FBI Joins Investigation in Police Killing of Black Kentucky Youth

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The FBI joined the investigation Wednesday into the police slaying of a black teen-ager that touched off a rampage by about 200 blacks.

The white officer who shot Antonio Sullivan in the head said his gun went off accidentally after he and four other officers tried to arrest the 18-year-old as he emerged from a closet at his girlfriend’s house.

Residents of the mostly black neighborhood near downtown said the shooting was inevitable and representative of routine racial abuse by police.

FBI agents will look into whether Sullivan was a victim of brutality, said V. David Kohl, agent in charge of the FBI in Kentucky.

The neighborhood was tense Wednesday afternoon. A TV news crew in an unmarked car was hit by gunfire but nobody was hurt.

But wooden barricades came down, not many police were on the streets and people went about their business.

When Sullivan was shot, police were trying to arrest him on charges of assault and wanton endangerment in a Sept. 30 street shooting. Two of the officers who went to arrest Sullivan are black.

The officer who shot the teen-ager, Sgt. Phil Vogel, was suspended until the investigation is complete. Vogel has been on the force for 22 years.

As word of Sullivan’s shooting spread, about 200 blacks overturned cars, smashed windows and threw rocks and bottles.