REV. BUTTS CALLS IT "RACIALLY CHARGED MURDER"

Kenneth Chamberlain Jr. sits with his daughter at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem on Sunday. Chamberlain's father, Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., was shot and killed by White Plains police in November. The Chamberlain family was attending services at the church at the invitation of the church pastor, the Rev. Calvin O. Butts, III. / Seth Harrison/The Journal News

NEW YORK -- The Rev. Calvin O. Butts put his voice behind the family of slain White Plains resident Kenneth Chamberlain today, calling the killing "yet another racially charged murder of an African-American man."

Speaking in the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, where he is pastor, the prominent Harlem minister said Chamberlain, killed in his home by White Plains police, will not be forgotten.

"We will not let this go," he said.

He mentioned Chamberlain several times throughout the 11 a.m. service, attended by about 1,000 people, including many visitors. About a dozen members of the Chamberlain family occupied three central pews.

Butts likened the death of Chamberlain, a 68-year-old former correction officer and U.S. Marine, to the cases of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black Florida teenager gunned down by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, and Ramarley Graham, a black Bronx teenager who was fatally shot in his home by police.

After the service, Chamberlain family members and their lawyers continued to call for justice in the case in a news conference.

Kenneth Chamberlain Jr. said attention to the case is growing.

"Finally, it seems as if people are paying attention, and they're saying, 'Enough is enough,'" he said, stopping to struggle with tears. "My father is not here anymore. ... I refuse to mourn him until there is some justice for my father. And when I say that, I mean indictments. Criminal indictments."

The family and its lawyers have held community meetings to keep up the profile of the case, in which Chamberlain was slain on Nov. 19 after an hour-long standoff with police. Officers had gone to his home at a 135 S. Lexington Ave. apartment when his medical alert device went off, apparently by accident.

Police Commissioner David Chong has said Chamberlain attacked officers with a hatchet and a knife and ignored orders to drop the weapons.

Randolph McLaughlin, a lawyer for the family, said Sunday that Chamberlain had his hands at his sides when he was killed and that he was "presenting a threat to no one."

Inquiries about this case may be directed to Newman Ferrara attorney, Prof. Randy McLaughlin, at 212-619-5400