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GREENSBORO — An attorney representing Greensboro police Officer Julius Fulmore said Wednesday night that his client is the anonymous source who told three local ministers that investigative files from the 1979 Klan-Nazi shooting were ordered destroyed.

"Officer Fulmore was one of several officers who was asked to destroy approximately 50 boxes of documents when the Truth and Reconciliation project was started," said Amiel Rossabi, Fulmore's attorney. "He declined to do it. ... He felt that it was wrong and went through the proper channels (with the city), hoping (they) would do the right thing."

Last week, the Revs. Cardes Brown, Gregory Headen and Nelson Johnson held a news conference and alleged that 50 files relating to 1979 shootings were destroyed, saying they told city officials about the situation in October but nothing was done.

The ministers alleged that Lt. Craig McMinn, then assigned as a sergeant in the department's Special Intelligence Division, ordered the files destroyed in 2004 or 2005.

Fulmore was assigned to Special Intelligence at the time.

Johnson also confirmed Fulmore as his source Wednesday night.

Rossabi could not provide a specific date for when Fulmore said the order was given to destroy the files but noted that shortly after it was issued, his client reported the incident to an assistant city attorney.

Rossabi would not say who Fulmore reported the incident to, saying, "We are going to wait to see if the person he told this to steps forward."

He also said he has reason to believe that not all the files were destroyed after the order was given.

The Klan-Nazi shootings happened the morning of Nov. 3, 1979, just as the march was forming in the Morningside Homes community. A heavily armed caravan of Klansmen and Nazis drove into the area and confronted anti-Klan marchers, many of whom were members of what became the Communist Workers Party.

In the ensuing gunfire, five anti-Klan marchers were killed and 10 others wounded. All criminal defendants later were acquitted in state and federal criminal trials. A civil jury found the city and some Klansmen liable for one death.

City officials have not confirmed whether the files ever existed and, if so, whether there is anything to indicate they are missing.

On Friday, the Greensboro Police Department began an Internal Affairs investigation into claims the documents were destroyed. The same day, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sent out letters asking state and federal lawmakers to look into the allegations and launch a federal investigation.

The organization asked for witness protection for officers who come forward with information about the destruction of the files.

A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Richard Burr confirmed that the senator asked the Justice Department to look into the matter after he received the letter. The city voted Tuesday night to welcome a federal investigation.

Rossabi said he had nothing to do with the NAACP asking for witness protection for Fulmore if a federal probe begins.

"Julius Fulmore has nothing to hide, because he's done nothing wrong," Rossabi said. "I expect there are people who are not very happy with the fact he is coming forward with the truth in this respect, but I'm not in a position to speculate he is in danger over this."

In May 2007, Fulmore filed a civil lawsuit against the city, the police department, former Chief David Wray and a half-dozen current or former officers, including McMinn, claiming they orchestrated a yearlong conspiracy to damage his career.

The lawsuit claims that disparate treatment, the result of personal jealousy by the officers, started in the mid-1990s when he was working on a federal drug task force. The lawsuit also notes Fulmore complained about Special Intelligence performing investigations on black officers, as opposed to the Criminal Investigations Division.

As a result, the suit claims Fulmore was "chastised by McMinn for his vocal opposition to the wrongful conduct" regarding the investigation of black officers and was downgraded in his evaluation.

The filing of the lawsuit came after a complaint Fulmore filed in April 2006 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about the police department.

He has not yet received a right-to-sue notice, typically a precursor to a discrimination lawsuit, from the EEOC. Rossabi said Fulmore filed the EEOC complaint after he talked with the assistant city attorney about the destruction of the files.

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com