CHARLOTTE – Sadness in the faces of the crowd of about 50 gathered Monday at the government center here did not mask the frustration and anger. “No justice, no peace” — the chant was familiar — as speaker after speaker at a news conference asked for answers and demanded change.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are piecing together what happened last Saturday. Around 2 a.m., a 24-year-old man was apparently looking for help after a car crash, a woman called police when she didn’t recognize the man knocking on her door, and one of three responding officers hit the man with 10 shots (of 12 fired) after a Taser either didn’t work or didn’t stop the man fitting the description of the caller. Was the man running? Did the officers identify themselves? Why did only one officer fire? The details are still being investigated.
What is known is this. Jonathan Ferrell, a former Florida A&M football player who had moved to Charlotte, worked two jobs and looked forward to marrying his fiancée and returning to school, is dead. Officer Randall Kerrick, 27, has been charged with voluntary manslaughter. Georgia Ferrell has become a grieving mother holding her son’s childhood Winnie the Pooh doll. She said she forgives the man who shot her son, but cannot understand how and why it happened.
