{"id":160424,"date":"2022-01-20T10:13:41","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T02:13:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=160424"},"modified":"2022-01-20T10:13:41","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T02:13:41","slug":"us-shooting-3-police-officers-charged-with-fatally-shooting-8-year-old-fanta-bility-injuring-3-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=160424","title":{"rendered":"US shooting: 3 police officers charged with fatally shooting 8-year-old Fanta Bility, injuring 3 others"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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PHILADELPHIA,\u00a0Jan 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) —<\/strong> US prosecutors have charged three policemen with an eight-year-old girl’s death, dropping a murder case against two teenagers who were initially held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The officers opened fire on a vehicle outside a high school football game near Philadelphia on Aug 27, 2021 after hearing gunshots a block away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The police thought armed suspects were in the car, but it was Fanta Bility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors had argued the tragedy was caused by two teens who fired at each other nearby moments beforehand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The district attorney filed first-degree murder charges against the two young men in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors said the pair – aged 16 and 18 – had “initiated the deadly events” and therefore bore responsibility for Fanta’s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those charges have now been withdrawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, Sharon Hill police officers Devon Smith, Sean Patrick Dolan, and Brian James Devaney are facing charges of voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the officers had been monitoring the crowd when they heard the gunfire about 42m away and turned to see a car heading towards them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The policemen fired 25 bullets, striking four people including Fanta and her 12-year old sister. The girl died in her mother’s arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are now sure beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers not only shot but killed Fanta Bility, but they also wounded three other young people,” Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer told CBS News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They returned fire at the wrong target, in the wrong direction, and into a group of people. That is what they are being held accountable for,” he continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stollsteimer said his office had been aware since September that the fatal bullets were fired by officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An attorney for the Bility family said that she “was a bright, bright, shining light, the kind of person that made people happy just by looking at her. And to have her gone is just a terrible, terrible tragedy”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawyers for all three officers released a joint statement maintaining their innocence and saying that they “remain heartbroken for all who have suffered because of this senseless violence”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is a terrible tragedy that was caused by armed and violent criminals who turned a high school football game into a crime scene in which an innocent child lost her life and others were seriously injured,” the statement added. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA,\u00a0Jan 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US prosecutors have charged three policemen with an eight-year-old girl’s death, dropping a murder case against two teenagers who were initially held. The officers opened fire on a vehicle outside a high school football game near Philadelphia on Aug 27, 2021 after hearing gunshots a block away. The police thought armed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":160428,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160424"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=160424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/160428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=160424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=160424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=160424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}