Newly released body camera footage shows the horrifying moment Illinois police shot and killed a four-year-old boy as he was being held hostage by his mother’s ex-boyfriend.
Terrell Marshawn Miller, 4, was killed by Macomb police on March 16 as he was being held at knifepoint by 57-year-old Anthony T. George.
Video shows the deadly shooting happened after police arrived to the scene and heard cries for help coming from inside.
When police entered, they found George naked and running into the next room to grab Terrell and hold him at knifepoint.
One of the officers fired a single shot that hit Terrell in the head and George in the neck, killing them both, NBC News reported.
Body camera footage shows the horrifying moment Macomb police fired a single gunshot that killed a four-year-old boy being held hostage at knifepoint by his mom’s ex-boyfriend
Terrell Marshawn Miller, 4, was shot and killed by police while being held hostage at knifepoint
‘They could’ve done anything besides use their weapon, they had tasers, they had pepper spray, they had all these non-lethal ways to get Anthony George and they decided not to do it,’ Terrell’s mother, Keianna Miller, told WGEM.
Lt. Nick Goc and Officer Korri Cameron were responding to the scene after police received calls for a domestic violence incident.
Miller said she was returning home from visiting her mother and found her ex-boyfriend intoxicated and violent.
‘Things went left,’ she told WGEM. ‘He told me, “If I can’t have you, nobody can.”‘
Police knocked on the apartment door then came inside after they heard a woman screaming for help.
The mother was stabbed multiple times. When police entered she told them her son was in the other room.
That’s when George ran into the bedroom and grabbed the four-year-old boy.
Illinois Appellate Prosecutor Jon Barnard and the McDonough County State’s Attorney’s Office ruled that Goc, the officer who fired the shot, would not be facing charges.
Police entered the apartment to find George naked and running into the next room to grab Terrell and hold him at knifepoint
Terrell’s mother, Keianna Miller, said she returned home to find her ex-boyfriend intoxicated and violent. She was stabbed multiple times
Barnard said ‘that there is no basis for any criminal action or prosecution that is supportable under the facts of this case against any of the officers involved in this tragic accident,’ WGEM reported.
Miller’s attorney, Marleen Suarez, said they plan to file a civil lawsuit this summer.
‘It’s hard to find justice sometimes in a civil courtroom, but it may be the only alternative open to us at this point,’ Suarez said.
Miller said she hopes her son’s death can lead to police policy reform.
‘A lot of people want to make it a racial thing but it’s really not,’ she said. ‘He [Terrell] could’ve been anybody’s son, but he’s America’s nephew, that’s what I’m starting to say.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk