Ted Wafer, Accused Renisha McBride Killer, Told 911 He Shot Someone On His Porch

Explore Our Galleries

An NAACP flyer campaigning for the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 1922, but was filibustered to defeat in the Senate. Dyer, the NAACP, and freedom fighters around the country, like Flossie Baily, struggled for years to get the Dyer and other anti-lynching bills passed, to no avail. Today there is still no U.S. law specifically against lynching. In 2005, eighty of the 100 U.S. Senators voted for a resolution to apologize to victims' families and the country for their failure to outlaw lynching. Courtesy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Some Exhibits to Come – One Hundred Years of Jim Crow

Bibliography – One Hundred Years Of Jim Crow

Claude, age 23, just months before his 1930 murder. Courtesy of Faith Deeter.

Freedom’s Heroes During Jim Crow: Flossie Bailey and the Deeters

Souvenir Portrait of the Lynching of Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp, August 7, 1930, by studio photographer Lawrence Beitler. Courtesy of the Indiana Hisorical Society.

An Iconic Lynching in the North

Claxton Dekle – Prosperous Farmer, Husband & Father of Two

Ancient manuscripts about mathematics and astronomy from Timbuktu, Mali

Some Exhibits to Come – African Peoples Before Captivity

Shackles for Adults & Children from the Henrietta Marie

Some Exhibits to Come – The Middle Passage

What I Saw Aboard a Slave Ship in 1829

Life After Hate: A Former White Power Leader Redeems Himself

Breaking News!

Today's news and culture by Black and other reporters in the Black and mainstream media.

Click Here

Ways to Support ABHM?

Click Here

November 18, 2013

By Kate Abbey-Lambertz, the Huffington Post

After Theodore “Ted” Wafer was charged on Friday with shooting a teen girl to death through his screen door in Dearborn Heights, Mich., a tape of his 911 call was released.

Theodore P. Wafer, 54, of Dearborn Heights, appears at his arraignment in 20th District Court in Deaborn Heights, Mich., Friday, Nov. 15, 2013. Wafer faces second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the death of 19-year-old Renisha McBride. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Wafer, 54, was arraigned on charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter Friday for allegedly shooting 19-year-old Renisha McBride on his porch with a shotgun Nov. 2. After she was in a car accident earlier that evening, McBride may have been seeking help when she knocked on Wafer’s door. Exactly what she was doing in the time between the accident and the shooting remains unclear.

In the audio obtained by the Detroit Free Press, he says, “I just shot somebody on my front porch with a shotgun, banging on my door.” He gives the 911 operator his street address but hangs up before stating the city.

At an arraignment hearing in Dearborn Heights’ 20th District Court Friday afternoon, Judge Mark Plawecki set Wafer’s bail at $250,000 with a 10 percent surety, noting the seriousness of the case.

Mack Carpenter, one of Wafer’s lawyers, told the judge his client was not a flight risk.

Listen to Wafer’s 911 call and get the full story.

Read more Breaking News.

Comments Are Welcome

Note: We moderate submissions in order to create a space for meaningful dialogue, a space where museum visitors – adults and youth –– can exchange informed, thoughtful, and relevant comments that add value to our exhibits.

Racial slurs, personal attacks, obscenity, profanity, and SHOUTING do not meet the above standard. Such comments are posted in the exhibit Hateful Speech. Commercial promotions, impersonations, and incoherent comments likewise fail to meet our goals, so will not be posted. Submissions longer than 120 words will be shortened.

See our full Comments Policy here.