57° M/CLOUDY, Road to Strickland shooting began with robbery
Last Modified: Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 7:52 a.m.
It all started with a robbery.
Just after midnight Nov. 17, 2006, Sony PlayStation 3 game consoles were flying off shelves in Wilmington stores.
Anticipating the video game system's release, a University of North Carolina Wilmington student, Justin Raines, waited in line to buy two systems at Wal-Mart.
After he bought the PlayStations, a gold sedan with three men inside followed him from Wal-Mart to the UNCW campus.
When Raines arrived at his dorm, he started unloading the PlayStations from his trunk.
Someone hit him in the head with a blunt object and took the PlayStations.
UNCW police received information about the three male suspects and asked the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office for help serving a warrant at 533 Long Leaf Acres Drive in a neighborhood off Eastwood Road on Dec. 1, 2006.
The address belonged to a rental home where 18-year-old Peyton Strickland had been living with three roommates. Strickland had moved in that semester to participate in a two-year welding program at Cape Fear Community College.
Heavily armed members of the county sheriff's Emergency Response Team descended on the home in the evening, thinking they might be in danger.
That's because investigators had discovered an Internet photo showing Strickland's older friend, Ryan Mills, posing with two other men holding guns. The ERT also received information that Strickland and Mills might be armed.
In the course of serving the warrant, Cpl. Christopher M. Long shot Strickland twice through a wooden front door with three glass panels.
Strickland died unarmed.
In the process, Strickland's German shepherd, Blaze, also was shot to death.
Former Cpl. Long, a 10-year veteran of the sheriff's office, has said he mistook the sound of a battering ram for gunshots. A hood, earpiece and helmet he was wearing as part of his gear muffled his hearing, he said.
He was fired, and his law enforcement career ended.
Long was not charged in Strickland's death.
Veronica Gonzalez: 343-2008
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