Police say shooting death resulted from self-defense

Originally ran here as:
"Police say shooting death resulted from self-defense"
by Richard Lake, Staff Reporter
Mobile Register
October 30, 2001

MOBILE, ALABAMA -- Mobile police said a teenager arrested Monday fired shots that touched off a fatal exchange of gunfire Saturday.

Cpl. John Goodwin, a police spokesman, said Clifford Inman, 18, was riding in a car when he fired into a residence at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Return fire from the house killed Michael Matos, 28, who was in the car with Inman, Goodwin said

Investigators have pieced together what happened, and Goodwin explained it like this:

Four men riding in a car followed another man to a home on Summit Drive East, in the Mobile Police Department's jurisdiction near Moffett and Schillinger roads.

Police didn't say why the men followed the other man, nor did they release the man's name, because the case remains under investigation. Goodwin would say only that the altercation followed a dispute between the men in the car and the man they followed.

Inman, who was a front seat passenger in the car, fired multiple shots into the home, Goodwin said. "The occupant of the residence returned fire, which resulted in the death of Matos," Goodwin said.

A man in the car's back seat, Fred Pierce, 20, was struck by flying debris, Goodwin said. He was treated for his injuries at the University of South Alabama Medical Center.

Police said the person in the house who returned fire, killing Matos, acted in self-defense. The case will be presented to a grand jury for review, police said.

Inman was arrested at police headquarters Monday afternoon. He was booked into the Mobile County Metro Jail and charged with shooting into an occupied dwelling. He was being held Monday night with no bond pending a hearing before a judge.