Lawyer says an Alabama teen who was killed by police was shot in the back

 1666004661 
1752594492
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump speaks at a press conference.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump speaks at a press conference on July 15, 2025 in Homewood, Ala.

Andrew Yeager, WBHM

By Safiyah Riddle

An independent autopsy determined that a teenager who was killed by an Alabama police officer last month was shot in the back, attorneys for his family said Tuesday.

Authorities have not released police body camera video of the June 23 encounter or disclosed the name of the officer who shot 18-year-old Jabari Peoples in the parking lot of a soccer field in the affluent Birmingham suburb of Homewood. They also haven’t released the findings of the county’s official autopsy.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Peoples’ family, said at a news conference that a private medical examiner from Georgia who conducted an autopsy on the family’s behalf found that the teen had been shot in the back and that there was no exit wound. Without the bullet and body camera footage that captured the shooting, Crump said that the preliminary autopsy was inconclusive.

“This family is grasping at straws trying to get the answers. And it is not fair, it is not right and it is not just,” said Crump, who declined to name the medical examiner.

Police said the officer approached Peoples after smelling marijuana and shot the teen after Peoples reached for a gun while they were scuffling. A friend of Peoples who was there contradicted the police account, saying Peoples didn’t have a gun.

Police said the officer’s body camera “clearly captured” the details surrounding the shooting, but the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency hasn’t released the footage, citing the ongoing investigation. A 2023 state law that governs release of police recordings says an agency may choose to not disclose the recording if it would affect an active law enforcement investigation.

Homewood Mayor Alex Wyatt urged the state agency to release the footage on Monday, saying he didn’t have the authority to do so as mayor.

The family’s attorneys criticized the mayor, saying he is legally allowed to watch the video and tell the public what he saw, or release official police incident reports detailing the events that led up to the shooting.

“Just show us what happened to our child, please,” the teen’s father, William Peoples, said at the news conference.

 

Zelenskyy is set to meet Trump at the White House. Here’s what to expect

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with President Trump on Friday, the mood is expected to be very different from their first Oval Office encounter in February.

‘No Kings’ organizers project a massive turnout for this weekend’s protests

Organizers say they expect millions of Americans will march this weekend against the policies of the Trump administration. The protests come amid National Guard deployments in several cities.

Coffee transformed her life — and the lives of women from her village in Uganda

Meridah Nandudu was a single mom of two kids, unemployed and in despair. Then she had an idea: Maybe the "humble" coffee beans she'd grown up with on her parents' farm could lead her to a better life.

In small towns and rural communities, young voters say they feel unseen by leaders

Gen Z and millennial voters will make up more than half of the electorate in 2028. They're a crucial bloc for both parties, but many are facing daunting economic realities and feel unseen by leaders.

With some shutdown pain points delayed for now, talks in Congress are ‘nowhere’

Some key impacts of the shutdown have been pushed back by moves by the Trump administration. But those efforts are temporary, and the pain could spread depending on how long the stalemate lasts.

Senators will force a vote to prevent war on Venezuela without approval from Congress

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia says new legislation is needed to prevent the Trump administration's escalating actions against Venezuela from leading to war.

More Front Page Coverage