Protest against police brutality comes on heels of another fatal police shooting in Fayetteville

Even as his voice began to crack from exhaustion, Shaun McMillan did not falter.

"Say her name, Jada Johnson, say her name," he chanted. His words were amplified by the bullhorn a Fayetteville police officer had tried to grab from him minutes earlier because McMillan and the nearly two dozen others with him failed to get a permit to protest police brutality outside the Market House in downtown Fayetteville Wednesday night.

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McMillan, the cofounder of Fayetteville Police Accountability Community Taskforce, was on a mission that began in 2015 with Fayetteville PACT's creation and hasn't stopped since. His larger mission has been to call for reform and accountability on behalf of those killed by police in Fayetteville and Cumberland County.  Wednesday night's mission, a part of that bigger picture, was to call for justice in the death of Jada Johnson, a call that came in the wake of another fatal police shooting Friday night.

Johnson, 22, was killed July 1 in front of her grandparents and 2-year-old daughter. Johnson's grandparents, Rick and Maria Iwanski, said she was experiencing a mental health crisis when she pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot herself in her grandfather's living room as police stood by.  A struggle ensued and Johnson was shot dead.

'This is not going to end well'

Two months after Jada Johnson was killed, Justin Livesay, 40, would be killed by police in the grass outside his mobile home after his family called police to say he was threatening to harm himself. Police said Livesay was holding two knives. His wife of four months, April Brandhorst, said she peeked around the corner of the backdoor just in time to see officers fire six bullets into him.

"It's just not right," Brandhorst said. "I called for help."

Brandhorst was one of the family members at the rally of those killed by city police. Her husband had only been dead for five days, and the pain was still fresh as she spoke of Livesay's difficult life and his struggle to overcome what he'd faced.

Livesay, who Brandhorst affectionately referred to as "Jojo," suffered from bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress from childhood trauma. He was discharged from the Navy for mental health issues, Brandhorst said, and had run into trouble with the law in the past, but was "getting over it" and fighting his demons.

The couple had argued Friday evening after Livesay came home and said he had nothing to live for, according to Brandhorst. She and her daughter, who was not present, separately called 911 to try to get help for Livesay. When her husband overheard the 911 call on the police scanner they kept, Brandhorst said, he told her, "This is not going to end well."

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Brandhorst said she saw officers wait just seconds after using a stun gun on her husband before they fired their weapons. She was rushed away from the scene by officers before she could see if her husband was still breathing. It was a fire department official who later told her that her husband was dead.

"Not one police officer said, 'I'm sorry,'" Brandhorst said

Brandhorst joined the crowd in marching around the perimeter of the Market House, chanting, "Justice for Jada." Some carried signs; members of Johnson's family wore T-shirts bearing her face and name. Drivers honked their horns in support as they drove by the rally, and Chilleko Hurst, vice president of Fayetteville PACT, guided the crowd's chants with a bullhorn.

Tensions rise

As the crowd gathered 20 minutes into the protest in front of the Market House's arches, at least three Fayetteville Police Department patrol cars pulled up. One officer told the protestors they couldn't use the bullhorn while at least two other officers stood by. The bullhorn was a violation of a city noise ordinance, he said; the protestors needed a permit, which they did not have, to use it.

The organizers, including McMillan and Hurst, challenged the officer's claim. Protests for women's reproductive rights at the Market House in June and July had used bullhorns and amplified sound systems without possessing a permit, they said, and police hadn't said a word.

Stephanie, who declined to give her last name, said that as an organizer with Fayetteville Freedom for All, she held a rally three weeks ago that did not have a permit and her group faced no challenge from police in spite of the use of a bullhorn for two hours.

"Maybe one (officer) drove by," she said. "They never even slowed down."

The officer stood firm, even as City Council member Mario Benavente stepped forward to intervene. Tensions rose as McMillan told the officer to get out of his face. Some of the protestors watched the scene nervously, while others continued to shout Johnson's name and cry for justice under the Market House arches. McMillan grabbed the bullhorn Hurst had been using and began directing the crowd to say Johnson's name. At one point, Rick Iwanski took over the chanting for a few minutes before handing the bullhorn back to McMillan.

Jahmal Cole, an activist from Chicago who said his aunt had been killed there in 2015 by police, was in town to visit his wife's sick father. Cole said he was in awe of both the protest and the Market House's existence. He said a building like the Market House, seen as a relic of slavery by some, would no longer exist in his hometown. Cole, who was passing by and stopped to watch the protest, said he was inspired by the sense of activism in Fayetteville and would do whatever he could to help.

After a police supervisor arrived and lengthy discussions ensued among officers, Benavente, McMillan and other activists, the tension dissipated; the bullhorn was put away and attendees gathered in the center of the Market House to hear remarks from organizers and family members of the deceased.

Benavente later said he feared the situation could have escalated.

"It got very tense in there with the (officer) trying to elbow past people to grab the bullhorn," he said. "I shudder to think if that escalated."

While the use of the bullhorn was technically a violation of a city ordinance, the freshman councilman noted, the protest was not about the ordinance.

"This was a family wanting to have their voice heard," Benavente said. "Staying so rigid could have turned this into something else."

Taking action

Kathy Greggs, cofounder and president of Fayetteville PACT, was the first to speak to the group, telling the crowd not to worry about McMillan and other activists in the group.

"We're here for you," she said, addressing the family members in attendance. "We don't worry about the police."

McMillan spoke next, thanking the crowd for coming and emphasizing the group's mission.

"Why is it that we are so used to, as a community, losing people who are going through a mental health crisis?" he asked. "Something is wrong here."

Officials, McMillan said, need to take action. He noted that Benavente was the only member of the City Council to attend the protest and questioned why local politicians weren't doing more to address the issue of police brutality.

Rick Iwanski followed McMillan.

"It's been 66 days since my beautiful angel was murdered in front of me here in Fayetteville," he said. "We don't want the police, either, to be subject to criticism and hatred from the community. I don't think every one of them is evil, but I believe that they have a culture, a culture that says, 'This is OK.' And we need to change that."

Brandhorst stepped up to recount her husband's death and call for change.

"We said plainly, 'This is a mental health crisis,'" she said. "They come with guns blazing, they deployed the Tasers, and within five seconds, no joke, shots all in the torso. We need help."

Hurst told the crowd Fayetteville was "at a crossroads."

"Mental health is a serious issue," he said. "It's something we shouldn't be ashamed to address. We just want these citizens to be protected."

No matter what, Hurst promised, Fayetteville PACT would continue fighting.

"We ain't going to let this go," he said, smiling as the crowd cheered and clapped. "We ain't going nowhere."

Public safety reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at ABSolomon@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville activists protest fatal police shootings