Two officers were charged Tuesday by a grand jury on the death of 26-year-old Jamarion Robinson, a black man who was shot 76 times in a 2016 raid on his girlfriend’s home in East Point, Georgia.
Eric Heinze, assistant chief inspector of the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, and Kristopher L. Hutchens, a Clayton County police officer on the task force, were charged with murder, aggravated assault, burglary, false testimony, and the breaking of oaths by a public official, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
The case was brought before the Fulton County Grand Jury on Monday, after several delays (one of which is the coronavirus pandemic). The indictment comes after a long, tough investigation led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who took over the investigation from her predecessor, Paul Howard. Howard accused federal agencies of not being cooperative with his office in 2018.
Here’s what happened during the raid, from 11 Alive:
On August 5, 2016, U.S. marshals attempted to arrest Jamarion in East Point at the request of Gwinnett and the Atlanta police with arrest warrants from two separate incidents.
Cell phone video from outside the home where the shooting took place captured gunshots for almost three minutes.
However, there is no body camera video of the shooting because at the time federal policy did not allow U.S. marshals or local law enforcement officers to help them wear body cameras.
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The officers had two arrest warrants to serve Robinson, who had no previous convictions. The first warrant was for another row with the police in which he pointed a gun at officers and ran. The second was issued after his mother called the police for pouring gasoline into her house.
Corresponding USA today, Robinson was diagnosed with schizophrenia just months before his death.
A cell phone video recorded the shoot and officers could be heard in the footage shouting orders to drop a gun. Robinson was shot 59 times and had 76 gunshot wounds, according to a coroner’s report, USA Today notes.
More from USA today:
“Over 90 shots were fired at my son, stun grenades were thrown at him, landed on him and burned him,” said Robinson’s mother Monteria Robinson at a press conference in June 2020. “Somebody went up the stairs, stood over” him and still shot twice in his body. Then he was handcuffed and drugged down a flight of stairs. “
Robinson’s family has accused the officers involved of using excessive force. In a 2018 lawsuit, his mother alleged law enforcement agencies had been made aware of his mental health status and were not properly trained on how to deal with an arrest.
“My son’s body is the only body camera you need,” said Robinson’s mother, according to the Journal Constitution. “I wake up scared every day. I’ve been in combat mode since my son was killed. I want a closure. “
