The former Dallas, Texas police officer who fatally shot an unarmed Black teenager as he left a house party in April was indicted on a murder charge Monday, CBS News reports.
A grand jury indicted Roy Oliver, 37, one one count of first-degree murder for his role in the incident that left 15-year-old Jordan Edwards dead. The honor student was a passenger in a vehicle leaving the Balch Springs party on April 29, which also held his brothers and two other friends. Officers were called to the scene on a report of underage drinking. Initial police reports state the shooting occurred after Oliver heard gunshots and witnessed the vehicle — a black Chevy Impala — reversing aggressively towards him.
However, body camera footage shows the car driving away from police.
In the days following the shooting, the family of Edwards — along with attorney Lee Merritt — filed a civil lawsuit insisting the boys did not pose a threat to the officers. The car of five teenage boys was trying to move out of a parking space when a person shouting profanity and shining a flashlight approached the vehicle. “Before the driver could respond, the unidentified police officer fired multiple shots at the vehicle.” The police account “will not hold water when the facts come out,” Merritt told the Dallas News.
Shortly after Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson announced the indictment, Merritt called the decision “appropriate.”
If convicted, Oliver faces a maximum sentence of 99 years in prison for each charge. He is currently out on $700,000 bail.