Supporters attend vigil for man shot in police car

By Jeannie Nuss

Associated Press

Published: Monday, Aug. 20 2012 10:25 p.m. MDT

Anne Carter Winters breaks down into tears as she arrives to a Monday, Aug. 20, 2012 prayer vigil held on the grounds of The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn., for her grandson Chavis Carter, who Jonesboro, Ark., police say committed suicide while handcuffed. Winters is aided by Ursula Holmes, a lawyer with the Cochran law firm.

The Commercial Appeal, Stan Carroll, Associated Press

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Summary

Dozens of supporters have gathered outside the motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was slain to pray for a young man who was fatally shot in the back of an Arkansas patrol car.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Dozens of supporters have gathered outside the motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was slain to pray for a young man who was fatally shot in the back of an Arkansas patrol car.

The vigil Monday night outside the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn., came hours after police released an autopsy report in the death of 21-year-old Chavis Carter.

The report said Carter's death was a suicide, but several people at the vigil continued to question how a man in handcuffs could shoot himself in the head.

Police said officers in Jonesboro, Ark., searched Carter twice but didn't find a gun before he was fatally shot July 28.

Carter's mom, Teresa Carter, wiped her eyes as people spoke about her son.

"My heart is so heavy," she said.

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