Residents want answers from Internal Affairs

THE MESSAGE from the Police Department to the public is usually the same any time a crime needs to be solved: Step up and speak up.

Residents of Colonial Street in East Oak Lane did that when a torrent of gunfire awoke them in the middle of the night on Aug. 19.

Some called 9-1-1 - repeatedly - and gathered on their steps to watch as responding officers corralled three possible suspects, one of whom, witnesses say, was brandishing a gun.

The neighbors then looked on in utter confusion as a police supervisor showed up and let the three men go, leaving 17 fired cartridge casings uncollected at the scene for two days.

Two months later, some of those residents are fed up. They want to know what happened - and why - after their normally quiet block was shaken by the staccato sound of gunshots.

An Internal Affairs investigation was launched into the conduct of Sgt. Shaun Butts, the supervisor who allegedly told officers to release the three young men at the scene.

But little has been said about the incident since then, leading some to consider circulating a petition to get the Police Department to, you know, speak up.

"With all the gun violence going on in Philadelphia, how are you going to just let three guys go?" said one middle-age man who didn't want his name used because he is worried about retaliation.

The man said he believes that two of the individuals involved in the shooting live on the gently sloping block of Colonial Street near Front, where the shooting unfolded.

He and his niece spotted them sitting outside drinking hours before the shooting.

When the gunshots rang out in a driveway behind the houses on the block, the man and his niece darted to their window.

"My niece saw one [of the shooters] holding a black handgun, and then all three of them tried to drive away in a car," he said.

"The police stopped them, searched them, and found guns . . . and then the sergeant showed up, and everything stopped."

The man said it appeared that Butts and the cops who had searched the three men exchanged heated words.

"Then the police just let them go," he said. "We shook our heads in amazement. I know there's corruption in the Police Department, but this happened right in front of our faces."

Crime Scene Unit investigators visited the scene two days later and found the spent cartridge casings littered across the driveway.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey did not respond yesterday to a request for comment.

Butts, a 19-year veteran of the force, works in Olney's 35th District.

He was stripped of his police-issued firearm and put on desk duty after one of the cops who was on Colonial Street that night tipped off Internal Affairs.

Butts also serves as the treasurer of the Guardian Civic League, an organization that champions the rights of black police officers.

Last month, he told the Daily News that the allegations against him weren't true.

Another longtime Colonial Street resident said she was alarmed by the shooting - and even more troubled when she found out about the Police Department's seemingly questionable handling of the incident after someone stuffed a Daily News article on the incident in her mailbox.

"To me, it just seems shady," said the resident. "I'd like to know what actually happened. You want your neighborhood to stay safe, but is it that easy for people to get off?"