New Jersey teenager shot seven times by police was unarmed, lawyer says

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/13/new-jersey-teenager-radazz-hearns-shot-police

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A New Jersey teenager remains in stable condition after being shot seven times by police as he ran away from officers. The 14-year-old, Radazz Hearns, was unarmed, according to a lawyer representing the family.

The shooting occurred on Friday, while state troopers and a Mercer County sheriff’s officer were responding to reports of shots fired near a Trenton apartment complex. The attorney general’s office, which is investigating the shooting, said the officers were questioning Radazz and two other males when Radazz took off running.

Two officers gave chase and according to police, Radazz reached for his waistband as he ran away. Officers, fearing he was reaching for a firearm, fired at least 10 shots, striking him in the legs and buttocks. Anonymous police sources initially told the Trentonian that Radazz turned and fired a gun at officers during the chase, a claim that is not supported by the attorney general’s initial investigation.

Rhonda Tirado witnessed the shooting from the front of her home where she was sitting when the officers pulled up and started questioning the young males. She told nj.com that it appeared Radazz was attemping to pull up his sweatpants to keep them from falling, not reaching for a gun.

“Those police were amped and they didn’t give that little boy a chance,’’ Tirado said. “There was no room for no chase. They just shot that little boy right there.”

A loaded .22-caliber automatic handgun was later found at the scene. Investigators have not said if that weapon has been connected to Radazz or the other two males.

Samuel Anyan Jr, an attorney with the Cochran Firm in Philadelphia who is representing the family, dismissed questions about why Radazz was running away. “You don’t deserve to be shot just because you’re running away,” he told the Trentonian. “The eyewitnesses who were there said they never saw him with a gun.”

In New Jersey, shootings involving state or county law enforcement are investigated by a “Shooting Response Team” made up of deputy attorneys general, detectives of the Division of Criminal Justice, and detectives of the State Police Major Crime Unit.