CLEVELAND (AP) - The family of a 19-year-old Black man killed by a white housing authority police officer in Cleveland continues to seek answers after learning from an autopsy released Thursday that he was shot in the back.
Arthur Keith was shot Nov. 13 by Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority officer James Griffiths. A CMHA account of the shooting included in the autopsy says police responded to a report of a man waving a gun, ordered Keith out of the car and shot him when he pointed a gun at the officer.
Police say a gun was recovered at the scene.
There are numerous eyewitness accounts that Keith was asleep inside a van, was awakened by Griffiths and was running away from the officer when he was shot, family attorney Stanley Jackson said during a virtual news conference Thursday.
“We’re relieved we were able to get confirmation of what the witnesses were saying,” Jackson said.
He said authorities have ignored requests to provide surveillance camera recordings of the shooting.
Keith and Griffiths apparently knew each other from the Boys & Girls Club where Griffiths sometimes met with children from the neighborhood, Jackson said.
Keith’s aunt, Matricia Givner, said city leaders need to reach out to the community and be transparent about what happened to her nephew.
“These children are terrified and scared and these officers are here to protect and serve,” Givner said. “These children do not feel that way.”
Cleveland homicide detectives are investigating the shooting. Special prosecutors from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office have been assigned to the case.
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