The police officer who fired into a car full of teenagers leaving an end-of-the-school-year party in a Dallas suburb, killing 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, was fired Tuesday. The dismissal of officer Roy Oliver by Balch Springs Police Chief Jonathan Haber comes after the police department’s account of the shooting changed over the weekend. Initially, Haber said the car, in which Edwards was a passenger and his 16-year-old brother was the driver, was backing up aggressively towards the officer, but later said the vehicle was, in fact, driving away, leaving the scene. “After reviewing the video, I don’t believe that [the shooting] met our core values,” Haber said at a press conference Tuesday.
The Edwards family released this statement on Tuesday:
“According to [the Jordan family attorney Lee Merritt], Edwards 16-year-old brother was driving the car and at first was unaware that his brother had been hit and ‘attempted to get away from the gunshots,’” ABC News reports. “Once Edwards’ brother discovered that the 15-year-old had been shot, he flagged down another squad car that passed by them, Merritt told ABC News Monday evening. He added that it took about 10 to 15 minutes for the teen to receive any medical attention.”
