents released Monday. It’s not clear whether he was ever evaluated.

The documents said witnesses to the officer’s shooting identified Wilbourn in a photo lineup.

AP

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