Yet another lawsuit in connection to an alleged police brutality case has been filed on behalf of a Black man fatally shot by a Prince George’s County officer last month.
On Feb 1. PG County Officer Braxton Shelton responded to a 911 call reporting a break-in at a Windham Creek apartment, the department said. According to the recording of the call, the person reported someone entering into his home, stealing his belongings and taking them outside. The caller did not report that they were at the home at the time of the incident.
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“They say he’s taking [expletive] out of my house. I’m about to shoot right there, right now. I’m literally right here at the firehouse. My face was busted open, so I’m getting my face taken care of. I’m about to shoot right there, right now,” the caller said in the recording.
By the time Officer Shelton arrived, the body camera footage shows him getting out of his car, kicking open the door to an apartment that was already opened and shooting 31-year-old Melvin Jay in the head, who was standing in the kitchen. In the footage, Shelton is not heard announcing himself but ordering Jay to put his hands up. The shooting occurred within 30 seconds of the officer arriving at the scene. Jay fell to the ground and appeared unresponsive.
In the video, it’s unclear if Jay was holding a gun at the time of the shooting but police claimed they recovered two firearms. The officer reported shots fired on the dispatch and then ordered another man who identified as Jay’s brother to come out from a room and get on the ground. The man said the home belonged to his cousin.
It wasn’t until additional officers responded three minutes later that Jay was administered aid. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Jay’s family confirmed later that the home actually belonged to him, per NBC Washington. Now, more questions than answers remain as his family fights for justice.
Read more from The Washington Post:
Entirely separate from that process is the right of Jay’s family — more than a dozen of whom gathered Monday for a news conference — to file a lawsuit alleging the man’s civil rights were violated when the officer entered his home and started shooting. During the news conference, civil rights attorney Andrew Clarke said that there was no doubt in his mind that Shelton broke the law Feb. 1. and that the officer — and the department that employs him — should be held accountable for Jay’s death.
“The boys in blue can no longer hide behind their credibility just for being the boys in blue,” Clarke said.
At a vigil following his death, Jay’s family remembered him as “family-oriented” and a loving father to his 12-year-old. He was also expecting another child, they said. At a vigil, his family said they were devastated as the loss and that the officer violently took him away from them while inside the safety of his own home.
“Our grief is raw. Our anger is justified and our resolve is unwavering,” they said in a statement, via The Washington Post.
Shelton has been placed on administrative leave upon the pending investigation.
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