Family seeks body camera footage from fatal police shooting of a Black teen in Homewood

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HOMEWOOD, Ala. (AP) — Family members of a Black teenager shot and killed by police in an Alabama suburb say they want answers and are seeking to see the body camera footage of the shooting.

Jabari Peoples, 18, was shot June 23 by a police officer in the parking lot of a soccer field in Homewood, an affluent suburb near the central city of Birmingham.

The Homewood Police Department said the officer fired his weapon after Peoples grabbed a gun from a car door during a scuffle as the officer was trying to arrest him for marijuana possession.

The family is disputing the police version of events. Leroy Maxwell, Jr., an attorney representing the family, said Peoples was shot in the back and, according to a witness, did not have a weapon when approached by the officer.

Hundreds of people attended a vigil for Peoples at the soccer complex where he was shot. The family released doves and white balloons and brought in a large photo of Peoples with angel wings. Candles spelled out “Jabari” at the spot where he was killed.

Bron Peoples said his younger brother had a plan for his life and would write down his dreams for the future in a notebook. He said their parents had drilled into them how to behave when interacting with police. He said the family is “calling for justice.”

“The truth needs to come out. The truth has to come out. We need the truth,” he said. “We’ve got to continue to stand together so it won’t happen to anyone else’s brother, son, nephew, cousin. We got to stand together to make a change.”

The police department said the details surrounding the incident are “clearly captured” on the officer’s body camera. The department statement added that the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, which is reviewing the use of force, has possession of the video and will coordinate its release to the family.

Maxwell called on the agency to immediately release the footage.

“They deserve to see with their own eyes what happened in Jabari’s final moments. The public deserves transparency. Jabari’s family deserves justice. And justice begins with the truth,” Maxwell said.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency received a request to see the recording but “respectfully declined” because of the ongoing investigation, a department spokeswoman said in an email. A 2023 state law that governs release of police recordings says an agency may choose to not disclose the recording if it would impact an active law enforcement investigation. “ALEA reviewed the request and determined disclosure of the requested recording would affect the ongoing investigation,” the state agency said in the email.

The shooting unfolded at about 9:30 p.m. when a police officer approached a car at the Homewood Soccer Complex where Peoples and a female friend were parked.

The Homewood Police Department posted a statement on social media that the officer smelled marijuana and noticed a handgun in the pocket of the driver’s side door. The officer attempted to put Peoples in handcuffs to arrest him for marijuana possession and a struggle ensued, according to the statement.

“Peoples broke away from the officer and retrieved the handgun from the open driver’s side door pocket, creating an immediate deadly threat to the officer. The officer, fearing for his safety, fired one round from his service weapon to defend himself,” the police statement said.

Peoples is a 2024 graduate of Aliceville High School in the city of the same name, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Homewood.

Aliceville Mayor Terrence E. Windham sent a letter to Homewood’s mayor urging him to work to release “all available footage related to this case.”

Star Robb, a community activist in Birmingham, questioned how marijuana possession escalated into a fatal police shooting. She said the community “won’t stand for lies.”

“He was minding his own business. Even if they did smell weed, when has weed become a death sentence? It’s legal in most states around the country so when did it become a death sentence.”