Supporters Of Trenton Teen Injured In Police Shooting Hold Demonstration
By Charlotte Huffman
TRENTON, N.J., (CBS) -- "Black lives matter" chanted supporters of 14-year-old Radazz Hearns as they marched outside the New Jersey Attorney General's Office Monday afternoon.
The demonstrators say they want transparency from investigators after Hearns was shot an alleged seven times earlier this month.
Hearns was released from the hospital on Friday.
"Radazz is still in a lot of pain. He's making progress each day as far as supporting himself when he gets up and walking with a walker," said the teen's mother, Slimes Jackson.
The Attorney General's Shooting Response Team is conducting an investigation into the shooting, which happened just after 10 p.m. on August 7th when Hearns and two others were walking in Trenton's West Ward.
The Attorney General's office says three officers were responding to a report of multiple shots fired in the vicinity of 500 Prospect Village when officers observed three males on foot.
The officers involved include two troopers with the New Jersey State Police and an officer with the Mercer County Sheriff's Office.
Authorities say when officers stopped the young males, two of them obeyed the officers' commands and were detained but the third male, Hearns ran away.
Hearns' attorney, Samuel Anyan Jr. declined to answer questions about why Hearns ran from police.
Two of the officers fired at the 14-year-old, striking him in both legs and the buttocks.
Why did the officers shoot Hearns?
That answer is unclear and there are conflicting eyewitness accounts.
According to authorities, witnesses reported seeing Hearns reach into his waistband as he fled. A .22-caliber automatic handgun containing three rounds of ammunition was later recovered underneath a vehicle at the scene on Calhoun Street.
According to Anyan, his client was unarmed and witnesses reported seeing Hearns trying to hold up his pants while running from police.
"An officer is allowed to discharge his weapon under two circumstances; when he is in fear of death or serious bodily harm for himself or if he is in fear of death or serious bodily harm to someone else. If someone is running away from you, that would seem to be an unjustified shooting," said Anyan.
Hearns has not been charged with a crime and the names of the officers involved have not been released.
"When there is no transparency as to who these officers are, what the justification for shooting him was, it is going to raise questions," said Anyan.
New Jersey State Police, Mercer County Sheriff's Office and the Attorney General's Office declined to comment citing an on-going investigation.
Last week, U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) called for a federal investigation into the shooting, pointing to a lack of information being disclosed by authorities.
"When these cases are addressed swiftly with transparency and decisiveness … we restore faith in the process," the democratic congresswoman said.
