TUPELO — The family of a Tupelo man shot to death by police has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city. The city, meanwhile, said a police officer killed Antwun “Ronnie” Shumpert in self-defense.
The city released a picture, published Friday on the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal website, that shows officer Tyler Cook with facial bruises and abrasions.
Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton told the Journal that police investigators believe Cook was attacked and fired while on his back.
“It looks to be staged to me,” said attorney Carlos Moore of Grenada, who represents the Shumpert family. “You would expect someone that has been in a struggle to have injuries a lot worse than that.”
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is conducting a probe of the shooting and its findings are to be turned over to a grand jury.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday, says Shumpert was unarmed and was attacked by a police dog. Shelton said Shumpert did not have any bite marks.
The June 18 shooting followed a traffic stop and foot chase. Cook is white. Shumpert was black.
The family lawsuit called the shooting a “modern day lynching.”
An organization called the Coalition of Concerned Pastors and Leaders organized a peaceful protest of the shooting — they called it a “stand-in” at Tupelo City Hall, the Journal reported.
Moore has released photos of Shumpert’s body. He says the photos show mutilation of the body by the police dog, including scratch marks on his back and wounds to the groin area.
The photos of Shumpert’s body released by Moore were taken at a funeral home several days after Shumpert’s death, Shelton said.
By then, Shelton said, Shumpert had been through surgery at North Mississippi Medical Center and his body had been autopsied.
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