HOMEWOOD, Ala. (WIAT) — Homewood Mayor Alex Wyatt spoke Wednesday about the death of an 18-year-old who died after an interaction with a police officer June 23.
A Homewood police officer shot Jabari Peoples in the Homewood Soccer Complex parking lot that Monday night. Peoples was pronounced dead at UAB Hospital under an hour after he was shot.
Police and Peoples’ family have provided different accounts of what led to the 18-year-old’s death. The Homewood Police Department stated the officer shot Peoples after Peoples broke away from him and got a handgun from the open driver’s side door pocket.
The family’s attorney, Leroy Maxwell, stated an independent review showed Peoples was shot in his back and did not have a weapon when the officer approached him. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency denied a request from the family to view the body camera footage from that night. It stated that would hinder its investigation. Wyatt said the city has requested the ALEA on different occasions and in different ways to allow the family to see what happened.
Before Wyatt made public comments Wednesday, Maxwell filed a petition on behalf of the Peoples’ family to sue the city of the Homewood and the officer Peoples interacted with. Maxwell asked to gather testimony and preserve evidence in “an anticipated wrongful death action.” City councilors Jennifer Andress and Carlos Alemán have called for the footage to be released.
Wyatt said he spoke with members and representatives of the family before he took questions from reporters.
You can hear Wyatt’s comments in the video player at the top of the article.
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