In his first public statement since learning last week that his father had been shot to death, Michael Jordan expressed gratitude Thursday for an outpouring of public sympathy, but chided some members of the news media for speculating that the death might have been linked to his own well-publicized gambling activities.
"Throughout this painful ordeal I never wavered from my conviction that Dad's death was a random act of violence," Jordan said in a statement issued through his lawyer in Washington. "Thus I was deeply disturbed by the early reports speculating that there was a sinister connection to Dad's death. I was outraged when this speculation continued even after the arrests of the alleged murderers."According to murder charges that have been filed against two men in Robeson County, N.C., Michael's 56-year-old father, James P. Jordan, was shot to death during a robbery at about 3:30 a.m. on July 23 after he stopped for a nap at a rest area near Lumberton, N.C. He had been driving home to Charlotte, N.C., after attending a funeral in Wilmington, N.C.
The body was discovered in a South Carolina creek on Aug. 3 and cremated two days later, after an autopsy. It was not identified until late last week, after authorities learned that a car that had been found stripped in a wooded area near Fayetteville, N.C., belonged to the elder Jordan.
In Thursday's statement, Jordan, who had delivered the eulogy at a private funeral for his father on Sunday, expressed appreciation for the efforts of law enforcement officers, while acknowledging "lingering concerns about the handling of Dad's body."
"Fortunately, the investigation has identified the apparent perpetrators of this heinous act, and their forthcoming trials will ultimately establish their culpability and mete out their punishments," he said.
Jordan devoted four of six paragraphs in the statement to the news media. "During this tragic ordeal, the vast majority of the media reports approached the situation with dignity, sensitivity and respect for human decency," he said. "Unfortunately, a few engaged in baseless speculation and sensationalism. These few should cause us all to pause and examine our consciences and our basic human values."
Jordan, who mentioned no news outlets by name, concluded with a tribute to his father:
"My dad taught me to carry myself with love and respect for all. The wisdom of his principles will help me rise above any thoughtless insensitivity and unfounded speculation. With the help of God's strength, I will find the inner peace to carry on in Dad's way."
Jordan's statement was issued one day after the parents of one of the murder suspects, Larry Martin Demery, made their first public comment since their 18-year-old son's arrest.
"It like to torn my heart out of me," said Virginia Demery. "I never hurt so much in all my life. When I realized the seriousness of the situation, I went to pieces."
According to the Robeson County Sheriff, Hubert Stone, Demery had an extensive juvenile record, which is sealed. According to court records, beginning exactly two months after he turned 16 in August 1991, Demery had been arrested six times on a total of 14 charges as an adult before his arrest for the Jordan killing.
The most serious of the previous charges was assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill or cause serious injury. According to the police in Pembroke, N.C., Demery smashed Wilma Dial over the head with a cinder block, fracturing her skull, during a robbery of her convenience store in October 1992.
Demery's lawyer, Hugh Rogers, has said he intends to ask that a trial on that and other pending charges be postponed until after the murder trial.
In their interview on Wednesday, the Demerys described their son's friend, Daniel Andre Green, who has also been charged in the Jordan case, as a respectful youth who never gave them any problems.
According to Stone, Green, too, had an extensive criminal record. He was paroled two months ago and had been in jail since shortly before his 16th birthday, when, in what the police have described as a wrestling match gone awry, he took an axe and cleaved open the skull of his friend, Robert Ellison.
Sheriff's deputies said Thursday that the two suspects were being kept segregated from other inmates because some prisoners had threatened their lives.