Court documents reveal events leading up to fatal officer involved shooting in Gulfport

GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) - Court documents released Monday give a clearer picture of the events leading up to last week’s officer-involved shooting that claimed the life of a Gulfport teen.

Jaheim McMillan, 15, died Saturday after being taken off life support. His mother told WLOX News he suffered a gunshot wound to the head from a Gulfport Police officer outside the Family Dollar store at the corner of 8th Avenue and Pass Road.

Four other teens in the car with McMillian were arrested that day, charged with aggravated assault. Gulfport Police were looking for the vehicle after receiving reports about the teens driving erratically and waving guns at other drivers.

Court documents show the first call about the teens came in at 2:28 p.m. when a driver reported a silver Kia Soul with a Georgia license plate driving recklessly on Hwy 605 near I-10. The caller said the teens in the Kia Soul had the windows rolled down and began “flipping them off.” Eventually both vehicles stopped next to each other at the red light at Brentwood Boulevard. That’s when the caller and his passenger said they saw the right rear passenger in the Kia Soul brandish a firearm.

When the light turned green, both vehicles took off and the caller told police he tried to get away from the Kia. As he got closer to Magnolia, he saw a red light and decided to drive through it in fear of stopping next to the armed passenger. But the Kia also ran the red light.

As both vehicles approached Pass Road, and the caller told police he tried to lose the Kia Soul by cutting through a bank parking lot, but the teens stayed right behind him. Once on Pass Road, the right rear passenger put on a camouflage ski mask and held up the gun again.

The encounter ended when, according to the caller, the Kia Soul turned north on Courthouse Road and then west on Commerce Street.

About 15 minutes after that call came in to police, officers located a Kia Soul matching that description in the parking lot of the Family Dollar. According to Gulfport Police, an officer engaged an armed suspect, McMillan, leading to shots being fired.

McMillan was taken to Gulfport Memorial Hospital, and later transferred to USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital in Mobile, Ala.

The other four suspects, all under 17, were taken into custody. Police said several firearms were recovered from the scene.

The court documents go on to say the four suspects all admitted to a detective that the caller’s account of the events earlier that day in traffic were true. The teens admitted to holding up guns, driving recklessly, and that everyone in the Kia Soul encouraged the chase.

Again, the four teens are each charged with two counts of aggravated assault, and being held on a total bond of $500,000 ($250,000 for each charge).

As for the deadly shooting, the case is being investigated by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. The Gulfport officer was placed on non-enforcement duties pending results of that investigation. That’s standard procedure for all officer involved shootings.

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