Justice For Jabri Hunter
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Just after midnight on April 12th, 2020, officers from the Wilmington DE police department approached the vehicle of the sleeping Jabri Hunter and shot him at least six times, including in his right shoulder, wrist and his back. Jabri was lucky to survive the shooting, but he needs our help.
TL;DR The Wilmington Police Department appear to be obscuring the details of a near fatal shooting of a sleeping, unarmed Black man, and the public defender is not cutting it. We need to raise money to get Jabri a proper attorney.
The Shooting:
According to officers, the incident began after they approached "a suspicious vehicle that was running and parked partially on the curb," (a claim later refuted with video evidence).
Officers have yet to provide an explanation for why Jabri was shot, stating only:
Officers approached the vehicle to assess the situation, and engaged with the driver and sole occupant, a 21-year-old male. One Wilmington police officer discharged their department-issued firearm, striking the suspect.
Internal documents aren't much more revealing:
Court documents also show the officers issued loud "verbal commands."
"The driver then woke," the documents said. "Due to the actions of the driver. who was positively identified as Jabri Hunter, the officer then discharged his/her firearm striking Hunter. The GMC Yukon the (sic) across [redacted] Street colliding with the fence on the northeast corner."
A doorbell security camera captured the incident in full, but Terence Jones, the private investigator working on behalf of Jabri and his family, discovered that the resident whose camera captured the shooting had already been visited by the Wilmington police department and gave the officers the username and password to access the account. When Jones obtained a copy of the video, he found that it had been altered. The copy he received ends prematurely, right before the shooting.
The Wilmington News Journal compared Hunter's shooting to the June 12 killing of Rayshard Brooks by Atlanta police.
The Hearing
The day before Jabri's preliminary hearing, the public defender's office swapped out Jabri's court appointed attorney for an attorney with no knowledge of the case. During the hearing itself, Jabri was not allowed to face his accusers, and not a single officer present during or immediately following the shooting attended the hearing.
During Jabri's hearing, the detective called to the stand, who was not present at the scene during the shooting and testified third hand information (hearsay), was also unable to elaborate on why Jabri was shot at least 6 times:
"And I think you may have already answered this but you were not told what Mr. Hunter did to alarm the officers on scene?" Hunter's court-appointed attorney asked during the court hearing.
"No, ma'am, I wasn't," Wilmington Police Detective Anthony Ford responded. "Again, due to the severity of the investigation, certain information I wasn't privy to because it has to be investigated by a supervisor."
When deciding bail, Judge Welch also appeared to take testimony from a deputy attorney general's previous testimony that Jabri "was responsible for a number of shootings and homicides – something Hunter has never been charged with, much less convicted of. "
Jabri's court-appointed representation didn't challenge several of these, and other points throughout the hearing. It is clear that Jabri is not being adequately defended, and requires a competent attorney.
Presently Jabri is facing three weapons charges. Investigator Terence Jones, who is responsible for helping lock up the officers who killed Freddie Gray, as well as numerous other investigations into corrupt and violent police officers, believes that Jabri is innocent.
Food Not Bombs Wilmington is working with Mr. Jones and Jabri's family to raise funds to hire Tariq Karim El-Shabazz, a skilled attorney who has defended similar cases, including successfully freeing Yahim Harris, another unarmed Black Wilmington resident who jailed after he was shot by Wilmington police.
We appreciate your support in raising funds for Jabri's defense, and in helping challenge injustice in our community.
In solidarity,
Food Not Bombs Wilmington
TL;DR The Wilmington Police Department appear to be obscuring the details of a near fatal shooting of a sleeping, unarmed Black man, and the public defender is not cutting it. We need to raise money to get Jabri a proper attorney.
The Shooting:
According to officers, the incident began after they approached "a suspicious vehicle that was running and parked partially on the curb," (a claim later refuted with video evidence).
Officers have yet to provide an explanation for why Jabri was shot, stating only:
Officers approached the vehicle to assess the situation, and engaged with the driver and sole occupant, a 21-year-old male. One Wilmington police officer discharged their department-issued firearm, striking the suspect.
Internal documents aren't much more revealing:
Court documents also show the officers issued loud "verbal commands."
"The driver then woke," the documents said. "Due to the actions of the driver. who was positively identified as Jabri Hunter, the officer then discharged his/her firearm striking Hunter. The GMC Yukon the (sic) across [redacted] Street colliding with the fence on the northeast corner."
A doorbell security camera captured the incident in full, but Terence Jones, the private investigator working on behalf of Jabri and his family, discovered that the resident whose camera captured the shooting had already been visited by the Wilmington police department and gave the officers the username and password to access the account. When Jones obtained a copy of the video, he found that it had been altered. The copy he received ends prematurely, right before the shooting.
The Wilmington News Journal compared Hunter's shooting to the June 12 killing of Rayshard Brooks by Atlanta police.
The Hearing
The day before Jabri's preliminary hearing, the public defender's office swapped out Jabri's court appointed attorney for an attorney with no knowledge of the case. During the hearing itself, Jabri was not allowed to face his accusers, and not a single officer present during or immediately following the shooting attended the hearing.
During Jabri's hearing, the detective called to the stand, who was not present at the scene during the shooting and testified third hand information (hearsay), was also unable to elaborate on why Jabri was shot at least 6 times:
"And I think you may have already answered this but you were not told what Mr. Hunter did to alarm the officers on scene?" Hunter's court-appointed attorney asked during the court hearing.
"No, ma'am, I wasn't," Wilmington Police Detective Anthony Ford responded. "Again, due to the severity of the investigation, certain information I wasn't privy to because it has to be investigated by a supervisor."
When deciding bail, Judge Welch also appeared to take testimony from a deputy attorney general's previous testimony that Jabri "was responsible for a number of shootings and homicides – something Hunter has never been charged with, much less convicted of. "
Jabri's court-appointed representation didn't challenge several of these, and other points throughout the hearing. It is clear that Jabri is not being adequately defended, and requires a competent attorney.
Presently Jabri is facing three weapons charges. Investigator Terence Jones, who is responsible for helping lock up the officers who killed Freddie Gray, as well as numerous other investigations into corrupt and violent police officers, believes that Jabri is innocent.
Food Not Bombs Wilmington is working with Mr. Jones and Jabri's family to raise funds to hire Tariq Karim El-Shabazz, a skilled attorney who has defended similar cases, including successfully freeing Yahim Harris, another unarmed Black Wilmington resident who jailed after he was shot by Wilmington police.
We appreciate your support in raising funds for Jabri's defense, and in helping challenge injustice in our community.
In solidarity,
Food Not Bombs Wilmington
Organizer
FNB Wilmington
Organizer
Wilmington, DE