Kirk Freeman
Grandmaster
If true, this is going to get very ugly. Allegedly police shot into the house from outside the house after lobbing in flash bang in. This directly contradicts official police version.
Real #45,987 why police hate video tape and fight it whenever they can. "Camera are the new guns", if this is correct, this will be the shot heard around the world.
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Attorney: Video shows police fired into home
He says footage contradicts police version of how 7-year-old was shot
Beneath a broken glass window where the police threw a flash grenade, Aiyana Jones' father Charles Jones (known as C.J.), front, mourns his 7-year-old daughter's death while sitting on the porch of their home in Detroit on Sunday.
View related photos
Brandy Baker / AP
updated 2 hours, 55 minutes ago
DETROIT - An attorney for the family of a 7-year-old girl slain during a weekend raid at their Detroit home says video footage contradicts the police department's version of events.
Geoffrey Fieger said Monday that footage shot by the A&E crime-reality show "The First 48" shows that police fired into the home at least once after lobbing a flash grenade through a window.
He says that contradicts the police department's explanation that an officer's gun fired during a confrontation with a resident inside the home. Seven-year-old Aiyana Jones was shot in the neck and died.
Fieger says he viewed three to four minutes of footage but declined to say who showed it to him. The police department says it is trying to acquire the video.
An A&E spokesman declined to comment.
The girl's father, 25-year-old Charles Jones, told The Detroit News he had just gone to bed early Sunday after covering his daughter with her favorite Disney princess blanket when he heard a flash grenade followed by a gunshot. When he rushed into the living room, he said, police forced him to lie on the ground, with his face in his daughter's blood.
"I'll never be the same. That's my only daughter," Jones told WXYZ-TV.
Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee earlier said officers set off the flash grenade as they entered the apartment with their guns drawn about 12:40 a.m. Sunday with a warrant to look for a suspect in the Friday slaying of a 17-year-old boy. The lead officer's gun went off after he encountered a 46-year-old woman inside the front room of the home and "some level of physical contact" ensued. Police do not believe the gun was fired intentionally.
"This is any parent's worst nightmare. It also is any police officer's worst nightmare," Godbee said.
Family members identified the woman as the child's grandmother and Charles Jones' mother, Mertilla Jones, who has said she was not involved in a struggle with the officer. Police later said the officer may have just collided with the woman.
Officer on leave
The officer was put on paid administrative leave and police are investigating, Godbee said.
"This is a tragedy of unspeakable magnitude to Aiyana's parents, family and all those who loved her," Godbee said. "It is a tragedy we also feel very deeply throughout the ranks of the Detroit Police Department."
Charles Jones said he had to wait for hours to find out what happened to his daughter.
"Her blood was everywhere and I was trying to stay calm, but nobody would talk to me. None of them even tried to console me," Jones told The Detroit News.
Video
Death in Detroit
May 17: The family of a Detroit child who was shot during a police raid say the girl was sleeping in her living room when she was fatally struck. Msnbc's Tamron Hall reports.
msnbc tv
The officers had a search warrant and were looking for a 34-year-old man suspected in the shooting death of Jarean Blake. Officers arrested the suspect during a search of the building, Godbee said.
Godbee would not comment on newspaper reports that neighbors told police there were children in the house and showed them toys in the front yard. The girl's father said three other children besides Aiyana were in the home when the raid happened.
Charles Jones said he was trying not to be angry but wanted the story to be told. He said Aiyana was a lively child who loved to sing and had recently developed an interest in Hannah Montana and the Justin Bieber song "Baby."
"She was just figuring out what she liked, what she wanted to do with her life," her father said. "I want this story to be heard. This was a wrongful death."
Real #45,987 why police hate video tape and fight it whenever they can. "Camera are the new guns", if this is correct, this will be the shot heard around the world.
*********************************************************
Attorney: Video shows police fired into home
He says footage contradicts police version of how 7-year-old was shot
Beneath a broken glass window where the police threw a flash grenade, Aiyana Jones' father Charles Jones (known as C.J.), front, mourns his 7-year-old daughter's death while sitting on the porch of their home in Detroit on Sunday.
View related photosBrandy Baker / AP
DETROIT - An attorney for the family of a 7-year-old girl slain during a weekend raid at their Detroit home says video footage contradicts the police department's version of events.
Geoffrey Fieger said Monday that footage shot by the A&E crime-reality show "The First 48" shows that police fired into the home at least once after lobbing a flash grenade through a window.
He says that contradicts the police department's explanation that an officer's gun fired during a confrontation with a resident inside the home. Seven-year-old Aiyana Jones was shot in the neck and died.
Fieger says he viewed three to four minutes of footage but declined to say who showed it to him. The police department says it is trying to acquire the video.
An A&E spokesman declined to comment.
The girl's father, 25-year-old Charles Jones, told The Detroit News he had just gone to bed early Sunday after covering his daughter with her favorite Disney princess blanket when he heard a flash grenade followed by a gunshot. When he rushed into the living room, he said, police forced him to lie on the ground, with his face in his daughter's blood.
"I'll never be the same. That's my only daughter," Jones told WXYZ-TV.
Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee earlier said officers set off the flash grenade as they entered the apartment with their guns drawn about 12:40 a.m. Sunday with a warrant to look for a suspect in the Friday slaying of a 17-year-old boy. The lead officer's gun went off after he encountered a 46-year-old woman inside the front room of the home and "some level of physical contact" ensued. Police do not believe the gun was fired intentionally.
"This is any parent's worst nightmare. It also is any police officer's worst nightmare," Godbee said.
Family members identified the woman as the child's grandmother and Charles Jones' mother, Mertilla Jones, who has said she was not involved in a struggle with the officer. Police later said the officer may have just collided with the woman.
Officer on leave
The officer was put on paid administrative leave and police are investigating, Godbee said.
"This is a tragedy of unspeakable magnitude to Aiyana's parents, family and all those who loved her," Godbee said. "It is a tragedy we also feel very deeply throughout the ranks of the Detroit Police Department."
Charles Jones said he had to wait for hours to find out what happened to his daughter.
"Her blood was everywhere and I was trying to stay calm, but nobody would talk to me. None of them even tried to console me," Jones told The Detroit News.
Death in Detroit
May 17: The family of a Detroit child who was shot during a police raid say the girl was sleeping in her living room when she was fatally struck. Msnbc's Tamron Hall reports.
msnbc tv
The officers had a search warrant and were looking for a 34-year-old man suspected in the shooting death of Jarean Blake. Officers arrested the suspect during a search of the building, Godbee said.
Godbee would not comment on newspaper reports that neighbors told police there were children in the house and showed them toys in the front yard. The girl's father said three other children besides Aiyana were in the home when the raid happened.
Charles Jones said he was trying not to be angry but wanted the story to be told. He said Aiyana was a lively child who loved to sing and had recently developed an interest in Hannah Montana and the Justin Bieber song "Baby."
"She was just figuring out what she liked, what she wanted to do with her life," her father said. "I want this story to be heard. This was a wrongful death."
