Shocking moment police shoot dead four-year-old child held hostage at knifepoint by mother’s ex-boyfriend
Newly released body camera footage shows the terrifying moment Illinois police shot and killed a four-year-old boy while he was being held hostage by his mother’s ex-boyfriend.
Terrell Marshawn Miller, 4, was killed by Macomb police on March 16 while being held at knifepoint by 57-year-old Anthony T. George.
Video footage shows the fatal shooting occurred after police arrived at the scene and heard cries for help coming from the house.
When the police arrived, they found George naked. He ran into the next room to grab Terrell and hold him at knifepoint.
One of the officers fired a single shot that struck Terrell in the head and George in the neck, killing them both. NBC News reported.
Body camera footage shows the terrifying moment Macomb police fired a shot, killing a 4-year-old boy who was being held hostage at knifepoint by his mother’s ex-boyfriend
Terrell Marshawn Miller, 4, was shot and killed by police while being held hostage at knifepoint
“They could have done anything but use their gun, they had tasers, they had pepper spray, they had all these non-lethal ways to get to Anthony George and they decided not to,” Terrell’s mother, Keianna Miller, said. WGEM.
Lieutenant Nick Goc and Officer Korri Cameron responded to the scene after police received a report of a domestic violence incident.
Miller said she was on her way home from visiting her mother and found her ex-boyfriend drunk and violent.
“It went wrong,” she told WGEM. “He said to me, ‘If I can’t have you, no one can have you.'”
Police knocked on the apartment door and then entered after hearing a woman screaming for help.
The mother was stabbed multiple times. When the police came in, she told them her son was in the other room.
Then George ran into the bedroom and grabbed the four-year-old boy.
Illinois District Attorney Jon Barnard and the McDonough County District Attorney’s Office have ruled that Goc, the officer who fired the shot, will not face charges.
Police entered the apartment and found George naked, who ran into the next room to grab Terrell and hold him at knifepoint.
Terrell’s mother, Keianna Miller, said she came home to find her ex-boyfriend drunk and violent. She had been stabbed multiple times
Barnard said “there is no basis for any criminal action or prosecution that can be supported under the facts of this case against any of the officers involved in this tragic accident,” WGEM reported.
Miller’s attorney, Marleen Suarez, said they plan to file a civil lawsuit this summer.
“It is sometimes difficult to find justice in a civil court, but it may be the only alternative we have at this point,” Suarez said.
Miller said she hopes her son’s death can lead to reforms in police policies.
“A lot of people want to make it a racial issue, but it’s not,” she said. “He [Terrell] “He could have been anyone’s son, but he’s America’s cousin, that’s what I’m starting to say.”
