'It just makes me so mad': Neighbor unnerved by police response in murder, standoff

PETERSBURG – Jackie Sanders was very succinct in summarizing the confidence level she has in the Petersburg Police.

“S**t!” the five-decade resident of Berkeley Avenue said.

Sanders is one of many Berkeley Avenue residents still shaken by the events of June 26 when an 80-year-old man was reportedly beaten to death by a neighbor. For several hours, police waited out the suspect they believed – and had told some residents – to be holed up inside his house. When they finally hit the door to get him out, they discovered he already was out … as in nowhere to be found.

The suspect, 45-year-old Shane Sayers-Couzyn, was found about a mile away in front of Walnut Hill Elementary School. He was arrested on second-degree murder charges and currently is in custody.

“What confidence do you have? Here they are standing outside in front of the house thinking he’s in the house,” Sanders said, exasperation in her voice. "Why wait hours before you [enter] the house? It just makes me so mad.”

The victim was identified as 80-year-old Lucky Dwayne Burruss. Burruss owned the house next to where Sayers-Couzyn lived and was trying to sell the house. The for-sale sign a few feet from the sidewalk spot where Burruss died had a plaque atop it saying that a contract was pending.

More: Monday night's murder on Berkeley Avenue is Petersburg's ninth of the year

How it went down

The call for help came in around 7:20 p.m. June 26. A man later identified as Burruss was lying on the sidewalk outside his property.

When emergency personnel arrived, it was determined that Burruss had been beaten. Witnesses told police the suspect had used a baseball bat on Burruss, then disappeared apparently into his house.

Police immediately cordoned off Berkeley Avenue between North Boulevard to the north and Tuckahoe Street to the south. Sanders’ daughter-in-law, who lives with her, was told to park her car on Tuckahoe, and a police officer escorted her to her home. Sanders said the officer told the daughter-in-law the suspect had barricaded inside his house at the corner of Berkeley Avenue and Prestwould Street several doors away.

Sanders recalled the first few moments when she realized something was up.

“I could hear ‘Stop!’ and I could hear ‘Help!’ but I didn’t pay any attention to it because I thought it was just kids,” she said. “And a few minutes later, here comes a fire truck, no sirens, quiet, but you could hear it roaring down the street.”

She then saw an ambulance drive by, then a police car.

“So I walked out the front door and down to the sidewalk, and there’s a lot of commotion down there,” Sanders said. She thought someone was hurt or sick, so she stood there and watched for a few moments.

“Then the police cars started coming, no sirens, quiet, nothing,” she said. By that time, other neighbors started coming outside, “and we could see something covered up.”

Hours passed while the police appeared to wait the suspect out. Neighbors’ including Sanders, went back to their lives, thinking that the situation was under control.

Nobody was home

As it turned out, the police were waiting out a suspect who was not even there. Sayers-Couzyn somehow had eluded authorities.

His house is located on the corner of Berkeley Avenue and Prestwould Street. Prestwould Street is one of many connectors between Berkeley and Westover avenues.

Dispatch reports from the scene that night said that officers had eyes on both the front and the rear of the house. When police finally decided to go in after the suspect a couple of hours later, no one was there.

The property has a side access to Prestwould Street, so it is possible that Sayers-Couzyn – if he did go inside at all – could have gotten out the side access before police arrived and walked over to Westover Avenue. A right turn would have gotten him to South Boulevard, which in turn would have led him to the intersection of South Boulevard and Wakefield Street where he was eventually caught in front of Walnut Hill Elementary School.

Google Maps indicates it is about a mile between where Sayers-Couzyn lived and where he was arrested.

In the meantime, Sanders claimed no one ever let her or any of her neighbors know that Sayers-Couzyn was not in the house. They found that out after news reports broke about his arrest.

“Every cop is here, so you feel safe because he’s barricaded in the house,” Sanders said. “I came back in, I went out on the porch not worried about anything thinking I’m safe. And this idiot is running around the neighborhood.”

The Progress-Index reached out to the Petersburg Bureau of Police for an answer to the neighbors’ allegations that they were never notified that Sayers-Couzyn was not in the house. Calling it an ongoing investigation, the bureau declined to comment on anything related to it.

The Progress-Index also left a message for Catherine Ann Lawler, the attorney of record for Sayers-Couzyn. As of publication, that message has not been answered.

Already in trouble

At the time he was accused of killing Burruss, Sayers-Couzyn was already facing a felony charge stemming from an earlier encounter with a neighbor.

According to records in Petersburg General District Court, Sayers-Couzyn was arrested March 9 for allegedly throwing a rock through the window of a neighbor’s house across the street from where he lived on Berkeley Avenue. After failing to show up in court twice to answer that charge, he was scheduled to appear again July 31.

That charge is a class 4 felony punishable by 2-10 years in prison if convicted.

One hundred nine days after the rock went through the neighbor’s window, Burruss was killed and Sayers-Couzyn was arrested for his death. Police have not said what prompted the encounter.

A preliminary hearing on the murder charge has been scheduled for 1 p.m. Sept. 22 in General District Court. Should he be convicted, Sayers-Couzyn could face up to 40 years in prison.

According to an online obituary, Burruss worked at Hercules in Hopewell for 40 years and was also a master craftsman. He is survived by his wife, four children, seven grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and one brother.

Burruss is among nine homicide victims in Petersburg so far this year.

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Neighborhood rocked by beating death of senior citizen