The Palm Beach Gardens Police Department announced earlier today that the officer who fatally shot Corey Jones last month in Florida has been fired.
According to police reports, plainclothes Officer Nouman Raja fatally shot the 31-year-old musician on the morning of October 18, after Jones’ car had broken down along an interstate exit ramp. Raja, who was reportedly in the area investigating a string of robberies, approached the vehicle, thinking it was abandoned. Officials are still investigating details of the shooting, but the Jones family attorney Benjamin Crump says a struggle ensued resulting in Raja firing his gun six times, killing Jones. Details of the police report have not yet been released.
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Though Jones legally carried a gun, Crump says that his firearm was never discharged. Raja, who joined the department in April and was still on a probationary period, and an anonymous source close to the investigation told CNN that Raja never showed his badge or clearly identified himself during the encounter.
Jones’ family issued a statement praising the department’s decision to fire Raja and asking state authorities to continue seeking justice in the musician’s death.
“While we are pleased that the city of Palm Beach Gardens has terminated the employment of the officer who gunned down Corey Jones, we maintain that the officer in question also must be held criminal liable for his reckless actions that night,” the family said in a statement. “Our family remains hopeful that the outside agencies brought in to investigate Corey’s killing will soon begin to yield factual information about how and why this officer acted so callously.”