DALLAS (AP) — A white former Texas police officer has been indicted on a murder charge in the April shooting death of a black teenager who was leaving a party, prosecutors said Monday.
Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson announced that a grand jury indicted former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver in the death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. Oliver was fired in May for violating department policies after police department officials reviewed body camera footage of the incident, which showed Oliver shooting his rifle into a moving vehicle that was traveling away from him and another officer.
Edwards, a high school freshman, was leaving the party with his two brothers and two other teenagers. Police arrived at the scene to investigate an underage drinking complaint when they heard unrelated gunshots and spotted the vehicle leaving.
Shots from Oliver’s rifle pierced the front side passenger window, hitting Edwards in the head as he sat in the front seat.
Johnson said Oliver was also indicted on four charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon by a public official related to the other four teens who were in the car.
Oliver was charged with murder by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office in May, less than a week after the shooting. He turned himself in and posted bond.
Oliver was indicted last month on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon by a public servant in an unrelated incident, where he is accused of displaying a gun during a traffic accident. Oliver was off duty in Dallas, when he was rear-ended by another vehicle, and according to a police report, he pulled his service weapon and kept it pointed at the ground.
No charges were filed by a Dallas officer who responded, but district attorney officials said last month that it “showed a pattern of behavior.” The district attorney’s office requested Oliver’s previous bond be increased because he was considered a danger to the community. Oliver paid bond in the two new charges and the increased bond for the murder charge in June.
A phone message left with Oliver’s attorney, Jim Lane, was not immediately returned Monday.
This article was written by Claudia Lauer of the AP.
[Image via Parker County Sheriff’s Office]
