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| Memphis police killed seven people in this home at 2239 Shannon St. in 1983, including the homeowner, Lindberg Sanders, after hostage Robert S. Hester was beaten to death. (Courtesy photo) |
If you witnessed the 30-hour siege unfold on Shannon Street on
January 11, 1983, or watched the tragedy in real time on TV, it would be
difficult to forget the aftermath.
That fateful day a tactical squad from the Memphis Police
Department stormed the home of Lindberg Sanders and killed seven black men,
including Sanders, after their hostage, officer Robert S. Hester, was beaten and
heard pleading for his life.
Hester and his partner, officer Ray O. Schwill, were dispatched to
the home at 2239 Shannon St. to investigate an alleged purse snatching. Schwill
was shot but escaped being collared.
Author James R. Howell, a former police officer, traced the siege
from its beginning to the horrific outcome in the book “Echoes of Shannon
Street.”
Inspired by Howell’s work, which was based on the case file, Marie
Pizano, an author, producer and director, felt compelled to produce a 90-minute
documentary aptly titled “Shannon Street: Echoes Under a Blood Red Moon, a
Memphis Tragedy.”
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| Marie Pizano |
“It was my gut feeling that told me I had to do this,” said Pizano,
CEO/founder of MVP3 Entertainment Group, LLC, which produced the documentary. A
Chicago native, she moved to Memphis in 1999.
Accompanied by cinematographer and
editor Keith Cadwallader, Pizano spent two years researching and interviewing police,
stakeholders in the community, and the Sanders family.
No one from Hester’s family was available for an interview, said
Pizano, adding that Schwill did not want to be a part of the documentary. She
said he was blamed for losing his partner.
“I had to let them all have a voice,” said Pizano, trying to
strike a balance in the story. But then, she added, “Everybody was afraid to talk about it.
Police were afraid to talk to me.”
Pizano was afraid at first to reach out to Sanders’ wife, Dorothy
Sanders. She didn’t know how to approach her; she was devastated. Her children,
too, were angry at one time, she said.
“When I called her and told her who I was, what I wanted to do,
she was welcoming. She was a godly woman. [And] that fascinated me more,” said
Pizano, who would break bread with the family.
She’d come to realize the Sanders family had built up resentment for
the police and expressed by a daughter of Dorothy Sanders. “She was mad for a
long time. [But] she was honest.”
After completing the research and interviews, Pizano crafted a
narrative that looked at the tragedy from two perspectives: how it impacted the
families of both the suspects and the police.
“It’s important for the documentary to share the truth from the
voices of those involved,” she said.
The truth of the matter is Lindberg Sanders suffered from mental
illness, said Pizano, arriving at this conclusion after speaking with the
family and combing through police reports.
“The family will tell you that he did take medication,” she said. “But
they will come back and tell you that he didn’t have a mental illness.”
Pizano believes it was a foregone conclusion within the MPD that mental
illness sparked the chain of events, which would come to be called the “Shannon
Street Massacre.”
The MPD now has a specially trained Crisis Intervention Team (CIT)
in place that handles individuals with mental illness. Manned by volunteer
officers, the MPD responds to serious crises.
The massacre, however, still echoes today and conjures up ill
feelings – particularly if there is a police-involved shooting and the victim
is African American. Such incidents are frequently captured by cell phones and
posted on social media platforms.
“We don’t know what started the fight on Shannon Street,” said Pizano.
“[However], nobody wants to see this happen again.”
The filmmaker is hoping the documentary will heal festering wounds
and bridge the oft-perceived rift between the police and the African-American
community.
A movie version of “Shannon Street” is also being developed. “The
take away is, yes, you’re going to be mad, and you’re going to be sad,” she
said.
Proceeds will benefit the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
Fund in memory of
Officer Robert S. Hester and the National Alliance of Mental Illness.
