Another Shooting. UNC Student SHOT! "Suicide call to 911?" Something isnt right in North Carolina. Too many rash suicides..WHY?

UNC student shot, killed by police
Authorities say the fraternity president called 911 from his car and said that he was suicidal.
BY JAY PRICE AND STANLEY B. CHAMBERS JR. - Staff Writers
Published: Tue, Aug. 25, 2009 03:40AM
Modified Thu, Aug. 27, 2009 10:26AM
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CHAPEL HILL -- Three hours before police shot him to death on the side of Interstate 85, a UNC-Chapel Hill fraternity president was with friends at his frat house and in good spirits, his mother said.

Archdale police said that Courtland Benjamin Smith called 911 before dawn Sunday and said he was suicidal.

"His best friend was with him at 2 a.m. and said he was fine," said Susan Smith, the slain man's mother.
smith.courtland.jpg STUDENTSHOT-082509
Smith was shot on I-85. - COURTESY OF THE DAILY TAR HEEL
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* STUDENTSHOT-082509

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Courtland Smith, a 20-year-old junior biology major from Houston, was shot after Archdale police officers pulled over his car at 4:54 a.m. Sunday west of Greensboro. He was pronounced dead about an hour later at High Point Regional Hospital.

Archdale is in Randolph County, just over the Guilford County line. Smith's car was apparently in Guilford when he made his 911 call because he reached a dispatcher there. Guilford's alert reached the Archdale police.

"Once the vehicle came to a stop, a confrontation ensued," the statement said.

The release did not say whether Smith had a weapon, and his father, Pharr Smith of Houston, said in an interview that he did not own a gun. He also said that he didn't know where his son was planning to go as he headed west early Sunday.

The officer who shot Smith was Jeremy Paul Flinchum, 29. Archdale Police Chief Darrell Gibbs said Flinchum had been placed on administrative leave with pay.

The State Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the incident, which is standard procedure for shootings involving a law officer.

What happened may not be clear for a while. The police department and SBI released few details Monday. The chief assistant district attorney in Randolph County said he had obtained a court order Monday to seal the 911 tape.

"There is a valid reason related to the investigation for not releasing it," Andrew Gregson said.

Eager for information

Susan Smith said the family wants to know what the tape says because it doesn't have much information about the shooting.

"We're all asking what happened," she said. "This is just not what my child would have done."

Both parents repeatedly described Smith as happy and upbeat.

"He was a good student; he was smart; he was handsome; he was the perfect child, and he was just the love of my life," Susan Smith said.

Smith was a wrestler in high school at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory in Houston, where he graduated in 2007. A spokesman for the school declined to comment, citing a wish by Smith's family for privacy.

Smith also was an avid whitewater kayaker and loved paddling in Western North Carolina. He shared his boating skills as a counselor for the past two years at a boys' camp called Mondamin, just south of Hendersonville in Western North Carolina. Before that, he had been a camper there for several years, said Frank Bell, the camp director.

"He was an extremely good kid, just top notch and one of the best young men we have ever had here," Bell said.

The death reverberated across the UNC campus, where memories of the shooting death last year of student body president Eve Carson in an apparent robbery are still fresh.

In a letter to students, UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp said, "We are deeply saddened by the tragic death of our student Courtland Smith. ... There is nothing worse than losing a young person."

Thorp also wrote that counselors are available for students who wish to talk.

Several members of Smith's fraternity, Delta Kappa Epsilon, declined to comment. Some sat on benches outside the DKE house on Columbia Street on Monday afternoon, staring solemnly. A man from a floral delivery service walked up and handed them a bouquet of white and yellow flowers.
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News researcher Denise Jones contributed to this article.