Crew for A&E series 'The First 48' was with police when 7-year-old Aiyana Jones was shot during raid.
A woman brings balloons and flowers Monday to a memorial at the house where 7-year-old girl Aiyana Jones was shot and killed by police during a raid in Detroit. Aiyana was asleep on the living room sofa in her family's apartment when Detroit police, searching for a homicide suspect, burst in and an officer's gun went off, fatally striking the girl in the neck, family members said.
Aiyana JonesDetroit -- Events leading to the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old girl by a Detroit officer may have been videotaped by a crew for a reality TV series that accompanied police as they searched the victim's home for a murder suspect.
Any video could reveal whether Aiyana Jones was fatally shot by an officer whose gun mistakenly discharged inside the house, as police say, or if lawyer Geoffrey Fieger's claim of a cover-up proves to be correct. Fieger, who represents the Jones' family, said he would announce two wrongful death lawsuits today.
Police have said officers threw a flash grenade through the first-floor window of the two-family home early Sunday and that an officer's gun discharged during a struggle or after a collision with the girl's grandmother. The crew for the A&E series "The First 48" was with police.
Fieger, however, said the official account was full of "utter fabrications." He said he has seen a video showing police throwing the grenade and then shooting into the home from the porch. He would not say if the footage came from the A&E crew.
"There is no question about what happened because it's in the videotape," Fieger said Monday. "It's not an accident. It's not a mistake. There was no altercation."
"Aiyana Jones was shot from outside on the porch," he said.
Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee said police want that tape.
Top links
» Grenade's use in lethal raid questioned, defended [Detroit Free Press]
» Aiyana's teacher asks: 'When is enough enough?' [The Detroit News]
» Graphic: What happened at the house [Detroit Free Press]
» Column: Guns sprout like flowers in spring [The Detroit News]