Ninth Arrest in 1969 Riot
Y O R K, Pa., May 21 -- A ninth white man was arrested and charged withcriminal homicide today in the shooting death of a black womanduring a weeklong race riot in July 1969.
Thomas P. Smith, 50, of York, was arraigned before DistrictJustice Barbara Nixon this afternoon in the ambush shooting ofLillie Belle Allen, 27, of Aiken, S.C.
York Mayor Charlie Robertson is also a suspect in Allen'sdeath. Prosecutors say Robertson, who was a city police officer in1969, provided ammunition to men who shot at a car in which Allenwas riding on the fourth night of the riots.
Robertson, charged last week and released on $50,000 bail, hassaid he had no involvement in Allen's death.
York Mayor Charged
Allen's sister was driving a car that strayed into territorycontrolled by a white gang on July 21, 1969. The car stalled on aset of railroad tracks, and Allen got out, waved her arms andyelled, "Don't shoot" moments before she was cut down by gunfire.
Prosecutors in the York County district attorney's office saidAllen was not shot with the type of ammunition Robertson allegedlyhanded out. But they say witnesses have testified they heardRobertson urging whites to kill blacks before Allen was shot.
Court papers charging Smith cite his testimony before a grandjury, in which he said that, before the shooting, he strapped a gununder the hood of his car, and drove to the street where Allen waskilled.
Just the Latest Development
The papers cite testimony from several witnesses who said theysaw Smith with a gun at the scene of Allen's shooting, and heardhim say that he "got the car," and that he had shot out its backwindow.
The arrest was the latest development in the ongoingreinvestigation of the 32-year-old murder case. A grand jury beganreviewing the case last year.
The race riots began after a white gang member shot and injureda black man. Fights broke out, buildings were set ablaze and policebegan barricading black neighborhoods.
A white police officer named Henry Schaad, 22, also was fatallyshot three days before Allen was slain, while on patrol in a blackneighborhood. Schaad's killers were never caught. The same grandjury that is reviewing Allen's death is expected to examine hiscase next.
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