Protesters claim Mississippi teen Jaheim McMillan was wrongfully killed by police

Angel Saunders
·3 min read
police
police

As previously reported by REVOLT, earlier this month, Mississippi police shot and killed 15-year-old Jaheim McMillan. The fatal incident took place in the parking lot of a Family Dollar store around 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 6. Authorities claimed the teen was armed, however, newly obtained video footage and witness testimony refute those claims.

Jacob Blake Sr., the father of Jacob Blake, has made it his mission to stand up for injustice after his Black son was shot seven times in the back and left paralyzed by a white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2020. Blake Sr., who was present for protests over the weekend, spoke to Mississippi’s Sun Herald about McMillan’s tragic death. “It clearly shows [McMillan] took 3 1/2 steps from that [Kia Soul], 3 1/2 steps to a death sentence,” he told the news outlet yesterday (Oct. 25).

He noted that he and other community members are calling for the police department to release the officer’s bodycam footage, adding it’s been almost a month since the incident happened. Yesterday, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump tweeted a clip of an interview he did with political journalist Roland Martin and McMillan’s mother, Katrina Mateen. He captioned the post, “Gulfport (MS) police fatally shot Jaheim McMillan — a 15-year-old child who had his WHOLE life ahead of him. State officials MUST release all video footage of the incident — we need to see with our OWN eyes what transpired the night police killed Jaheim!”

As the family of the teen and the public wait for the police to show proof of what happened, community members have obtained surveillance footage from nearby businesses. One person posted a video clip of “the last moments of Jaheim McMillan’s life.” They claimed it “was [an] execution [and] he was terrified running [away] from [an] officer that immediately started shooting.” In another graphic video, a witness recorded the teen’s lifeless body on the ground just moments after the officer-involved shooting. “And they handcuffed him,” the man said in disbelief.

On the day of the shooting, a witness was videotaped saying she never saw the teen holding a weapon. She claimed McMillan’s hands were up as he approached the police officers.

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