GULFPORT, Miss. (WJTV) – The family of the 15-year-old who was shot and killed by Gulfport police has retained civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump.
The Sun Herald reported Crump has represented other families of Black people killed by police in the United States, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Jaheim McMillan, 15, was shot in the head outside the Gulfport Family Dollar on October 6. The Gulfport High School freshman died Saturday after he was taken off life support at USA University Hospital in Mobile, Alabama.
Gulfport police said in a news release that the shooting occurred after they responded to a 911 call about several minors waving guns at other motorists. Officers pulled the minors over in the parking lot of a Family Dollar store.
Gulfport Police Chief Adam Cooper said an officer engaged an armed suspect, since identified as McMillan, resulting in shots being fired. The police department has not released the race of the officer.
McMillan’s family doesn’t believe he was armed, and their supporters are calling for the release of camera footage of the shooting.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) is examining the shooting of McMillan. MBI investigates all police shootings in the state, and the attorney general’s office is in charge of any prosecutions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.