Police Chief: Shooting Death of Teen Didn't Meet 'Core Values'

Family of Texas' Jordan Edwards said he had 'humble and sharing spirit'
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted May 2, 2017 1:38 PM CDT
Family: Texas Teen Shot Dead by Cop Had 'Humble Spirit'
Odell Edwards wipes away tears as he sits with his wife, Charmaine Edwards, listening to their attorney talk about the death of their son, Jordan Edwards, in a police shooting Saturday in Balch Springs, Texas.   (Guy Reynolds/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

The family of Jordan Edwards, the 15-year-old shot dead by a cop near Dallas Saturday night, issued a statement Tuesday remembering the boy as a "humble and sharing spirit" killed in an act of "horrific, unexplainable violence," per CBS Dallas-Fort Worth. The statement added Jordan's brothers witnessed his "senseless murder," though it also called for no violence toward the police, and no "protests and marches" for the teen as the family sets up his funeral. The shooting has met further scrutiny after Balch Springs Police Chief Jonathan Haber said Monday he "misspoke" during his initial description of the incident, per the Washington Post. After a 911 call had reported drunk teens in the area, a responding officer fired into the car Jordan was riding in as a passenger, fatally wounding him in the head. Haber first said the car had been backing up toward cops "in an aggressive manner."

Body-cam video showed that wasn't the case: The car was moving forward, away from cops, per Haber, who retracted his original statement Monday and said he doesn't believe the shooting "met our core values," per the Dallas Morning News. Public outrage over the boy's death is growing, with Daily News columnist Shaun King noting, "I am so angry right now that I have to admit I'm struggling to put one sentence in front of the other." He adds Jordan and others in the car had been "responsible," refraining from drinking and smoking and leaving the party they were at when noise levels prompted the 911 call. King also calls for the cop who shot Jordan to be fired and arrested. "What we desire only second to having our beloved Jordan back, is Justice For Jordan," the family's statement reads. Per the Post, Jordan is the youngest of more than 330 people shot and killed in 2017 by cops. (More Jordan Edwards stories.)

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