DA's office without solid date for video release in Memphis police friendly fire shooting
Almost two months after Memphis police officer Joseph McKinney and an 18-year-old suspect were killed in an early April shootout, the Shelby County District Attorney's Office is yet to release footage from the incident, nor is there a definitive date for its release.
After being elected in 2022, Shelby County DA Steve Mulroy said he planned to make the office more transparent. Part of that transparency process, he said in an August 2022 press conference, was to release portions of footage from fatal police shootings on a rapid timetable.
Per that policy, the DA's office is able to release footage it deems appropriate. The only conditions are that the office only has that discretion when it is a shooting and someone died due to that shooting. Any other in-custody death, and non-fatal shootings, are at the discretion of the police department.
Previously, the DA's office waited until the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation completed its investigation before releasing footage.
"I can't give you a definite date (for releasing footage of the McKinney shooting)," Mulroy told The Commercial Appeal. "We are going to try to do it sooner rather than later. But, in all these cases, we have to make sure that everyone has been contacted and interviewed whose testimony could be affected by the release of the video."
Mulroy added that the office also needed to confer with the individuals involved in the shooting and their families, to facilitate a private viewing of the footage before public release, if they want that.
"That takes time, but consistent with our transparency policy, when those things happen, we will publish the video," he said.
McKinney was killed during a shootout with two teenage suspects in April. Evidence later indicated he had been killed by friendly fire, the DA's office said. An 18-year-old named Jaylen Lobley, who authorities have said was involved with the shooting, was also killed.
A 17-year-old, who was critically injured during the shootout, was charged in connection with McKinney's death. He faces one count of second-degree murder, one count of reckless homicide, thirteen counts of attempted first-degree murder, assault against a first responder and aggravated assault.
The teen was also charged with theft of property $10,000-$60,000, possessing a firearm during the commission or attempt to commit a dangerous felony, possession of a prohibited weapon and evading arrest. The DA's office is seeking to try him as an adult.
No officers were charged in connection with Lobley or McKinney's death.
It is also not clear what the video will show. Mulroy said he could not detail what can be seen in the footage, but said that "things happen so quickly that it may not be the case that you will find out much" about when McKinney was hit with friendly fire, and when Lobley was shot from watching the video.
Mulroy added that most of the footage is likely going to come from body camera footage, and that he is "not aware" of any pole camera or Ring doorbell camera footage.
The length of time before footage of a fatal police shooting is released has varied under Mulroy. Some footage, such as Jarveon Hudspeth's fatal shooting, was released in about two months. It took up to, and over, a year in other instances. Mulroy had previously attributed this to a backlog of cases for the Justice Review Unit — the DA's office's in-house shooting review team — to look over.
Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at [email protected], or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: No timeline for video of shootout that killed Memphis police officer, teen
