Texas police officer found guilty in the death of 15 year old Jordan Edwards

On Tuesday, a Dallas County jury convicted the former Balch Springs police officer of murder for shooting Jordan Edwards an unarmed 15-year-old as he left a party with his brothers and two friends in April 2017.

Roy Oliver, 38, was found not guilty, however, on two counts of aggravated assault for firing his rifle into the car full of teens.

The former officer, who was fired from the force not long after the shooting, was immediately taken into custody, and his bond was revoked.

He faces up to life in prison when testimony resumes Wednesday in the trial's punishment phase.

The mother of Jordan Edwards thanked jurors Tuesday for convicting her son's killer rather than letting him "walk away."

"The police just walk away and don't have to give account for anything," Charmaine Edwards testified in the punishment phase of Roy Oliver's trial. "I'm forever grateful that y'all seen it in your hearts to see that it was wrong."

[SOURCE: DALLAS NEWS]

No alcohol or drugs were at party where Jordan Edwards was shot.

No teenagers were drinking or using drugs at an April 29 party broken up by Balch Springs police, despite a 911 call that ultimately led to an officer shooting and killing 15-year-old Jordan Edwards.

This week’s revelation by a law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and an attorney for the boy’s family accompanied the results of Jordan’s autopsy. They say the results show the teen had no alcohol or illegal drugs in his system when he died.

Roy Oliver, the officer who shot Jordan, was later fired and arrested on a murder charge. Oliver is white, and Jordan was black.

Oliver and another officer, Tyler Gross, were inside the party watching kids carry around energy drinks and sodas. Police found no drugs or alcohol in the house except for an empty beer bottle tossed in a kitchen trash can, the law enforcement official said.

Balch Springs police had previously said there was alcohol at the party but officers didn’t cite anyone.

[SOURCE: DALLASNEWS]

Excessive Force Lawsuit Filed in Jordan Edwards Shooting

The family of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, the teenager who was shot by a now-former Balch Springs police officer, have filed suit against the city, department and the officer.

The lawsuit by the Edwards family, filed in Dallas on Friday, claims Roy Oliver used excessive and deadly force while on the call and lacked proper training in his job as a police officer for the City of Balch Springs.

In the suit, the family's attorney said when the teens heard what sounded like gunshots, they tried to leave the area but said Oliver shot into the vehicle with a rifle. Edwards was shot in the head, according to the lawsuit, and his brother drove away after the shooting and called his father.

The attorney said as the driver of the car was stepping out of the vehicle for police, he went the wrong direction and an officer said, "this n----- doesn't know his f----- left from his right."

The family also claims Edwards' brother was handcuffed and taken into police custody.

Read more: NBCDFW

Police officer arrested and charged with murder of Jordan Edwards

Roy Oliver, the fired Balch Springs police officer who shot and killed 15-year-old Jordan Edwards as he was driving away from a party, was arrested on a murder charge Friday night.

Oliver, 37, turned himself in at the Parker County Jail. Bail was set at $300,000. He was released before 10 p.m. after posting bond.

If convicted of murder, he faces up to life in prison. His attorney could not be reached for comment.

The arrest warrant affidavit says another officer used his gun to break the car's rear window before Oliver got behind the officer and fired several rounds into the car as it drove past. It also says that Oliver "committed this offense while he intended to cause serious bodily injury in an act clearly dangerous to human life."

[SOURCE: DALLASNEWS.COM]

Police Account Changes in Killing of Jordan Edwards

HIS NAME IS JORDAN EDWARDS! Thank God for the body cams on the police officers involved in the murder of Jordan Edwards. The officers had fabricated a story about the car coming at them and were going to paint Jordan Edwards,an honor student, his brother, and his friends as thugs and the aggressors. We now know that that story is false and the boys had not been drinking. Well lets see if Trump comments at all or at least ask his "Justice" department to look at the case. George L. Cook III African American Reports.

As family and friends mourned the death of a 15-year-old boy shot in the head by a police officer in a Dallas suburb over the weekend, the police chief said Monday that new evidence showed the killing did not unfold the way the authorities had originally claimed.

The Police Department in Balch Springs, Tex., said Sunday that the officer, whose name has not been released, fired on a car carrying the teenager, Jordan Edwards, a freshman at Mesquite High School in Balch Springs, because the car was reversing down a street toward the officer in an “aggressive manner.”

But Jonathan Haber, the police chief, told reporters at a news conference on Monday afternoon that video showed the opposite. He said the officer fired when the car was “moving forward as the officers approached,” according to The Associated Press. The Dallas County medical examiner’s report ruled the death a homicide caused by a “rifle wound” to the head.

Lee Merritt, a lawyer for the Edwards family, praised the police chief for his willingness to admit the department’s mistake and called the new account “a big deal.”

Read more: Police Account Changes in Killing of Texas 15-Year-Old