By PAVEL BAILEY
Tribune Staff Reporter
pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A CORONER’s Court jury returned a justifiable homicide finding yesterday concerning the police-involved killing of Rashando Gibson, 31. Gibson was killed near Soldier Road in 2022.
Sergeant Jamal Johnson and Corporal Giovanni Davis, the two subjects in the inquest, appeared relieved when the finding of the five-person, all-female jury was read.
Officers, including Owen Hanna, the chief welfare officer of the Police Staff Association, embraced and congratulated the pair after the inquest.
Relatives of the deceased were not present in court during the reading of the finding.
The officers reportedly shot and killed Gibson on Shahs Drive and Goggle Eye Road on July 1, 2022
This is the sixth consecutive justified homicide finding, with jurors returning the same finding last week in the case of 40-year-old Walter Johnson killed on Hospital Lane in 2022.
Two other inquests this year had findings of homicide by manslaughter.
An inquest in May, the 2017 police-involved shooting of 21-year-old Aliko Collins, was dismissed and rescheduled for later this year after the coroner dismissed jurors for allegedly exhibiting inappropriate behaviour during an officer’s testimony.
Officers testified that they were responding to information on an attempted armed robbery near Beauty Shack on Soldier Road before killing Gibson, who reportedly matched the description of the suspect in that incident.
Sergeant Melbert Munroe, the investigating officer that day, said the deceased raised a firearm in the direction of officers before he was shot.
A forensic officer confirmed that the weapon reportedly belonging to the deceased was capable of firing.
Before the finding was read, Inspector Christoph Greenslade, a firearm expert, reviewed body cam footage of the shooting from SGT Johnson.
It showed Sgt Johnson getting out of the police vehicle with his weapon drawn, approaching the deceased.
Sgt Johnson repeats the command: “Let me see your hands” several times before yelling: “Get on the ground.”
As the deceased appeared to surrender, Sgt Johnson discharged multiple rounds in his direction.
Inspector Greenslade alleged that while the suspect initially raised both hands, the deceased put one hand down to reach for a weapon.
He said the manoeuvre shows false compliance and that officers are trained to be cautious of it. He said officers could have seen the man’s actions as a red flag and that officers are justified in using force if a suspect has a weapon in hand.
Dr Caryn Sands, a forensic pathologist, said Gibson’s cause of death was a gunshot wound to the torso. She also said that the bullet entered the deceased from his back and went in an upward trajectory before exiting through the centre of his throat.
In his closing remarks, K Melvin Munroe, the officers’ attorney, argued that the officers commanded the deceased to surrender seven times and that he failed to comply.
He insinuated that the deceased was a criminal by referring to his chest tattoo that said: “Salute me or shoot me.”
Acting Coroner Kara Turnquest Deveaux pre- sided. Angelo Whitfield marshaled the evidence.
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