Angry Aftermath of a Shootout

Memphis police are under fire after a bloody siege

At first the outcome seemed but the tragic last act in a weird drama pitting police against crazed cultists. But as fresh details began to emerge about the bloody siege that left one policeman and seven blacks dead in Memphis two weeks ago, the judgment and conduct of police officials in handling the 30-hr. ordeal triggered a citywide debate and at least one federal probe. Said Maxine Smith, executive secretary of the Memphis chapter of the N.A.A.C.P.: "The police did not go into the house to apprehend, but to kill." Ray Maples, president of the Memphis Police Association, countered angrily: "I think [these critics] are all mental cases."

The battle began when a phone call about a purse-snatching brought the police to a black, working-class neighborhood in north Memphis. No suspects were found, so they left. A second call complaining about the handling of the case prompted two patrolmen to visit 2239 Shannon, where they were set upon by the occupants. Two other officers then arrived on the scene. Shots were fired, and three patrolmen fled the house. But one, Robert Hester, 34, was captured and held hostage.

The abductors were members of a freaky religious cult, and included its leader, Lindberg Sanders, 49, an unemployed construction worker. Besides refusing to eat pork or drink water, they believed police to be agents of the devil. After 30 hours of futile negotiations, the authorities surrounding the house became convinced that Officer Hester had been murdered. Six members of TACT (for Tactical Apprehension Containment Team), stormed the dwelling, and in the ensuing struggle all seven cultists were killed. Hester was found inside, badly battered and dead for several hours.

In a 2 1/2-hr. press conference last week, Memphis police officials tried to bury any doubts about whether the raid had been handled properly, but the effect of their performance was quite the opposite. The most unnerving fact: five of the seven men died from gunshot wounds in the head. Six of the seven had been shot and killed in a single 9-ft. by 11-ft. bedroom. Afterward, only one gun was found. When asked how the aim of the TACT officers could be so accurate in a darkened house full of tear gas and smoke, Police Director John Holt explained that the TACT team had guns with lights mounted on them and had been trained to shoot for the head.

By the Memphis police department's own admission, the cultists all together had only two .38-cal. pistols, wrested from the policemen at the outset of the struggle. The rest of their weapons cache consisted of little more than two hunting knives. A total of twelve rounds were squeezed off by Sanders' followers throughout the siege, compared with 80 rounds fired by the TACT team during the assault. But Holt contended that the decision to attack had come only after police decided that no alternatives remained.

Many in Memphis disagreed. Some members of the black community accused the police of charging into the house with the express desire to kill. Observed Shelby County Commissioner Walter Bailey: "A policeman's job is not to mete out punishment. They went in there with the attitude that they would take no prisoners." The Justice Department already has instructed the local FBI office to look into the incident, while Democratic Congressman Harold Ford of Memphis called on Attorney General William French Smith to appoint a special team from Washington to conduct a comprehensive investigation. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.