‘No criminal conduct’ by Gulfport officer who shot GA man in his car, grand jury says
A Harrison County grand jury on Thursday found no “criminal conduct” by the Gulfport police officer who shot and killed a Georgia man in his car in February 2020.
The Gulfport Police Department on Monday issued a press release announcing the grand jury ruling, but did not say what the grand jury had decided. They also referred all questions to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which is in charge of all shootings involving law enforcement officers.
Leonard Parker Jr., 53, of Covington, Georgia, was shot around 3 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020, the county Coroner Brian Switzer told the Sun Herald at the time.
Parker was a father of six, an Army veteran and an employee at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Nicolette Ward, an attorney at the Chicago firm Romanucci & Blandin, LLC representing Parker’s family, criticized the grand jury’s decision in a statement to the Sun Herald.
“As an attorney, I am terribly disappointed by this decision, as we believe the facts in this case support an indictment and the criminal courts could and should provide an avenue for justice for the killing of Black citizens by police,” Ward said. “Leonard Parker’s family, including his wife and children, deserve full accountability for his unjustified death.”
Ward is also a member of the legal team representing the family of George Floyd, who was killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in May 2020. Earlier this month, the team won a $27 million settlement in a civil lawsuit against the City of Minneapolis and the four officers involved in Floyd’s death.
Chauvin’s trial for murder is underway in Minneapolis.
What happened on Feb. 1, 2020?
Gulfport released some details of Parker’s shooting to the public later on Feb. 1.
Detective Jason DuCré, department spokesman, had said multiple 911 calls were made from a home on 25th Street.
As an officer walked toward the home, DuCré said, a car leaving the scene began to drive toward the officer, who fired his weapon, killing the driver.
Parker was pronounced dead on scene, Switzer told the Sun Herald.
The officer was never identified.
For at least 25 years, no grand jury on the Coast has ever indicted an officer for wrongdoing after shooting someone, the Sun Herald has previously reported.
A spokesperson for MBI did not respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon.
A copy of the “Partial Grand Jury Report” obtained by the Sun Herald consisted of four brief paragraphs.
“After full and deliberate consideration of all the facts and circumstances leading up to the February 1, 2020, shooting of Leonard Parker, Jr., and the circumstances as they existed at the time of the shooting, the Grand Jury finds no criminal conduct on behalf of the officer involved from the Gulfport Police Department,” the report said. “Therefore, we find that no further action is warranted by this body.”
Grand jury proceedings are secret. It is unknown what evidence the grand jury considered and what witnesses, if any, they heard from.
This story was originally published April 5, 2021 at 5:54 PM with the headline "‘No criminal conduct’ by Gulfport officer who shot GA man in his car, grand jury says."
