Texas police officer fired after fatal shooting of unarmed black teen

The Balch Springs, Texas, police officer who shot and killed Jacob Edwards, a 15-year-old black high school freshman, has been fired after an internal affairs investigation concluded he violated multiple department policies, officials announced Tuesday night.

Officials identified the officer as Roy Oliver, and said he had been with the department since July 2011.

“After reviewing the findings I have made the decision to terminate Roy Oliver’s employment with the Balch Springs Police Department,” chief Jonathan Haber told reporters Tuesday evening. “My department will continue to be responsive, transparent and accountable.”

The shooting occurred around 11 p.m. Saturday evening, after officers got a call concerning intoxicated teenagers and arrived to find a house party. Department spokesman Pedro Gonzalez said that while officers were inside the house, they heard gunshots outside.

Officers left the house, and saw a vehicle backing into the street, Gonzalez said. Officers yelled for the driver to stop, but the vehicle began pulling forward to drive away. Police opened fire and a single bullet struck and killed Edwards, who was a passenger.

Police initially said that the vehicle, in which Edwards was riding in the passenger seat, reversed “aggressively” at the approaching officers, but later retracted that statement and said that body camera video showed that the vehicle was driving away from officers when Oliver opened fire.

“It was been determined that Roy Oliver, who was the second officer on the scene, violated several departmental policies,” Gonzalez said.

Edwards is the youngest of the 333 people shot and killed by police so far in 2017, according to a Washington Post database tracking such shootings.

Edwards’s family members said in a statement they were grateful Oliver had been fired but said there “remains a long road ahead.” They said they wanted Oliver to be charged with murder and other officers at the scene disciplined as well.

“The magnitude of his horrible actions cannot be overstated,” the statement read. “Our family is working hard to deal with both the loss of our beloved Jordan and the lingering trauma it has caused our boys.”