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D.A. clears police officer in 2008 shooting death of former Mayor Goode's grandnephew

A Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a grandnephew of former Mayor W. Wilson Goode Sr.'s has been cleared of all criminal charges, the District Attorney's Office announced Thursday.

A Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a grandnephew of former Mayor W. Wilson Goode Sr.'s has been cleared of all criminal charges, the District Attorney's Office announced Thursday.

Anthony Avery, a narcotics officer, fired two shots into the back of Timothy Jerome "Tee" Goode, 24, on Jan. 11, 2008, in Germantown. Police say Goode turned and pointed a 9mm handgun at undercover narcotics officers while fleeing a drug sting. Police reported finding the gun and 45 vials of crack nearby.

"The D.A.'s Office thoroughly reviewed the available information . . . and based on that review has concluded that no criminal charges are warranted against Officer Avery," read a statement released by District Attorney Seth Williams' office.

"It's like my son being murdered all over again," Pamela Goode, Timothy Goode's mother, said Thursday afternoon about the decision to clear the police officer.

City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr., Timothy's cousin, said that because he is a city official, he could not comment because of pending or potential litigation.

However, he did offer this: "The decision made by the district attorney is one that may be costly to the city."

Pamela Goode has filed a civil rights lawsuit against Avery and the city in federal court. The city has denied wrongdoing in a court-filed response to the suit.

Peter J. McNamara, the Goode family's lawyer, said that Timothy Goode's autopsy showed that the first bullet severed his spinal cord and the second went into his lungs.

Goode had no drugs in his system when he died and had no arrest record, McNamara said.

Avery, 32, who has been on the force for six years, remains with the department but is on desk duty, said Lt. Ray Evers, a police spokesman.

An internal police investigation, which was on hold pending the district attorney's decision, will now resume, Evers said.

In December, Pamela Goode, a school district employee for 18 years, with her husband, a labor foreman at the Philadelphia Housing Authority, at her side, testified before City Council's Committee on Public Safety that she wanted "to see Anthony Avery behind bars where he belongs."

She added: "If the shoe was on the other foot, I wouldn't be here right now. I'd be visiting my son in jail."