Body camera footage shows the moment a Maryland police officer responding to an alleged break-in opened fire at a man in his own apartment last month.
The Maryland Attorney General’s Office released a graphic video of the incident this week that took place in Suitland, about 10 miles from Washington, D.C.
On Feb. 1, the Prince George’s County Police Department received a call from an individual who claimed his neighbor notified him that someone was breaking into his unit at Windham Creek Apartments, per NBC Washington and Fox 5. The caller was not home when he placed the call.
Upon arriving at the scene around 5:25 p.m., Officer Braxton Shelton walked up the stairs to the specific apartment, pushed the already-ajar blue door open without warning or announcing himself, and immediately said: “Show me your hands. Bring your a** over here. Show me your motherf***ing hands.”
Video from the vantage point of the officer’s body camera shows Shelton pointed his weapon at 31-year-old Melvin Jay and fired Jay turned toward the sound of Shelton’s voice. Struck in the head by the bullet, Jay fell to the floor by the kitchen entrance.
“Shots fired,” Shelton said.
Seconds later, another man came out of a room into the front area. Shelton ordered him to show his hands.
“Who are you?” the officer asked.
“I’m a visitor,” the man said.
The man slowly walked toward the officer with his hands up and lay on the floor on his stomach. He informed Shelton that it was his cousin’s house and the person he shot was his brother.
“I’m staying with my cousin until I move into my own place,” the man said.
Two other officers came into the apartment while Shelton checked the rest of the rooms. When he finished, officers attempted to provide medical aid to Jay, who officials confirmed lived at the apartment.
A gun was found and removed from his jacket pocket, and another one was later recovered from the kitchen. The attorneys representing Jay’s family argued that those findings are trivial, the outlet reported. Shelton was placed on administrative leave amid the ongoing probe.
“We are hurt. We are just tormented by the video, the fact that we cannot hear him, hug him, say ‘I love you,’ it’s just devastating to all of us,” Jay’s cousin told Fox 5. “We seek justice. We are going to allow this to unfold, allow the truth to come out, you know, and seek justice for my cousin. Because he deserves it. He did not deserve what happened to him.”
Jay’s sister, Sharon Lily Joyner, hired civil rights attorney Andrew Clarke to help get accountability for his death. The family announced their plans to file a lawsuit against the police department, the Washington Post reported.
“The boys in blue can no longer hide behind their credibility just for being the boys in blue,” Clarke said at a news conference last week.
