Killing of Jonathan Ferrell

On September 14, 2013, Jonathan Ferrell (born October 11, 1988),[2] a 24-year-old former college football player for the Florida A&M University Rattlers was involved in a car crash. When police arrived, he ran towards them and was shot by police officer Randall "Wes" Kerrick in Charlotte, North Carolina.[3] Kerrick was charged with voluntary manslaughter, but the jury deadlocked and he was not retried. Police dashcam footage of the incident was released to the public.

Killing of Jonathan Ferrell
DateSeptember 14, 2013
AccusedRandall Kerrick
ChargesVoluntary manslaughter
VerdictHung jury, case will not be retried by Roy Cooper[1]
LitigationFerrell's family filed a lawsuit against the City of Charlotte; settled for $2.25 million
Jonathan Ferrell
BornOctober 11, 1988
DiedSeptember 14, 2013(2013-09-14) (aged 24)
Bradfield Farms, Charlotte, North Carolina
Cause of deathGunshot wounds
NationalityAmerican
Alma materFlorida A&M University
OccupationFormer football scholarship player for the Florida A&M Rattlers
RelativesMorris A. Young (cousin)

Shooting

Ferrell, a black man, was unarmed at the time he was shot. While giving a co-worker a lift home on the night of September 14, 2013,[4] he crashed his car, went to a house in the Bradfield Farms neighborhood and from spoken testimony of the homeowner, Ferrill frantically banged and kicked on the door giving the idea he was trying to break in. The resident, Sarah McCartney, scared and in fear of potentially facing an intruder, called the police and three officers came.[5][6][7][8]

Ferrell then ran towards them, whereupon one of the officers, Thornel Little, fired a taser at Ferrell and missed. Little testified that Ferrell had said "shoot me" twice as he ran up on the officers. Kerrick then opened fire on Ferrell, shooting him twelve times and killing him, fearing that the subject had a weapon or was otherwise displaying opportunity, capability, and intent to seriously harm Kerrick and his fellow officers.[3]

A toxicology test of Ferrell's blood showed a blood alcohol level within the legal limit for driving.[8]

  1. Berlinger, Joshua; Mann, Gigi (August 28, 2015). "Prosecutors won't seek retrial for officer in Charlotte shooting death". CNN. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  2. "SortedByName.com". sortedbyname.com. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Katz, Jonathan M. (August 22, 2015). "Mistrial for Charlotte Police Officer in Death of Unarmed Black Man". New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  4. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named guardian.
  5. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named char-obs-resign.
  6. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named new-resign-article.
  7. "Mistrial for Police Officer Who Killed Unarmed Black Man in North Carolina". Newsweek. Reuters. August 21, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Leland, Elizabeth (August 1, 2015). "The tragic path from a 911 call to a fatal confrontation". Charlotte Observer. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article29700511.html. Retrieved February 11, 2016.