1988 Riot[edit]
In September 1988, a riot compelled the police to block off the entire neighborhood. Cars and businesses were burned. The rioting continued for two days. It stemmed from an incident in which a white woman shot at an African American man when a drug deal failed.[1]-WIKIPEDIA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Grove,_Shreveport,_Louisiana
Hundreds of black people burned two stores and threw stones at whites early today after a a black man was fatally shot in what one witness described as a drug deal gone sour. A white woman was charged in the killing.Heavily armed police sealed off a 12-block area tonight after hearing sporadic gunfire in the neighborhood where the shooting took place. There were more reports of rocks being thrown, but there were no more injuries or arrests, the police said.Officials of this northwest Louisiana city of about 225,000 people met with black leaders today to discuss the disturbance, and afterward the black leaders warned against a recurrence of violence. State Representive Alphonse Jackson, who is black, called for a biracial anticrime committee and said: ''People want protection. I call on citizens to restore law and order.''Some of those taking part in the outbreak shouted slogans referring to an earlier slaying of a black man by a white teen-ager that had outraged blacks here. Police Kept DistanceThe police cordoned off a seven-block area Tuesday night after the disorder began but allowed it to run its course, nearly five hours, until 3 A.M. today. Several stores were looted, two of them were burned, and rioters threw stones and bottles at whites. Other than the shooting death, no serious injuries were reported. There were six arrests.The crowd reached 1,000 people at its peak, said Police Chief Charles Gruber.Chief Gruber said a brick was thrown through his car's windshield and bullets were fired into the back door, but he was not hurt. The car of a news crew from KTBS-TV was burned, and a Fire Department pumper was struck with bats and bricks.The outbreak was touched off by the shooting of a black man, identified as William David McKinney, 20, who lived in the neighborhood where the rioting took place, the police said. He was described by a witness as a bystander caught in gunfire when a drug deal went bad. 'Took Out Her Frustration'A white teen-ager, Tamala C. Vergo, 17, of Greenwood, was booked on a charge of second-degree murder, said police Cpl. E. T. Rushing. A second woman was questioned but not charged.A man who identified himself only as Charles and a cousin of Mr. McKinney, said the victim was shot at random after a woman trying to buy cocaine from a group of men was robbed. She then ''took out her frustration'' on Mr. McKinney, he told reporters after he was interviewed by detectives.The police said people in a convenience store tried to detain the woman until officers arrived, but a crowd of blacks gathered outside and began throwing bricks at the store and passing motorists who were white. Used Lighter FluidA witness, Anthony Johnson, said that after the police took the women away, the crowd doused the store with lighter fluid, set it afire and went on a rampage. The building, containing the store and a liquor shop, was destroyed.About 200 police were called in, Gruber said, including state troopers, sheriff's deputies, and officers from nearby Bossier City.During the riot, some members of the crowd shouted ''Hot Biscuit,'' the name of a restaurant where a white man fatally shot a black teen-ager Aug. 4. The shooting enraged Shreveport's black community, but black ministers urged their congregations to let authorities handle the investigation.Five white men were arrested in the case. One of the five admitted to the shooting, but said it was self-defense. He is being held on second-degree murder charges. Charges against three of the others were dropped in return for cooperation.
