Words by Alyson Robinson
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, North Carolina have arrested their colleague, Officer Randall Kerrick, 27, for the shooting of 24-year-old Jonathan Ferrell, a former football player who attended Florida A & M University on September 14th.
The unarmed man also may have been seeking help from police when he was gunned down. The officer was charged with voluntary manslaughter after turning himself in Saturday afternoon.
It seems that Ferrel had been involved in a car accident and was seeking medical attention. He knocked on a random house door and a woman saw him but was startled by his appearance and called 911 which prompted CMPD to respond.
“To her surprise it was a person she did not know or recognize. She immediately closed the door, hit her panic alarm and called 911,” said Chief Rodney Monroe.
Officers saw Ferrel and thought he fit the description of the person who the woman called about.
“He immediately charged towards the three officers, one in particular. That officer fired his weapon several times, striking the individual multiple times,” added Monroe.
After the shooting, officers found Ferrell’s car in woods nearby and soon after figured that the man was simply disoriented after the accident. A press release from CMPD states that Kerrick fired his service weapon at him after a taser was used on Ferrell.
Three officers have been placed on paid leave while Kerrick has been released on $50,000 bond early Sunday. Kerrick is to appear in Mecklenburg County court on Monday afternoon.
This s just another incident where police have allegedly shot unarmed persons this week. Police in a Times Square intersection opened fire on a man who was said to be behaving strangely, but instead struck two female bystanders Saturday night.
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