A grand jury in Omaha, Neb., on Tuesday indicted the white bar owner who fatally shot a Black man during protests for racial justice in May.
Jake Gardner shot 22-year-old James Scurlock in an altercation on May 30, during a tense night of protests in the city following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Initially, after reviewing video footage, Douglas County District Attorney Don Kleine ruled the shooting an act of self-defense and released Gardner from custody. He quickly reversed course and requested a grand jury and special prosecutor review the case, saying he hoped it would restore public faith in the justice system. Community members and Scurlock's family had called for such an investigation.
On Tuesday, special prosecutor Frederick Franklin announced that the grand jury had reached a decision. It charged Gardner with four counts: manslaughter, attempted first-degree assault, terroristic threats and use of a firearm in connection with a felony.
Franklin said at a news conference that when he signed on to the case earlier this summer, he also believed the shooting to be a case of justifiable self-defense.
"But I can tell you that there is evidence that undermines that," he said. "[And] that evidence comes primarily from Jake Gardner himself."
The 16-member grand jury had access to far more information than what was available at the time of the district attorney's initial decision, according to Franklin. He said Omaha police continued the investigation, conducting roughly 60 interviews and acquiring video clips from the public, which they passed on to Franklin's team.
Without going into specifics, Franklin outlined how each of the grand jury's charges relate to the events of May 30.
He said the terroristic threat count applies to Gardner's conduct in a verbal back-and-forth with Scurlock, and implied that Gardner was threatening the use of deadly force in the absence of receiving any such threats himself.
Gardner fired two shots before fatally striking Scurlock. Franklin said the jurors decided to charge the second of those, characterized as a "warning shot," as attempted first-degree assault.
The use of a firear... (Read more)
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Submitted 1288 days ago
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