NEW ORLEANS — Henry Glover, the man who was shot by former New Orleans police officer David Warren just days after Hurricane Katrina, was simply lighting a cigarette when he was killed, a relative of the victim testified Wednesday.
Bernard Calloway said he and 31-year-old Glover intended to pick up family members from Glover's New Orleans apartment and head out of town four days after the devastating 2005 storm. Glover, driving a stolen truck, stopped at a curb behind a strip mall where a sister-in-law of his said she had left a suitcase. Warren was nearby, on patrol on the second-floor area outside a police substation located in the mall.
Testifying on the first day of Warren's retrial, Calloway said Glover was standing next to the truck and lighting a cigarette. Calloway said that as he turned back to the suitcase, he heard gunfire.
''I heard POW! — A gunshot. I heard a voice that said, 'Leave now,' '' Calloway said. The men fled in opposite directions. Calloway looked back and saw Glover stumble. He looked back again and saw the victim fall. Calloway then ran back to help Glover, who was bleeding.
''He just said to tell his mama that he loved her. He was holding his chest,'' Calloway testified.
The trial is the second in three years for Warren, who was serving a prison sentence of nearly 26 years when a federal appeals court in December overturned a manslaughter conviction handed down in 2010.