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In March, a 4-year-old child was shot and killed by Illinois police. We’ve now learned that little Terrell Miller was Sonya Massey’s baby cousin–and that prosecutors have just determined not to file any charges against the officer who fired the weapon. How high does the bar need to be for police officers to be held accountable for their reckless actions?
Sonya Massey’s killer is currently being held without bail on multiple charges including three counts of First Degree murder. However, for that to happen, bodycam footage needed to show such an egregious misuse of lethal force that even former Deputy Sean Grayson‘s own sheriff’s department essentially said, “Nah, we can’t try to justify this nonsense.” (Mind you, Grayson hasn’t been convicted of anything yet.)
For Massey’s little cousin, Terrell Miller, there was no such outcome. In the same state of Illinois where Massey was gunned down, a police officer responded to a domestic dispute involving a knife-wielding man by shooting through a 4-year-old Black child who was being used as a human shield in order to kill the only person who arguably deserved to die on that day, March 16, Anthony T. George, 57. George, who also died that night, had apparently stabbed Terrell’s mother, Keianna, 36 times.
Prosecutors Fine With Cops Killing Black Children
But on Tuesday, the Illinois State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor determined that the officer will not face charges for killing the child in order to get to his knife-wielding captor.
According to WQAD 8, Special Prosecutor Jonathan H. Barnard wrote in a letter to McDonough County State’s Attorney Matthew Kwacala that, after reviewing police reports, audio and video recordings from the incident and training records, his office found no basis–not even voluntary manslaughter–for any criminal action against the unnamed officer who seemingly with ease, killed the 4-year-old who was being held at knifepoint by George.
From WQAD 8:
Back on Saturday, March 16 around 10 p.m., the Macomb Police Department responded to an apartment at the 900 block of N. Charles Street for an active domestic violence incident. According to a March 17 press release, police noticed blood in a common area of the complex and forcibly entered the unit after hearing screams from inside.
After reviewing body camera footage, evidence, witness interviews and autopsy reports, ISP findings said police encountered the suspect holding a knife before he ducked out of officers’ view and emerged holding a 4-year-old boy as a human shield. Police say the suspect was holding a knife around the child’s throat and another around his waist.
ISP says a Macomb officer fired one shot that killed both the child and the suspect, who was identified as 57-year-old Anthony George. McDonough County Coroner Eric Jameson told News 8 that there was no relation between the two.
“Based upon that review, I find that there is no basis for any criminal action or prosecution that is supportable under the facts of this case against any of the officers involved in this tragic incident,” Barnard said in his letter to Kwacala dated July 8, according to the Peoria Journal Star.
“My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the deceased and all others affected by this heart-breaking event,” Kwacala said in a statement.
Nah—we’re going to need more than a vague cop-splanation of how the officer did nothing wrong and a generic “thoughts and prayers” statement to the family that has lost a child. There are way too many unanswered questions here.
We Need Answers
Did the officer, who also reportedly observed a woman with multiple stab wounds in their apartment, according to the Star, not see the child? Did they have no other choice but to shoot someone who only had a knife, which they were holding to a child? Where was the immediate threat to the officer’s life? Did they take the time to assess the threat at all before firing a shot? And the officer apparently wasn’t concerned with the life of the child, so whose life was the officer even trying to protect? What justifies the officer seeing a child being used as a human shield and instinctively shooting and killing the child in order to get to the actual threat?
Of course, many of us who are familiar with how aggressive and reckless cops can be when dealing with Black citizens are going to wonder if the outcome would have been the same if Terrell Miller was a white child, but, actually, the better question is: What if he were the officer’s child? Would it have still been their first instinct to shoot and kill rather than do everything in their power to ensure Terrell wasn’t harmed? Is this really a training issue, or is it a Black lives don’t actually matter issue?
More from WQAD:
Family members came forward later and identified the boy as 4-year-old Terrell Miller. He’s remembered as a sweet kid who loved trains and Spider-Man. He was a miracle baby for his mom, who family members say had difficulties getting pregnant before Terrell. Those who knew him said he always had a big smile on his face.
The trained officer had a gun. The suspect had a knife—and a 4-year-old child whose life should have mattered. This wasn’t just a senseless tragedy, it really appears to be an avoidable one, and cops who chose not to avoid the avoidable should be held accountable for that.
SEE MORE:
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