He Has A Name : 15-year-old Jordan Edwards killed by Balch Springs, TX police

15-year-old Jordan Edwards has become another victim of being killed by police.

Jordan Edwards killed by police

Edwards was shot and killed by a Balch Springs, TX police officer on Saturday night. He was unarmed.

Dallas Morning News reports:

Balch Springs police Chief Jonathan Haber said officers heard gunshots as they were responding to a call of drunken teens about 11 p.m. Saturday in the 12300 block of Baron Drive.

Haber said the vehicle that Jordan was in backed down the road toward the officers “in an aggressive manner.” An officer fired at the vehicle and struck Jordan, who was pronounced dead at a hospital, Balch Springs police said in a written statement.

Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson offered her condolences to Jordan’s family and said her office will independently investigate the shooting. The DA’s office has a “commitment to justice and transparency,” she said.

Family Demands Justice

The teen’s parents are calling for justice and asking for the officer to be arrested and charged.

Jordan Edwards family attorney S. Lee Merritt challenged the police account that the vehicle Jordan was riding in was driving aggressively.

Merritt says Jordan and his friends were not the allegedly intoxicated teens that police officers were allegedly called to control.

Balch Springs police shot into the car filled with teenagers, one of them being Edwards 16-year-old brother who was behind the wheel. None of the teens were charged.

“They were simply leaving a party where they believed danger was,” Merritt told CBS-DFW. “So I can’t wrap my mind around why an officer decided to shoot into the car.”

Who was Jordan Edwards?

Jordan Edwards was an honor roll freshman at Mesquite High School. His family is demanding justice, including that the police officer who killed their child be fired.

According to CBS-DFW, “Officers in Balch Springs say they will conduct their own internal affairs investigation, but it’s the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department that will take the lead in investigating the officer-involved shooting.”

The medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide, which doesn’t necessarily indicate charges will be filed. The Dallas County Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s public integrity unit are investigating the shooting.

The officer who fired the fatal shot has not been identified and placed on administrative leave.

Here is a press release from Attorney S. Lee Merrit:

Here is a press release from Balch Springs Police Department: