Mom posts signs for her slain son - Asheville Citizen-Times

by Adam Behsudi, ABEHSUDI@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM

published August 5, 2006 12:15 am

ASHEVILLE - Every time Tammy Revis gets a little extra money these days, she uses it to make signs in memory of her son, Terry Jackson Evans, who was shot and killed July 13 by a Buncombe County Sheriff's deputy.

The signs, part memorial, part protest, proclaim that Evans was “shot and killed by Buncombe County Sheriff.”

“There's going to be signs up all over Asheville,” she said.

Already, Revis said she's posted about 55 of the signs in West Asheville and Leicester.

She said she hopes to make a statement about the circumstances of her son's death, which she said was unnecessary.

So far, she said she's spent about $200 on signs and banners memorializing her son.

Sheriff Bobby Medford said Friday that Revis is “welcome to put up any signs she wants; she certainly has that right.”

“I hate she feels that way, but nothing I say or do will help her with her grief.”

The night of Evans' death, a deputy responded to a 911 call Revis made saying she feared Evans would take his own life.

After a struggle with her son in which she said she took control of a shotgun he was holding, Revis said the deputy purposely shot Evans.

The Sheriff's Department maintains that the officer feared for his own safety and that the gun had been pointed at him.

“I have to live with knowing that I called 911,” Revis said. “My son was my life.”

Now, she's making the signs, and they're going up as fast as she can get them made.

She also plans to hold a demonstration and vigil for her son today in West Asheville.

The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting. No information has yet been released.

Henry Ward, Revis' brother, said the family hasn't been updated on anything yet and is

fully behind his sister's sign campaign.

“We're just trying to get the public aware of what actually is going on,” he said. “There's got to be a change.”

But Ward wasn't hopeful about the outcome of the case.

“I feel in my heart that there won't be anyone charged in this,” he said.

Contact Adam Behsudi at 828-232-5962 or via e-mail at abehsudi@ashevill.gannett.com.