Mississippi grand jury clears 3 officers in fatal shooting
Published 10:00 am Thursday, July 28, 2016
- Acting Decatur Police Chief John Getz speaks at a news conference Monday, July 11, 2016, accompanied by NAACP Decatur Branch President Jeanelle Norman In Decature Ill. Decatur police say a black man shot by a white officer was armed with a BB gun that resembled a real firearm, as well as a knife. The 40-year-old black Decatur man is listed in serious condition after being shot in the chest early Monday. (Jim Bowling/Herald & Review via AP)
BLIOXI, Miss. (AP) — A grand jury has ruled Mississippi police officers were justified in the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old man whose weapon turned out to be a BB gun.
Biloxi Police Chief John Miller says Wesley Sheppard of Biloxi had shot out a window in a vehicle with children and refused police orders to drop his weapon March 10.
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Miller tells The Sun Herald (http://bit.ly/2aj0zSa) Wednesday that Sheppard was hit by two bullets from about 50 yards as three officers fired.
Miller released details of the shooting after a Harrison County grand jury ruled Monday the officers’ actions were justifiable.
Miller said investigators learned the weapon was a BB gun, though it looked like a long gun to witnesses and responding officers.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation was called in for an independent probe, a standard police procedure.
