Feb. 23, 2023 Recently released body and dashboard camera footage shows taking down a 15-year-old boy with a gun after the armed suspect jumped out of a vehicle in a parking lot and turned toward the officer.
By Margaret Baker Source The Sun Herald Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety released Gulfport police body cam and dash camera footage from the fatal October shooting of Jaheim McMillan.
The footage shows the 15-year-old teen had a gun in his right hand when he jumped out of a silver Kia Soul and ran in two different directions in front of a Family Dollar store before Gulfport Police Officer Kenneth Nassar shouted out, “Stop, stop, Gulfport police, drop it.”
McMillan appeared to turn in the direction of Nassar when the officer opened fire, fatally wounding McMillan over the course of the nine-second encounter.
McMillan fell to the ground with a single gunshot wound to the head after Nassar fired eight shots in his direction. The video shows he lay on the sidewalk in front of the Family Dollar for at least seven or eight minutes without any aid provided to him.
McMillan died two days later after he was taken off of life support at a Mobile, Alabama, hospital.
In the reports and camera footage released Wednesday afternoon, a second teen, 16, is seen jumping out of the front passenger seat just after McMillan.
The second teen runs in the same direction as McMillan before McMillan turns to run in a different direction and the gunfire starts.
Three other teens with McMillan are soon out of the car and on the ground with their arms stretched out above their heads.
Gulfport police arrested the four other minors while McMillan was on the ground bleeding, the video shows.
Also responding to the scene along with Nassar was Gulfport police officer Benjamin Ford, who helped take the four other teens into custody along with at least one other officer.
Grand jury clears Gulfport police
A Harrison County, Mississippi grand jury cleared Nassar and GPD of any criminal wrongdoing in the shooting death of McMillan.
MBI Special Supervisory Agent Robert Moore, along with MBI Special Agents Jason Gazzo and Alex Lizana, responded to the crime scene to conduct an independent investigation into the fatal police shooting.
The shooting happened shortly after Gulfport police responded to a 9-1-1 call in the area of Pass Road and 8th Avenue in reference to minors with masks waving guns at other motorists.
The minors were identified as those in the Kia.
Nassar and Ford located the car on Pass Road and followed it into the Family Dollar parking lot.
New details released in Jaheim McMillan shooting
Cooper said the minors, one of whom was McMillan, were in the small SUV and brandishing weapons and chasing another vehicle.
In subsequent interviews with the teens involved, one of them 16, told authorities he was the one who jumped out of the car and ran shortly after McMillan.
That teen said he also was armed and was surprised when the officer chasing him as he ran toward a wooded area shot at him with a Taser instead of a handgun.
The same teen said he heard the gunshots but didn’t see what McMillan was doing before he was shot.
The teen said he knew McMillan to “do dumb stuff” and said, “so, I’m like he probably pulled out his gun and stuff on police and got shot,” according to the reports.
That teen told police he was carrying a “Glock 43,” also known as a 9 mm pistol, that he had gotten in the early-morning hours of Oct. 6 when he, McMillan and others allegedly stole it and two other guns from an SUV in the parking lot of a Gulfport hotel.
The teen said the guns were loaded at the time of the encounter with Gulfport police, according to the reports.
In addition, police say, all four teens admitted riding around with masks on and waving guns at motorists before arriving at the store.
Since the shooting, Jaheim’s mother, Katrina Mateen, and other supporters have held repeated protests to demand the police camera footage of the shooting and for the prosecution of the police officer responsible for the teen’s killing.
Others, such as members of various Black Lives Matter groups and other organizations like Mississippi Rising Coalition, have offered support to the family, along with relatives of Black people killed by police around the U.S.
Early on, Gulfport Police Chief Adam Cooper said the Gulfport police officer shot McMillan after he refused orders to drop his gun despite commands to do so.