Balch Springs Police Chief Jonathan Haber has changed the official account of the shooting of Jordan Edwards, the unarmed black 15-year-old who was shot dead as he was leaving a party on Saturday by an unidentified police officer.
Haber told the Dallas News that body cam footage refutes the department's previous account. The vehicle Edwards was sitting in the passanger seat of while he was shot was not "moving aggressively" towards police, as previously stated. The officer who fired on the car was armed with a rifle. "It did not meet our core values," Haber said of the shooting. The medical examiner's office has ruled his death a homicide.
Police were at the party on Saturday responding to a report of drunk teenagers (Jordan Edwards had not been drinking, according to his parents). Around 11 p.m. they heard gunshots and went outside, where Jordan and his friends were leaving the party — Lee Merritt, the family's attorney, said that the boys also heard gunshots and decided to go. Merritt says that the teenagers heard swearing as they prepared to drive away, followed by three shots that were fired into the vehicle.
The shooting is being investigated by the Dallas County Sheriff's Department and the district attorney's public integrity unit. Haber said that the video footage of the shooting will not be released until the case is closed. Meanwhile, Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson said that the investigation will be handled with a "commitment to justice and transparency."
Mesquite High School, where Jordan studied for two months, is reeling from his death. Jeff Fleener, Jordan's football coach, said: "You create a checklist of everything you would want in a player, a son, a teammate, a friend, and Jordan had all that." In a statement, the school district described Jordan Edwards as "a good student who was very well liked by his teachers, coaches and his fellow students."