LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson's last robust discussion with his longtime lawyer was just before Easter, at the country club home Simpson leased southwest of the Las Vegas Strip.
“He was awake, alert and chilling,” attorney Malcom LaVergne recalled Tuesday. “He’s on the couch ... drinking a beer and watching TV. And so that was the last time we had effective back-and-forth conversations. He’s usually the one who keeps me up on the news ... so we were just catching up on the news then."
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FILE - Fred Goldman, father of murder victim Ron Goldman, sits in his home in Peoria, Ariz., on May 20, 2014. Goldman, the executor of O.J. Simpson’s estate says he will work to prevent a payout of a $33.5 million judgment awarded by a California civil jury nearly three decades ago in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the families of Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Simpson’s will was filed Friday, April 12, 2024, in a Clark County court in Nevada, naming his longtime lawyer, Malcolm LaVergne, as the executor. The document shows Simpson’s property was placed into a trust that was created this year. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson's last robust discussion with his longtime lawyer was just before Easter, at the country club home Simpson leased southwest of the Las Vegas Strip.
FILE - Fred Goldman, father of murder victim Ron Goldman, sits in his home in Peoria, Ariz., on May 20, 2014. Goldman, the executor of O.J. Simpson’s estate says he will work to prevent a payout of a $33.5 million judgment awarded by a California civil jury nearly three decades ago in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the families of Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Simpson’s will was filed Friday, April 12, 2024, in a Clark County court in Nevada, naming his longtime lawyer, Malcolm LaVergne, as the executor. The document shows Simpson’s property was placed into a trust that was created this year. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 16, 2007 file photo, O.J. Simpson is taken from the Las Vegas Police Investigative Services Division in Las Vegas. O.J. Simpson's attorney Malcolm LaVergne is now handling the deceased former football star, actor and famous murder defendant's financial estate. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
FILE - In this May 14, 2013, file photo, O.J. Simpson sits during a break on the second day of an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas. O.J. Simpson's attorney Malcolm LaVergne is now handling the deceased former football star, actor and famous murder defendant's financial estate. (AP Photo/Ethan Miller, Pool, File)
FILE - O.J. Simpson sits at his arraignment in Superior Court in Los Angeles on July 22, 1994. O.J. Simpson's attorney Malcolm LaVergne is now handling the deceased former football star, actor and famous murder defendant's financial estate. (AP Photo/Pool/Lois Bernstein, Pool)
About a week later, on April 5, a doctor said Simpson was “transitioning," as LaVergne described it. The last time LaVergne visited, last week, Simpson only had strength to ask for water and to choose to watch a TV golf tournament instead of a tennis match.
“Of course he chose golf,” LaVergne told The Associated Press in an interview. “He was an absolute golf fanatic.”
Simpson died April 10, after being diagnosed last year with prostate cancer. He was 76.
A post the following day from Simpson’s family on X, formerly Twitter, said Simpson “succumbed to his battle with cancer” while “surrounded by his children and grandchildren.” However, LaVergne said Tuesday just one person was with Simpson when he died, identified by the attorney only as “a close family member.” He declined to say who it was.
“You have to remember that they’ve shared O.J. with the world their entire lives,” the attorney said of Simpson's surviving adult children of his first marriage — Arnelle Simpson, now 55, and Jason Simpson, 53 — and the children Simpson had with ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson before she was killed in 1994: Sydney Simpson, 38, and Justin Simpson, 35. The family social media post asked “during this time of transition” for “privacy and grace."
“At first they shared good O.J. But still he was famous," LaVergne said. "And then, in 1994 on, they kind of had to share bad boy O.J. with the world. But at the end of the day, these children just lost a father. And they have the added burden that he is one of the most famous people on the planet, and who is polarizing and who is surrounded by controversy.”
LaVergne, who is handling Simpson's estate, shared details of his final meetings with the former football hero, movie actor, sportscaster, television pitchman and celebrity murder defendant who he has represented since 2009.
He deflected a question about any possible deathbed confession by Simpson as an attempt to steer “from somber to the sensationalism and the amusement." He said Simpson's body won't be studied for the effects of chronic brain trauma from possible effects of blows to the head during his 11 years as a running back in the NFL.
“Mr. Simpson, to my understanding, had expressed his wishes to his children," LaVergne said. “And so they are going to act upon those wishes.”
Simpson wanted to be cremated, the attorney said, and — pending a decision from his family — there was no immediate plan for a public memorial.
“There’s only been tentative discussions of a celebration of life (or) ceremony,” LaVergne said.
The attorney filed Simpson’s last will and testament in Nevada state court two days after his death, naming Simpson's four children as the only beneficiaries of his estate. He said details of a family trust are yet to be filed.
The attorney would not put a value on the estate, but said Simpson did not own a home in states where he had lived — including Nevada, California and Florida. He said accounts were still being tallied.
Simpson famously was acquitted of criminal charges alleging he stabbed his ex-wife and her friend, Ronald Goldman, to death in 1994 in Los Angeles. Those proceedings in California in 1996 became known as the “trial of the century.” Simpson was found liable for the deaths in 1997 by a California civil court jury.
In Las Vegas, Simpson went to prison in 2008 for nine years after being found guilty of armed robbery in a 2007 encounter at a casino-hotel with two collectibles dealers.
He lived a golf-and-country club lifestyle since his release from prison in October 2017, sometimes offering social media posts about sports and golf. His last message was Feb. 11: wearing a San Francisco 49ers jersey and predicting his old team would defeat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII. The Chiefs won.
LaVergne acknowledged that Simpson died without paying the families of Simpson’s slain ex-wife and Goldman the bulk of a $33.5 million judgment they were awarded in the 1997 civil liability case.
Attorney David Cook, representing the Goldman family, said Tuesday that he thought the judgment owed today, including unpaid interest, is more than $114 million.
LaVergne said last week the Goldmans wouldn't get a penny of Simpson's assets, and then backtracked. He said Tuesday he believed the amount owed was more than $200 million. He said Simpson's assets won't amount to that.
“They’re going to be invited to view my homework,” he said of the Goldman and Brown families. “I want to show them what I have with the caveat that if they believe something else is out there ... they’re going to have to use their own attorneys, their own resources, to try and chase down that pot of gold.”
Associated Press writer Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, N.M., contributed to this report.
FILE - Buffalo Bills running back O.J. Simpson (32) has his jersey pulled by Baltimore Colts linebacker Mike Curtis, during the second quarter of an NFL football game in Baltimore, Md., Oct. 12, 1975. Simpson's attorney Malcolm LaVergne is now handling the deceased former football star, actor and famous murder defendant's financial estate. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - Fred Goldman, father of murder victim Ron Goldman, sits in his home in Peoria, Ariz., on May 20, 2014. Goldman, the executor of O.J. Simpson’s estate says he will work to prevent a payout of a $33.5 million judgment awarded by a California civil jury nearly three decades ago in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the families of Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Simpson’s will was filed Friday, April 12, 2024, in a Clark County court in Nevada, naming his longtime lawyer, Malcolm LaVergne, as the executor. The document shows Simpson’s property was placed into a trust that was created this year. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 16, 2007 file photo, O.J. Simpson is taken from the Las Vegas Police Investigative Services Division in Las Vegas. O.J. Simpson's attorney Malcolm LaVergne is now handling the deceased former football star, actor and famous murder defendant's financial estate. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
FILE - In this May 14, 2013, file photo, O.J. Simpson sits during a break on the second day of an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas. O.J. Simpson's attorney Malcolm LaVergne is now handling the deceased former football star, actor and famous murder defendant's financial estate. (AP Photo/Ethan Miller, Pool, File)
FILE - O.J. Simpson sits at his arraignment in Superior Court in Los Angeles on July 22, 1994. O.J. Simpson's attorney Malcolm LaVergne is now handling the deceased former football star, actor and famous murder defendant's financial estate. (AP Photo/Pool/Lois Bernstein, Pool)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Four police officers serving a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm were killed and four other officers were wounded in a shootout Monday at a North Carolina home, police said.
Some of the officers who rushed to the Charlotte neighborhood to rescue the first wave of downed officers were wounded as a second shooter began firing on them after they killed the wanted man, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said.
“Today we lost some heroes who were out simply trying to keep our community safe,” Jennings said at a news conference.
After a three-hour standoff, the suburban Charlotte home was torn open. Armored vehicles smashed into it, ripping off windows and entire doorways that were left broken. Several armored vehicles were parked across yards, some with tree branches dangling off them.
The U.S. Marshals Task Force was fired on by the wanted suspect as they approached the house and the man was killed in the front yard, Jennings said. His name was not released, but the chief said he was wanted as a felon illegally possessing a weapon.
A second person then fired on officers from inside the home where a high-powered rifle was found, Jennings added.
A woman and a 17-year-old male were found in the home after the standoff. The two are being questioned, Jennings said.
The Marshal’s Service confirmed one of its agents was killed. Two officers from the state Department of Adult Correction also were killed, said North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. The governor was in Charlotte and was speaking to the families of the officers killed and hurt. Their names have not been released.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Joshua Eyer died a few hours later at the hospital, Jennings said. Eyer was named the officer of the month for the force for April a few weeks ago, the chief said.
“He certainty gave his life and dedicated his life to protecting our citizens,” Jennings said.
One other member of the task force, which is made up of federal agents and other officers from across the region was injured.
Three other Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers who responded to the scene were shot while trying to rescue the wounded officers.
Neighbors said gunfire lasted for several minutes.
WSOC-TV said their helicopter captured an armored vehicle driving through yards and knocking over recycling bins before officers removed a person with blood on their shirt who was then loaded into an ambulance.
After the home was cleared, the helicopter pilot said he couldn't show the front lawn of the home because the scene was too graphic and disturbing.
“A lot of the questions that need to be answered, we don’t even know what those questions are now," Jennings said, somberly briefing reporters less than four hours after the shooting. “We have to get a full understanding of why this occurred and also uphold the integrity of the investigation.”
Many roads in the area including Interstate 77 were closed so ambulances could get to hospitals faster. TV footage showed ambulances speeding to hospitals escorted by vehicles both in front and behind with their sirens wailing.
Rissa Reign was cleaning her house when she heard the first shots ring out. There was a pause, then a second set of shots and then a third. She stepped outside.
“When we came outside, there were no cops at all, then cops started rushing, rushing, rushing, rushing in,” she said, adding armored SWAT trucks quickly followed and they "were going over the grass, everything, and they started shooting again.”
The neighborhood, of one– and two-story, brick homes and small trimmed lawns, is very safe, said Alex Rivera, who lives on a street nearby.
“I see, like, 50 police cars zooming in, and then I hear gunshots,” he said on the front porch of the house he shares with his cousin. “I was scared, because there was so much going on.“
Another neighbor, William Cunningham, was moved to tears as he sat on his porch. He said he is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm but never expected such violence in his own neighborhood.
“Bless those officers and bless their families,” he said. “Nobody should get killed over a warrant.”
Four Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools were placed on lockdown around afternoon dismissal, but that was lifted in the late afternoon, the district said.
Police urged people to stay away from the neighborhood and asked residents to remain inside their homes until the all clear was given.
President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting and spoke with Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles to express his condolences and support for the community.
The last marshal shot and killed in the line of duty was in November 2018. Chase White was shot in Tucson, Arizona, by a man wanted for stalking local law enforcement officers, the agency said.
The Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force is headquartered in Charlotte and comprised of 70 federal, state and local agencies. Fugitive task forces are collaborations between agencies to find and arrest suspects in crimes.
In six years, the regional task force has apprehended more than 8,900 fugitives, the U.S. Marshals Service said on its website.
In March 2007, two Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers were killed while responding to a domestic dispute by someone not directly involved in the fight. Demeatrius Antonio Montgomery is serving a life sentence in the killings of officers Jeffrey Shelton and Sean Clark.
Contributing to this report were Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Rebecca Reynolds in Louisville, Kentucky; and Sarah Brumfield in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department officers walk in the neighborhood where a shooting took place in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department says officers from the U.S. Marshals Task Force were carrying out an investigation Monday afternoon in a suburban neighborhood when they came under gunfire. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
Multiple law enforcement vehicles respond in the neighborhood where several officers on a task force trying to serve a warrant were shot in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. (Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles gets choked up as she speaks at a press conference regarding a shooting in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. Several officers on a U.S. Marshals Task Force serving a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm were killed and other officers were wounded in a shootout Monday in North Carolina, home, police said. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings, center, leaves the scene where multiple law enforcement officers were shot on Galway Drive in Charlotte, N.C. on Monday, April 29, 2024. Several officers on a U.S. Marshals Task Force serving a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm were killed and other officers were wounded in a shootout Monday in a North Carolina, home, police said. (Khadejeh Nikouyeh/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
Members of FBI talk with each other at the scene of a shooting on Galway Drive in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday, April 29, 2024, Multiple law enforcement officers were shot while serving a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm. (Khadejeh Nikouyeh/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
A law officer walks away from the scene of a shooting where multiple law enforcement officers were shot while serving a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday, April 29, 2024. (Khadejeh Nikouyeh/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings speaks at a press conference after multiple officers were shot while serving a warrant in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings speaks at a press conference regarding an event where several officers on a task force trying to serve a warrant were shot in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles gets choked up as she speaks at a press conference regarding a shooting in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. Several officers on a U.S. Marshals Task Force serving a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm were killed and other officers were wounded in a shootout Monday in North Carolina, home, police said. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
Charlotte fire department captain Brian Cunningham, right, hugs Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings at a press conference regarding a shooting in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. Several officers on a U.S. Marshals Task Force serving a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm were killed and other officers were wounded in a shootout Monday in North Carolina, home, police said. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
A Charlotte Mecklenburg police officer walks in the neighborhood where several officers on a task force trying to serve a warrant were shot in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
A Charlotte neighborhood where an officer-involved shooting took place in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department says officers from the U.S. Marshals Task Force were carrying out an investigation Monday afternoon in a suburban neighborhood when they came under gunfire. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
A Charlotte Mecklenburg police officer walks in the neighborhood where several officers on a task force trying to serve a warrant were shot in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
University of South Florida police officers take pro Palestinian protesters into custody during a march on the campus Monday, April 29, 2024 in Tampa. (Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
A Charlotte Mecklenburg police officer walks carrying a gun in the neighborhood where a shooting took place in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department says officers from the U.S. Marshals Task Force were carrying out an investigation Monday afternoon in a suburban neighborhood when they came under gunfire. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
A Charlotte Mecklenburg police officer walks in the neighborhood where a shooting took place in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department says officers from the U.S. Marshals Task Force were carrying out an investigation Monday afternoon in a suburban neighborhood when they came under gunfire. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
A Charlotte Mecklenburg police officer walks carrying a gun in the neighborhood where a shooting took place in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department says officers from the U.S. Marshals Task Force were carrying out an investigation Monday afternoon in a suburban neighborhood when they came under gunfire. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
A Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department officer walks carrying a gun in the neighborhood where a shooting took place in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. CMPD says officers from the U.S. Marshals Task Force were carrying out an investigation Monday afternoon in a suburban neighborhood when they came under gunfire. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
Multiple law enforcement vehicles respond in the neighborhood where several officers on a task force trying to serve a warrant were shot in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. (Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
Multiple law enforcement vehicles respond in the neighborhood where several officers on a task force trying to serve a warrant were shot in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. (Khadejeh Nikouyeh/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
A Charlotte Mecklenburg police officer carries a gun as he walks in the neighborhood where an officer-involved shooting took place in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. Police in North Carolina say numerous law enforcement officers conducting a task force operation have been struck by gunfire in Charlotte. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department is responding to shots fired on Galway Drive in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, April 29, 2024. Officers from the U.S. Marshals Task Force were conducting an investigation in a suburban neighborhood when they were fired upon, the CMPD said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. (Melissa Rodriguez/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
Police work at the scene of a shooting Monday, April 29, 2024, in east Charlotte, N.C. Officers from the U.S. Marshals Task Force were conducting an investigation in a suburban neighborhood when they were fired upon, the CMPD said in a post on X. (Khadejeh Nikouyeh/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
Multiple law enforcement officers were shot Monday, April 29, 2024, in east Charlotte, N.C., the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department said. Officers from the U.S. Marshals Task Force were conducting an investigation in a suburban neighborhood when they were fired upon, the CMPD said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. (Khadejeh Nikouyeh/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
