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The Killing of Greg Gunn · 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories

• 0:39
  Gregory Gunn was a man who was all about one word family. He grew
• 0:45
  up in Montgomery, Alabama, during the seventies and eighties, was one of
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  eight siblings, and was absolutely determined to make a better life for the people
• 0:53
  he cared about. He was the first in his family to graduate college,
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  and when his parents divorced, their eldest son unfortunately passed away from cancer,
• 1:03
  greg was there to pick up the pieces. He took over being a father
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  for his younger siblings and did it without hesitation. Kenneth Gunn, the youngest
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  brother, said quote, he was a guidance counselor. He guided me in
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  the right ways of life. Big brother, father figure. Kenneth now owns
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  and runs a trucking company that he attributes to his older brother. Many of
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  the siblings, including Kenneth, went right into the military after finishing high school,
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  and their acts of service took them all across the states and sometimes even
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  to other countries, and Greg hated that the one thing he could not stand.
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  Kenneth went on, was that we were not home with him, and
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  he did everything in his power to get us back to Montgomery, from college
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  to finding work, whatever it took in twenty sixteen, when Greg was then
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  fifty eight years old. He was living in the family home taking care of
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  his ailing mother and a young nephew when tragedy struck. It was February twenty
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  fifth, at about three twenty in the morning when Greg left a neighbor's house
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  after playing a game of cards. He only had a few yards to go
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  before he made it back into his own front yard, but in that very
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  short distance, his and his family's lives would be turned upside down. Greg
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  was spotted by local police officer Aaron Cody Smith, who then pulled his car
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  over and ordered Greg to stop. What happened next is up for debate because
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  Aaron Smith never started recording devices on either his person or his dash cam,
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  so we're left to piece together the scene from the remaining evidence. According to
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  Aaron Smith, Greg didn't refuse to partake in a stop and frisk, but
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  when Aaron felt something hidden in the waistband of Greg's pants, Greg became agitated.
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  Greg then allegedly brushed Aaron aside and made a run for it. Aaron
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  then claimed to have first responded by trying to subdue Greg with his taser,
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  but when that failed, he pursued on foot. When the altercation became physical.
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  Aaron then claimed that Greg reached for a metal pole, and, feeling
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  threatened and in fear of his life, Aaron responded by grabbing his weapon and
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  firing seven shots. Five of the seven hit Greg, killing him in his
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  neighbor's front yard and only yards away from the home where his mother and nephew
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  were sleeping. It turned out to be a pole for a paint roller and
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  his waistband. Crime rates in the area were up, and it wasn't uncommon
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  for the people in the area to carry a stick or something to protect themselves
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  when walking at night. What followed after that went just as quickly as the
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  altercation between Greg and Aaron. Aaron Smith was suspended with pay while an investigation
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  ensued, and the community rallied behind Greg's legacy and his family. Greg was
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  well known in the area and well liked. Hundreds of people began searching Aaron's
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  statements for discrepancies and gathering outside his house, determined to defend the man that
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  they had all known and loved. Within days, Aaron Smith was arrested and
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  charged with murder. He would keep quiet as he awaited trial, but he
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  did briefly speak up to justify his actions. The area Greg had been living
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  in with his family, and the area that Arin was patrolling that night,
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  had been the victim of a long string of robberies, and the primary suspect
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  was simply identified as a black male in dark clothing. Arin believed that Greg
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  fit the description, and when Greg had allegedly brushed Erin away during the stomp
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  and frisk, for Greg, he had sealed his own fate. Once you
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  place your hands on a police officer, you go to jail. It's simple
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  as that, Aaron said, but his trial would be anything but simple.
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  By then, the prosecution had what they believed happened that night, and it
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  greatly differed from Aaron's version of events. There was no way, they argued,
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  that Greg had reached for the metal poll that Aaron had claimed he had
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  during the altercation. Crime scene photos showed that Greg had been holding his hat
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  in his hands at the time that he'd been shot, and even more damning
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  to Aaron's case, investigators didn't find Greg's prints on the poll either, Witness
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  testimonies about Greg's character, the evidence at the scene that contradicted Aaron's statement,
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  and his lack of video footage of the event, all stacked up against the
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  officer, But the truth is that this case was far from black and white.
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  To catch a glimpse at the underlying root of the issue, we have
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  to look at Aaron Smith and the system that put him in the car on
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  patrol that night, especially when we know that Aarin was only twenty three years
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  old at the time he shot and killed Greg Gunn. Yeah, only twenty
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  three, and he was alone in his patrol car that night. Almost unbelievably,
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  Aaron had been a police officer for years at that point. His records
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  start back in twenty twelve, making him only nineteen years old when he'd started
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  his career in law enforcement. Twenty three is certainly old enough to know right
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  from wrong, but is it experienced enough to know how to handle life and
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  death situations. Should Erin have been on his own that night, should any
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  police officer younger or older than Aaron was. There are those that argue that
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  the system failed both men involved in this case. Speaking at his hearing,
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  Erin then still only twenty five years old, said quote, with how I'm
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  being treated in my district job, it would have been a whole lot easier
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  to turn on my music, text my girlfriend, stay at my car,
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  and never get out of the car. In the first place, I'd still
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  be working. I'd still be on the street doing my job. But I
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  chose to do my job at three in the morning with nobody looking over my
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  shoulder. And I've been railroaded for it. End quote. And also he
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  didn't mention Greg Gunn would still be alive. It was a compassionate plea in
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  his own defense, but still nowhere near to the whole of the issue that
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  underlines this case. Only two years before that night, another African American Montgomery
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  resident filed a complaint against him. This time, Aaron Smith had a senior
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  officer with him when responding to a noise complaint, but things had still gotten
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  out of hand. When arriving at the scene of a house party, Aaron
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  ordered the homeowner to follow him down off the porch. When the homeowner followed
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  Aaron's instructions, Aaron responded by turning the homeowner around and handcuffing his hands behind
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  his back. As it turned out, one of the guests at the party
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  was a lawyer, and both he and the senior officer with Aarin that night.
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  Knew Aaron had taken things too far by trying to arrest the homeowner over
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  a noise complaint. The senior officer stepped in and let the homeowner go,
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  trying to smooth things over by saying that there were a lot of young officers
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  on the force that night. The homeowner and his lawyer friends were less than
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  impressed and filed a complaint against Aaron. But that was another piece of the
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  puzzle. Clearly, the officers at the Montgomery Police Department were aware that their
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  younger members needed extra guidance and care, and obviously they were aware of Erin's
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  track record, all the more reason why Erin shouldn't have been alone in a
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  patrol car that night he killed Greg Gunn. On November twenty second, twenty
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  nineteen, a jury found Erin guilty of manslaughter instead of murder, a charge
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  that was not as strong but was still enough to bring some level of satisfaction
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  to Greg's family. Speaking at the trial, his brother Franklin said, quote,
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  they brought this case to a very conservative county expecting a different outcome,
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  But I believe that we have seen the best of Alabama today. One bad
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  apple in a bunch has been weeded out. Erin was then sentenced to fourteen
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  years in prison. But this is not where the case actually ends up here
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  today. A few months ago, in February twenty twenty four, Alabama Attorney
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  General Steve Marshall took over the case and removed the prosecuting lawyers. He then
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  agreed to a plea deal with Aaron Smith that allowed Aaron to leave prison with
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  time served, releasing him back into society. This has been devastating to Greg's
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  family and his friends. His youngest brother, Kenneth Gunn, rounded up their
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  feelings with a few simple words. The only child my mother had who never
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  left this city, and this city killed him. That's ten minute Murder for
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  today, brief and bingeable true crime. I'm Joe, I'm the host,
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  and thank you so much for taking the time to listen to ten Minute Murder.
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  If you're a new listener here, make sure you hit subscribe wherever you
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  like to listen to podcasts. And I know, before I even started talking
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  today, that's me doing a podcast episode on this subject was going to make
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  some people angry. So let me be clear about this. I and I
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  cannot stress this enough. Do not care. Being someone that lives in the
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  South and has lived in the South for a very long time, I can
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  tell you that I see racism from time to time. I don't experience it
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  because I'm a white man, but I see it, and I think that
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  if you stay silent about it, you become complicit. If you're a white
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  person listening right now, think about this. How many times have you ever
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  heard the phrase you fit the description and it being applied to you. You
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  fit the description. That's why the cops are talking to you. If you
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  like me, zero times. If you're black and living in many parts of
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  the country, it happens all the time. You fit the description because you're
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  black. That is absolutely racism in action. And Greg Gunn's story is just
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  one of hundreds that have happened throughout the years. This one just happened to
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  be one that got my attention recently. Then that's going to do it.
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  That is your episode for today. Thank you so much for listening to ten minutes murder