Witnesses: Woman shot by officer had BB gun
GALVESTON — Two people who said they witnessed the officer-involved shooting of a woman in Galveston said Friday that she was carrying a pinkand-black BB gun shortly before she was shot dead by an off-duty city police officer.
Toni Jo Collins, who died at the scene, was shoved against a fence after the BB gun was kicked away, pistol-whipped as she lay on the ground, and then shot after she stood up and faced the officer with a stick in her hand, said her boyfriend, 48-year-old Victor Mangun.
“That man, he shot my baby in the heart like it was nothin’,” Mangun said.
Details of Mangun’s version could not be verified, but a neighbor who witnessed the incident confirmed that Collins was carrying a BB gun when she went into the alley, where she was shot at about 6:20 p.m. Thursday. The alley is near the intersection of Broadway Boulevard and 10th Street.
Charles Green, 40, who lives next to the alley, said he saw Collins minutes before she was killed and he could clearly see that she was carrying a BB gun. He said he did not feel threatened.
“I can’t fathom why he shot her,” Green said. He said he did not realize that the man with a gun was a police officer and never heard him identify himself.
Police identified the policeman as K-9 Officer Evan Fraley, 25, a three-year veteran. He has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation, Lt. Joshua Schirard said.
Schirard said he was unable to comment on the accounts of witnesses who spoke with the Chronicle.
“Due to the fact that the investigation is still ongoing, those details have not been released as of yet,” Schirard said. “It is important to also note that we are not conducting the criminal investigation, so we are not even privvy to many of those details.”
Arguing in alley
Mangun said he and Collins, 35, were arguing loudly in the alley when an SUV came to a sudden stop nearby and a man armed with a pistol jumped out and ordered them to the ground. He, too, said the man never identified himself as a police officer.
The shooting is being investigated by the Galveston County sheriff and district attorney, and city police are conducting a separate internal investigation to determine whether Fraley complied with department policy, Schirard said.
Shirard declined to elaborate on the sketchy police account, saying he did not want to jeopardize the investigation.
Police said Fraley was leaving a residence with his family on 11th Street and Broadway when he observed some type of disturbance in a nearby alleyway. The police account did not mention the SUV, saying only that as Fraley approached the scene, he saw a woman brandishing a gun and quickly separated from his family.
Collins was later transported to the University of Texas Medical Branch emergency room, where she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
Shirard declined to identify Collins’ weapon, citing the ongoing investigation. But a woman who identified herself as Collins’ best friend said she was carrying a pink and black BB gun. “She got it for Christmas and she was proud of it,” said Yvonne Perry, 51.
Mangun, who does maintenance for an apartment complex across the street from the alley entrance, said he and Collins had met in a halfway house in Austin and been together about two years. “She had the prettiest smile,” he said. She called him “Boo” and he called her “Boo and Honeysuckle,” Mangun said.
“We were going to be together no matter what,” Mangun said. “She didn’t deserve to die.”
‘It’s a BB gun’
Green, the neighbor, said he was in his garage when he heard shouting. He walked into the street in front of his house to see what was happening when he saw an SUV jerk to a stop and a man emerge with a gun.
Mangun said he lay on the ground as Fraley ordered, but Collins held up the BB gun patterned after a lever-action rifle, holding it with one hand by the lever.
“She held it up and says, ‘It’s a Daisy BB gun,’ ” he said.
Mangun urged her to lie on the ground, but she said, “I’m not going to get on the ground. It’s a BB gun,” Mangun recalled.
The officer pushed Collins into a fence and she fell to the ground, then he kicked the BB gun away, Mangun said. Green said he also saw the officer push Collins roughly into the fence.
Unaware that the man with a gun was a police officer, Green called 911 and ushered his children into the house when he saw him wave the gun back and forth between Collins and Mangun. He recalled shouting at the 911 operator, “Get down here, he’s going to shoot somebody.”
Mangun alleged that the officer grabbed Collins by her shirt and struck her several times with his pistol. Despite the beating, Collins grabbed a stick and stood up facing the officer, he said. “She said, ‘I ain’t backing up,’” Mangun said.
It’s unclear how many shots were fired. Green said he heard a single shot.
Mangun said one of the officers responding to the 911 call kicked him in the side. He lifted his shirt to show a bruise.
He was taken to police headquarters and questioned, then summoned to speak with a sergeant, he said. “That’s when they told me that my Honeysuckle had died,’ Mangun said.
One of the couple’s friends, David Rutkowski, 47, said he is trying to raise enough money to send Collins’ body back to Oklahoma so she can be buried beside her mother.