Michigan AG reopens investigation of deadly police raid in Detroit

Apr 16, 2019 at 5:28 pm
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click to enlarge Terrance Kellom - Michigan Department of Corrections
Michigan Department of Corrections
Terrance Kellom

The Michigan Attorney General’s Office is investigating what prompted a federal agent to fatally shoot a 20-year-old Detroiter in April 2015.

The decision came after one of the key witnesses, Detroit Police Officer Darrell Fitzgerald, changed his story while testifying in a civil wrongful death lawsuit in November.

Terrance Kellom was shot and killed at his father’s house on the city’s west side while a multi-agency task force was trying to arrest him on an armed robbery warrant.

The original story was that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Mitchell Quinn shot Kellom because he was armed with a hammer and charged at the agent.

While testifying four years later, Fitzgerald said Kellom did not have a hammer.

"This corroborates what the family of Terrance Kellom, who witnessed the shooting, have said all along: That Terrance did not have a hammer, did not pose a threat to any officer, and was executed," Nabih Ayad said in a press release Tuesday. 

"This is an important public issue that needs to be addressed as it is not every day that a police officer changes his statements to tell the truth of what really transpired in the killing of a young African-American male," Ayad said.

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