Jemel Roberson’s killer, a Midloathian officer, has not been named for over two weeks, and the civil rights attorney for the family says it’s hiding evidence.
Other than the officer being identified as white, a four-year veteran of the Midloathian Police Department, and seven years in the field, and a former SWAT team lead, the department has been silent on the officer’s name.
Lee Merritt, who also represented the family in the police shooting death of Botham Jean in September, has said this is something that happened with Jean’s killer and allowed for the scrubbing of social media profiles before the investigation could proceed.
“They refused to release Amber Guyger’s name, which gave her a chance to scrub the internet and hide evidence,” said Merritt.
“It’s exactly what’s going on here.”
Merritt said he knows the identity and will release the name if police don’t do so on Monday.
The officer has been on paid administrative leave since the incident.
Also, while preliminary reports state the officer gave Roberson warning before he fired and that he was not wearing security clothing —contradictory to witness accounts the attorneys have collected —reports of witnesses continue to surface that show the officer shot Roberson without little investigation as to who he was.
Dorian Myrickes, 43, who spoke from a hospital bed said he witnessed the shooting and the subsequent reaction by police.
Myrickes said the shooting officer did tell Roberson to drop his gun but fired “not even five seconds” after.
“One cop … he said, ‘Man, you didn’t have to do that, you didn’t have to do that. We know these guys. We told you they’re security,'” said Myrickes.
Jeff Carey, another witness who lives next to the bar said he also heard the officer give Roberson a command to get on the ground, but he “didn’t give the guy any chance to identify himself or anything,” Carey said. “He just started shooting. I think it was more out of fear. You know what I’m saying Just fear.”
Meanwhile, community members gathered on Sunday to pray for Roberson’s family, including church leaders who spoke of Roberson’s character and commitment to the local churches as an organist.
“We wanted to show that Robbins is here,” the Rev. Kenneth Orr of Real Love Ministries International Church in Robbins said. “Because this happened in our community.”
Rev. Calvin Watkins of St. John Community Church said, the church will not stay silent “while our brothers, our sons and our husbands and all our loved ones is being slaughtered for no reason in the street.”
“He died saving lives,” Watkins said.
“He gave his life to save somebody else’s life, so it’s important that we bring that point out and let everybody know.”
Reader question: Do you think it’s a cover up
