The mother of a teenager who was shot dead by police in Florida was shot at his burial service on Saturday, after a 16-year-old mourner ac...
The mother of a teenager who was shot dead by police in Florida was shot at his burial service on Saturday, after a 16-year-old mourner accidentally fired his gun.
Quasheda Pierce, 39, screamed in shock as gunfire rang out at Riverview Memorial Gardens in Cocoa, 45 miles east of Orlando.
The shot rang out as the pastor had just finished his prayers and the teen's friends and loved ones were placing flowers on the casket.
Mourners were at first slow to react before realizing what had occurred.
They began sprinting from the scene - rushing away from the funeral to nearby cars.
Shots rang out on Saturday in Cocoa, Florida, at a funeral for an 18-year-old shooting victim
Quasheda Pierce, pictured at a press conference, was shot in the leg on Saturday
Quasheda Pierce's son Sincere, 18, was shot and killed by police on November 13
Armed officers showed up to Sincere Pierce's funeral after reports of a shooting
Friends and family members helped Quasheda Pierce into a minivan before ambulances arrived.
Deputies carrying rifles arrived a short time later in response to multiple 911 calls.
She was shot in the leg, and the teenager with the weapon was also shot in the leg.
Brevard County Sheriff's Office said the gun 'experienced an accidental discharge' during the funeral service, and the one bullet went through both of them.
Their injuries are not believed to be life threatening.
Quasheda Pierce's son, Sincere Pierce, 18, was killed alongside Angelo Crooms, 16, on November 13 by a Brevard County Sheriff's deputy.
AJ Crooms, 16, was driving the car. A third passenger said he heard the commands to stop
Mourners had gathered for AJ Crooms the week before, on November 21, at the same site
The teens were killed when Deputy Jafet Santiago-Miranda fired multiple shots into their car when they allegedly failed to pull over.
Sheriff Wayne Ivey had said the deputies thought the vehicle might have been stolen, but the teens' families and lawyer, Natalie Jackson, said they had permission to use the car and called it a case of mistaken identity.
Their deaths captured national interest, with well-known civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump working on behalf of the families in what he called a bid for justice.
Ivey has released dash cam footage from the November 13 shooting that showed the teens pulling into a driveway after being followed by two sheriff's cars without lights.
Crooms, who was driving, then backed out of the driveway and drove forward in the direction of a deputy, who, gun drawn, repeatedly shouted at the teen to stop the car.
Deputy Carson Hendren takes out her gun as the car backs out of the driveway
Crooms reversed the car so that it was facing the sheriff's deputies
Deputy Jafet Santiago-Miranda (left) is seen firing into the car driving toward him
Hendren is seen approaching Crooms' car from the far side as they shoot
As the teen continues, the deputies begin to fire into the vehicle and a woman can be heard screaming in the background.
According to Florida Today, the woman was Pierce’s aunt Cynthia Byrd Green, who said she raised him since he was an infant.
She said that she pleaded with deputies not to shoot and saw the whole incident, telling USA Today she believed it was a case of mistaken identity and the deputies were searching for a different car.
'I saw the whole thing from beginning to end. I pleaded with that deputy, "please don't shoot my son",' Green said.
'I saw my son slump and I just knew. I knew he was dead.'
The sheriff said in a Facebook post that the deputy 'was then forced to fire his service weapon in an attempt to stop the deadly threat of the car from crashing into him.'
The case has been picked up by notable civil rights attorney Crump, who claimed that the teenagers posed no threat to the officers in the dashcam footage.
The case has been picked up by notable civil rights attorney Ben Crump who on Tuesday claimed that the teenagers posed no threat to the officers in the dashcam footage
'It is painfully troubling to us that this teen driver and the teen backseat passenger were terrified and drove around deputies who approached the vehicle with guns drawn. Believe your own eyes,' Crump said in a statement.
'The video shows the deputy was still shooting as the car cleared him and posed no threat.'
He called for any witnesses to come forward and demanded that the sheriff's office release the full video.
'Claiming that this deputy discharged 10 shots to get himself out of harm's way is a clear attempt to justify the killing of these teens.
'If anything, the deputy appears to have moved closer to the vehicle to get a better shot,' Crump added in a statement to NewsOne.
'The video shows that the deputy continued to fire shots into the side of the vehicle as it was passing him, after he was out of harm's way.
'This disturbing incident, which cost the lives of two Black teens, again documents the dangers of driving or even riding while Black — since the deputy also shot into the backseat, killing a passenger.'
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey claims the deputies were 'forced to fire'
Pierce and Crooms, both from the Cocoa area, were taken to hospital after the shooting but pronounced dead.
'I ask that you keep the family of the two young men in your thoughts and prayers and also our Deputies, as an incident of this magnitude impacts everyone, including our entire community,' Sherriff Ivey said of the case.
Their killing has already sparked outrage in the local community with a rally held in support of the teens' families.
'When I saw the video, I said to myself, here we go again because these kinds of occurrences happen over and over and over,' Reverend Johnnie Dennis told Click Orlando.
'They did not display lights to indicate that they were pulling them over they just pulled up behind them with guns drawn.'
Cocoa City Councilmember Alex Goins said: 'We have to know what happened to them. We need a press conference on their lives just like if someone shot an officer.
'These were two young men. They are gone from their families forever, regardless.
'I understand about investigations but at the same time, you have to understand this is why the community doesn't trust you.
'We need to know what happened to our babies.'
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