Newly released body camera footage shows the horrific moment Illinois police shot and killed a four-year-old boy while he was being held hostage by his mother’s ex-boyfriend.
Terrell Marshawn Miller, 4, was killed by Macomb police on March 16 while he was held at knifepoint by Anthony T. George, 57.
The video shows the deadly shooting occurred after police arrived at the scene and heard cries for help coming from inside.
When police entered, they found George naked and running into the next room to grab Terrell and hold him at knifepoint.
One of the officers fired a single shot that hit Terrell in the head and George in the neck, killing them both. NBC News reported.
Body camera footage shows the horrific moment Macomb police fired a single shot that killed a four-year-old boy who was being held hostage at knifepoint by his mother’s ex-boyfriend.
Terrell Marshawn Miller, 4, was shot and killed by police while being held hostage at knifepoint.
“They could have done anything but use their gun, they had Tasers, they had pepper spray, they had all these non-lethal ways to get Anthony George and they chose not to,” said Terrell’s mother, Keianna Miller. Risk Management Working Group.
Lt. Nick Goc and Officer Korri Cameron responded to the scene after police received calls for a domestic violence incident.
Miller said she was returning home from visiting her mother and found her ex-boyfriend drunk and violent.
“Things got complicated,” she told WGEM. “He said, ‘If I can’t have you, no one can.'”
Police knocked on the apartment door and then entered after hearing a woman screaming for help.
The mother was stabbed several times. When police came in, she told them her son was in the other room.
That’s when George ran into the bedroom and grabbed the four-year-old.
Illinois Appellate Attorney Jon Barnard and the McDonough County State’s Attorney’s Office ruled that Goc, the officer who fired the shot, would not face charges.
Police entered the apartment and found George naked and running into the next room to grab Terrell and hold him at knifepoint.
Terrell’s mother, Keianna Miller, said she returned home to find her ex-boyfriend drunk and violent. She had been stabbed multiple times.
Barnard said there is “no basis for any criminal action or prosecution that is sustainable under the facts of this case against any of the officers involved in this tragic accident.” WGEM reported.
Miller’s attorney, Marleen Suarez, said they plan to file a civil lawsuit this summer.
“It is sometimes difficult to find justice in a civil court, but it may be the only alternative we have left at this time,” Suarez said.
Miller said she hopes her son’s death can lead to police reform.
“A lot of people want to make it a racial issue, but it’s not really,” he said. “He (Terrell) could have been anybody’s son, but he’s America’s nephew, that’s what I’m starting to say.”
