Family seeks answers after Mississippi teen killed by police

The taking pictures of a Black teenager by police in Gulfport, Mississippi, has led to outcry from members of the family and activists who say the teenager was unarmed together with his fingers up when he was confronted by police. The teenager died days later after being taken off life help.

Police say 15-year-old Jaheim McMillan was armed and refused to drop his weapon when officers fired at him following a foot chase.

The hashtag #JusticeForJaheim has been trending on social media, with some posting pictures of the teenager bleeding out whereas handcuffed on the bottom.

Throughout the Oct. 6 incident, officers responded to a 911 name about 5 teenagers waving firearms at passing vehicles and commenced chasing one among them, in keeping with Gulfport police chief Adam Cooper, who held a press convention on the officer-involved taking pictures Wednesday.

Cooper instructed reporters that one officer noticed McMillan was armed and gave orders for him to cease and drop his weapon.

“McMillan didn’t comply,” Cooper stated.

Cooper additionally claimed McMillan “turned his physique and weapon in the direction of the officer,” so the officer fired at him.

Debra Stout, a Lengthy Seashore, Mississippi, resident instructed ABC Information she witnessed the encounter and stated she noticed McMillan together with his fingers up. She says she was ready exterior her house for a telephone name when she heard the gunshots.

“I did hear gunshots, I ducked. I did not know the place they had been coming from,” Stout instructed ABC Information in a zoom interview. “There have been guys on the bottom, then I observed the boy who handed away on the entrance door, however earlier than that I did see him together with his fingers up.”

Stout says she couldn’t see if McMillan was armed. “I did not know if he was alive or useless,” she stated.

She stated she believes there was a scarcity of urgency within the medical response to McMillan, as a result of the ambulance, she stated, arrived on scene with out a siren on.

“I really feel horrible. I in all probability need to get counseling,” Stout instructed ABC Information. “I dream about it each night time.”

Relations disagree with Cooper’s claims that Jaheim was armed.

“If Gulfport Police Division had footage of my little cousin holding a gun, greatest imagine it could have already got been launched,” one member of the family, Court docket Elle Bolton, stated in a Fb submit.

A spokesperson for the Gulfport Police Division declined to remark. Relations of McMillan didn’t instantly reply to ABC Information’ requests for remark.

The Mississippi Lawyer Normal’s workplace has jurisdiction on circumstances the place officers use lethal drive, Cooper stated in the course of the press convention. He stated the Gulfport Police Division is “cooperating totally” with the AG’s investigation and can conduct an inside investigation.

Relations of McMillan additionally claimed in a Fb video they had been initially barred from getting into a hospital in Cellular, Alabama, the place {the teenager} was airlifted to following the taking pictures. The hospital – USA Youngsters & Girls’s Hospital – didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from ABC Information.