Bodycam footage shows police killing black teen in Mississippi

A Mississippi grand jury declined to indict a Gulfport police officer who fatally shot and killed a black teenager in a parking lot in October, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety confirmed to HuffPost on Thursday.

Body camera and dash cam footage from the incident, which HuffPost obtained via a public records request, shows Officer Kenneth Nassar firing at least eight shots at 15-year-old Jaheim McMillan. outside a Family Dollar store in broad daylight.

Nassar and another officer, Benjamin Ford, responded to a 911 call Oct. 6 that reported reckless driving. An investigative report said the caller said “the occupants of a silver Kia Soul brandished firearms and wore camouflage masks.”

Dashcam footage shows McMillan and four other teenagers sat inside a Kia Soul as officers arrived at the scene and parked. McMillan ran out of the car trying to cover something with his sweatshirt in his hand; another teenager jumped out of the car behind him.

Dashcam footage appears to show a gun in McMillan’s hand as he decides which direction to run, but at no point does McMillan point a gun at Nassar.

Nassar’s body camera footage shows the officer firing his gun while yelling at McMillan to drop his gun. The encounter, in which Nassar fires eight rounds, lasts about five seconds.

The video shows McMillan falling to the ground, after which he is no longer visible on camera.

Nassar fires his final shots as McMillan lies on the ground, according to body camera footage. An autopsy revealed that a gunshot to the head killed McMillan.

In the footage, the other three teenagers get out of the car with their hands raised after Nassar fires his gun.

“Get out of the fucking car and stay on the ground,” Nassar is heard shouting in the footage, and the teenagers comply.

As Nassar points his gun at the other teenagers lying on the ground, a white man walks towards him and wonders why Nassar shot McMillan.

“You better have a good intention. You shot the child? Your ass is going to fucking jail,” the man said.

“Sir, get the hell out of here,” Nassar shouts.

At one point, one of the teenagers who was inside the car asks Nassar to check on McMillan as he thinks he is dead.

“Sir, can you please check on him? I think he is dead,” the teenager said.

Other officers arrive at the scene and Nassar says he saw a gun in McMillan’s hand, but McMillan didn’t appear to have a gun on him when Nassar handcuffed him and rolled over. the body. Officers then discovered a gun in the parking lot.

Bodycam footage also shows Katrina Mateen, McMillan’s mother, arriving at the scene and wondering why the police killed her son.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigations completed an investigation into the shooting this week and its findings were presented to a grand jury, which declined to indict Nassar.

Nassar said in an inquest interview that he saw a gun in McMillan’s hand and ordered him to drop it, and recalled firing at least eight shots. He said he handcuffed McMillan while he was injured on the ground, which he said was “standard practice”.

One of the teenagers in the car told investigators he believed Nassar was biased against McMillan.

“I really feel like the officer had something against Jahiem too,” the witness said.