NO CHARGES IN CANDY BAR SHOOTING

NEW YORK, March 4 (UPI) -- A grand jury has decided not to file charges
against a white U.S marshal on a drug stakeout who shot a black New York
City teenager who was carrying a silver-wrapped Three Musketeers candy bar.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says William Cannon and his partner
did nothing criminal when they mistook the candy bar for a semi- automatic
pistol and shot high school student Andre Burgess in the leg. On Nov. 6,
1997, Cannon, a U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service agent, and his
partner were staking out a fugitive on 138th Street in the Laurelton
section of Queens.

Seventeen-year-old Burgess was on his way to a friend's house after
stopping at a convenience store to buy two candy bars when he approached
Cannon's unmarked car shortly after 7 p.m.

The federal marshals thought the foil-wrapped food was a weapon, so the
partners jumped out of the car, identified themselves as police officers
and yelled to the Springfield Gardens teenager to put up his hands.
According to Brown, Burgess turned to agents with the candy bar in his hand
and Cannon shot him in the left thigh.

The victim was taken to Jamaica Hospital and released several days later.
The local prosecutor calls Cannon's conduct ``a terrible mistake that could
have had even more tragic consequences.''

Copyright 1998 by United Press International