John Henry Spooner To Stand Trial For Killing Black Teen He Accused Of Stealing Shotguns

A Milwaukee man accused of shooting his preteen neighbor to death last year is set to stand trial this week, reports the Milwaukee Journal.

According to prosecutors, 76-year-old John Henry Spooner (pictured left) suspected 13-year-old Darius Simmons (pictured in photograph) of stealing three shotguns from his home. Spooner confronted Simmons as he took out the trash around 10:00 a.m. on May 31, 2012. When Simmons denied involvement and his mother told Spooner to go away, Spooner allegedly produced a handgun and fatally shot the youth.

When police arrived, Spooner told them he had shot Simmons. However, they questioned Simmons’ mother, Patricia Larry (pictured right), for two hours and searched her home as Simmons’ body was laying in the street, according to Bishop Tavis Grant, a field director for Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

Court records show that police previously removed 16 guns from Spooner’s house in December 2006. His r
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