Myrtle Beach, SC – A Myrtle Beach police officer shot an unarmed 17-year-old in the back during the tumultuous altercation on North Ocean Boulevard in April, which resulted in the death of a Bennettsville man.
In a news release on Monday, national civil rights lawyer Bakari Sellers asserted that he was defending the victim, who was only known as “John Doe.”
“They almost killed my son that night,” the victim’s mother Kristy Flow said in a statement. “They shot him in the back while he was unarmed and running away. He was just a teenager at the beach like any other, and now he has to carry that bullet inside him for the rest of his life.”
Jerrius Davis, 18, of Bennettsville, was killed in the incident that occurred just before midnight on April 26 around the 900 block of N. Ocean Boulevard. He fired into a throng, according to the police.
According to Myrtle Beach Police Chief Prock last week, officers arrived in 1.2 seconds, and Officer Brandon O’Rourke returned five bullets at Davis, striking and killing him. Following the five rounds on the video, there is an additional shot that can be heard; according to Prock, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating its origin.
According to Prock, all of those individuals have now been discharged from the hospital, although one of them had serious injuries. The victims were between the ages of 13 and 43.
Eleven individuals suffered gunshot wounds in the aftermath of the attack, some of which included shrapnel grazes and bullet wounds. Seven of them self-reported to the hospital, according to Prock, while four were sent by ambulance.
Zavian Washington, 13, and Serenity Chavis, 15, are the two other teenagers reported to have been hurt. John Barnett, an activist, is representing both.
After being struck in the back, Flow’s son—who was at the time escaping—spent many days in the intensive care unit and hospital. According to a release from Sellers, the bullet that struck him is still embedded in his chest.
The Myrtle Beach Police Department’s “reluctance to publicly release crucial information about the shooting” is a source of concern for Sellers and Flow. O’Rourke’s body camera footage has not been made public, however dashcam footage of the incident was made public on May 29.
“Jerrius Davis wasn’t the only one who recklessly fired into a crowd of people on April 26,” Sellers said. “Brandon O’Rourke did too, and justice demands that we hold him accountable.”
