A year after his death, Romen Phelps' family wants answers

WEST PALM BEACH — A year after an alumnus of the Dreyfoos School of the Arts was killed by a off-duty police officer inside the school’s theater hall, his family and friends are still waiting for answers.

Family members and close friends of Romen Phelps, a 2007 Dreyfoos graduate, gathered Saturday evening in front of the West Palm Beach Police Department to demand that the agency release information regarding his death.

"Hear the pain of what this causes,” pleaded Jermaine Williams, who first met Phelps in elementary school. “So that we can move forward and have at least some (resolution) from supposedly public servants who are following the law.”

Dreyfoos School's Romen Phelps was one of us | Commentary

Dreyfoos shooting: State attorney won't charge officer who shot, killed Romen Phelps

Dreyfoos shooting: State attorney won't charge officer who shot, killed Romen Phelps

According to initial police accounts, Phelps, a Palm Beach Gardens resident, crashed his white van into the gates of the school on May 13 of last year, rushed through hallways and had confrontations with school staff before an off-duty West Palm Beach police officer fatally shot him.

Initial police accounts said that Phelps, 33, ran inside the school’s theater hall and “violently attacked” the off-duty officer, prompting him to fire a bullet into Phelps' chest. His friends and family say Phelps was an unarmed Black man who was having a mental health crisis, and was wrongfully killed by the officer.

Lynn Mckeel, an Atlanta attorney and also a former classmate of Phelps, said a year after his death, the Phelps family’s requests for public records to the West Palm Beach Police Department and other state agencies regarding the circumstances of the shooting have been denied or gone unanswered.

Some of the records include surveillance footage, witness statements, police, incident and investigation reports. The family also wants the police officer’s identity to be revealed along with his training, employment and disciplinary history. All of the information is considered public record according to Florida’s open records laws, and should be accessible to the public, Mckeel said.

"Until this information is widely released to the public, the city of West Palm Beach is an accomplice to Romen's murder,” she said.

Mckeel says the family wants to know whether the officer considered any de-escalation tactics or using non-lethal force. She added West Palm Beach officers haven't even talked with Robin Jackman, Phelps' mother, to give them details surrounding the death of her son.

"We needed to be here to let people know that justice for Romen continues," said Jackman, who visited her son's grave before the gathering with family members and friends. She and the rest of the roughly 20 people who attended the protest wore "Remember Romen" black T-shirts bearing an image of a dove intertwined with the ancient theatrical masks of comedy and tragedy.

State Attorney Dave Aronberg decided May 3 that no criminal charges will be filed against the police officer who shot Phelps. In a letter to West Palm Beach Police Chief Frank Adderley, Aronberg wrote the officer feared great bodily harm or death when he shot Phelps and "reasonably reacted to what he perceived as immediate threat of serious harm to himself or a person at the school."

Phelps' attorney said during the gathering that the family had not read the report and is considering their options to file a lawsuit.

"Everything that they made their decision on, everything that is written in black and white, we want to see all of it," said Jackman. "And, we deserve to have that. We need to know."

Even with answers, Jackman said, she doesn't think she'll ever get closure.

"You never want to bury your child," she said. "He was the life of the party and we miss him."

Dozens gather at vigil for Dreyfoos alum killed by police on campus

Dreyfoos alums nationwide work to launch nonprofit after police fatally shot Romen Phelps

3 Dreyfoos students who encountered Romen Phelps before shooting didn't feel threatened

Skylar Meany, who also attended Dreyfoos with Phelps, described him as a caring friend, a talented poet and playwright, and a person who was always volunteering in the school's theater where he grew up and ultimately was shot.

"That's why he went there. It was a sanctuary space for him," Meany said. "We want to see evidence of why one of my closest friends is no longer on this earth.”

Meany and Williams organized vigils honoring Phelps role in the community as an artist and volunteer in the days after his death. They created the non-profit Remember Romen in his honor to advocate for changes in legislation and give people with mental health issues access to the arts.

"We just want them to recognize that this is a human life," Meany said. "We're not just gonna let him be another number in the books, we're not gonna let him be another tally on a wall."

For Williams, the most important thing is that Phelps isn't vilified for his mental health problems and that the West Palm Beach Police Department turn over all of the information.

"We're going off of the pains and know that we lost someone who was a great part of the community," said Williams. "So we'd like for them to do their part and release records and to give us some closure."

Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Loxahatchee and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on Twitter at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Family of Romen Phelps demonstrates outside West Palm Police office