Walla Walla inmate shot and killed during cellmate fight

Associated Press

WALLA WALLA — A Washington State Penitentiary inmate shot and killed by a tower guard had ignored a warning shot and orders to stop fighting with a cellmate, a prison spokeswoman said Monday.

It was the first time an inmate was shot by corrections officers at the Walla Walla prison in at least 30 years.

Abdul Ali, 21, was fatally wounded about 7:30 a.m. Sunday as inmates were going to breakfast, spokeswoman Lori Scamahorn said. Ali was shot when a tower officer believed the inmate who was assaulted, Bryant Milo, 37, was unconscious and in danger of being killed, she said.

Ali and Milo were cellmates, and the motive for the fight appears to have been a personal dispute, prison officials said. Both inmates were black and both were Muslims, Scamahorn said.

"There is no indication it was either racially or religiously motivated," she said.

Preliminary review indicated the shooting was consistent with state law and department policy, prison officials said.

Prison Superintendent Dick Morgan believes the shooting saved Milo’s life, according to a prison news release.

Corrections officer Keith Burns ordered Ali to stop fighting at least twice and fired a warning shot before corrections officer Richard Tate in another tower fired the fatal shot, Scamahorn said.

Both officers are longtime prison employees, she said.

Investigations were under way by the Walla Walla Police Department and the Department of Corrections, Scamahorn said. The officers who fired their weapons were placed on administrative leave, as is routine, she said.

Milo was taken to the prison infirmary for observation. He was in stable condition Monday.

Ali was serving a 27-month sentence from King County on a cocaine conviction. He was scheduled to be released in July. Milo also was serving a sentence for a King County drug conviction, Scamahorn said.

The prison was placed on lockdown, where inmates are kept in their cells.

Scamahorn said tower guards are allowed to fire their weapons in cases of potential loss of life or great bodily harm, to stop escape attempts or to stop destruction of state property.

Officers are trained to give at least two verbal commands before firing a warning shot, she said. "Usually, a warning shot does the trick," she said.