Black drummer shot 3 times, never fired his gun, attorney says
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla.— A black man who was a public housing inspector and part-time drummer was shot three times by a plainclothes police officer near his broken down vehicle on Interstate 95 and never fired his own gun, attorneys for his family said Thursday.
Corey Jones had five wounds — some of them exit wounds — and one shot broke his arm and another entered through Jones’ side and lodged in his upper body, his lawyers said after meeting with the state attorney who is investigating the fatal shooting.
Jones, 31, was shot to death early Sunday by Palm Beach Gardens Officer Nouman Raja, who stopped his unmarked van to check on what he thought was an abandoned vehicle and was “suddenly confronted by an armed subject,” police chief Stephen Stepp has said.
Attorneys for Jones’ family, including Benjamin Crump, who has represented the family of Trayvon Martin and other slain African Americans, met privately with Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg on Thursday.
The shooting of Jones has plunged his family into the ongoing national debate about police use of force, particularly in cases involving African Americans.