A fifteen-year-old named Jaheim McMillan was outside of a Family Dollar in Gulfport, Mississippi when he was shot in the head by the police. He was brought to the USA Children & Women’s Hospital in Alabama, where he died days later. Police alleged that he was wielding a gun.

Jaheim and four other teenagers were driving in a car together when the police were called on the allegation that they were waving guns around. When the police arrived on the scene, two of the five fled. Jaheim was outside the doors of the Family Dollar when he was fatally shot in the head, following his terrified escape from the car. According to the Sun Herald, some protesters, after watching the footage acquired, say that Jaheim only took 3 steps away from the car he was in after the officers jumped out of theirs and began shooting. An eyewitness, Debra Stout, told ABC News that she saw Jaheim with his hands up, surrendering. A resident, Katrina Campbell, stated, “‘No one held up a weapon at a police officer…They are making up stories to save their behinds.’” According to NewsOne, yet another witness questioned the police force’s actions. NewsOne reported, “‘I saw the cop shoot the guy,’ an unidentified woman stated. When asked if McMillan was armed, the woman replied, ‘I did not see a gun on him.’ She went on to say that McMillan ‘was coming out of the store with his hands up’ when he was shot.” 

Jaheim’s mother, Katrina Mateen, arrived on the scene as quickly as she could. However, she said she was handcuffed and kept from her son. According to a Twitter post, Jaheim’s family was barred from entering the hospital as well, as the employees claimed he was already dead.

Unfortunately, Jaheim wasn’t the only one who suffered this fate. The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) reported that gun violence is now the leading cause of death in Americans under 19 years of age. According to the Gun Violence Archive, 39,098 people have died from gun violence in this year alone, a mere 11 months. 1,195 of those deaths were teenagers. Additionally, there have been at least 5,107 reported deaths in officer-related incidents since 2019. The Washington Post stated, “Since 2015, police have shot and killed an average of 3 people per day.” If this is true, over 6,570 deaths have occured at the hands of the police since 2015. What we don’t know is the reason behind the deaths from police-related incidents, or whether the officers have been prosecuted. Furthermore, the Washington Post mentioned that “an unarmed black man is about four times more likely to be killed by police than an unarmed white man.” This reinforces the horrifying fact that Jaheim’s case is not as rare as it should be. While these statistics are shocking already, it is also important to note that it’s possible that not all deaths from gun violence have been reported, or reported accurately. 

While the Mississippi police force maintains the claim that Jaheim was armed, his family disagrees. AJ+, a Twitter account self-proclaimed as a “project promoting human rights and equality, holding power to account, and amplifying the voices of the powerless,” mentioned in a tweet that Jaheim’s family claimed he was holding keys and a McDonald’s bag. Eyewitnesses agree with the McMillan family’s statement. A boy who was in the car with Jaheim told his mother that Jaheim did not have a gun. NewsOne additionally stated, “The mother of another teen in the car expressed a similar sentiment. She said her son claims McMillan was unarmed when he was shot.” 

A similar instance is the death of Breonna Taylor. Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenny Walker, had been in her apartment when they heard an intruder at the door. Walker, not knowing who it was, fired at the door, which prompted the police (who were entering without a warrant) to open fire on the two because they felt they were in danger (NBC). While Taylor and Walker were the ones fearing for their lives, the police justified their murderous actions as self-defense, as they did with Jaheim.

There are some activists calling people to action and demanding justice for not only Jaheim’s family but the countless others who have had their lives and families stolen from them. A notable example is E’layjiah Wooley, who speaks about injustice on multiple platforms, including Instagram and TikTok.

What’s truly devastating about this tragedy is that he was only a child, and he is one of many killed at the hands of the police. As CNN writes, “‘This child had his whole life ahead of him, but bullets from those officers took all possibility of that away in an instant.”