“Defendant Officers John Howard, Jerry Knight, Michael Cornely, Justin Eller, Brian O’Neal, and unnamed officers willfully and maliciously shot Jamarco Dewayne McShann to death, and/or failed to intervene to prevent the use of deadly force against him despite the duty and the opportunity to do so,” the lawsuit states.
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On Wednesday, the attorneys that filed the suit had a press conference that included other community activists and mothers of other Ohio men who have been shot and killed by police.
“Jamarco McShann’s rights were violated,” said attorney Andrew Stroth, who filed the lawsuit. “He was unjustifiably shot and killed. There was no provocation. There was no threat of danger. The officers shot and killed him through the back of his vehicle. And the lawsuit outlines the allegations.”
Rev. Jerome McCorry, president and CEO of the National Congress on Faith & Social Justice, said: "We will fight for justice until justice is done.” Attorneys for the family also said it was “unacceptable” that the officers who fired their guns were back on full duty.
Credit: DaytonDailyNews
“The City of Moraine does not comment on pending litigation,” read a statement made Wednesday by Moraine law director Buzz Portune, “but is satisfied that all actions taken by its Division of Police and officers involved in the matter were fully compliant with all applicable law enforcement standards and appropriate under the circumstances.”
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“The defendant officers otherwise acted both willfully, wantonly, recklessly, negligently, intentionally, and with malice and willful indifference in committing the acts alleged in this complaint, which resulted in the wrongful death of Jamarco McShann,” according to the suit.
The 23-year-old McShann, died from “multiple shotgun and gunshot wounds” after a confrontation with Moraine officers John Howard and Jerry Knight in the early-morning hours of Oct. 20, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation oversaw a probe into the matter at the request of the Moraine Police Division. That has been forwarded to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office.
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The defendants “together with their unnamed co-conspirators, reached an understanding, engaged and continue to engage in a course of conduct, and otherwise jointly acted and/or conspired among and between themselves to unreasonably stop, seize, shoot, and kill Jamarco McShann in violation of his constitutional rights, complete false, inaccurate, and misleading reports, and to make false statements to superior officers in order to conceal their wrongdoing,” according to the suit.
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