Anglin shooting investigation begins

In the aftermath of the police shooting that left 15-year-old Michael Anglin dead following a botched car theft, investigators are calling for any witnesses to come forward. Police have not been able to put together a concrete version of what actually happened after hearing varying accounts of the Jan. 28 incident. Because of the nature of the shooting, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office has taken over the investigation. The office investigates any incident in which a suspect is injured or killed by a police weapon. Last week black leaders throughout the community stepped forward to call for justice. Led by New York activist Rev. Herbert Daughtry, a coalition of black citizens called a press conference and a rally, demanding answers as to why the boy was shot and killed. “I speak for those voices that are not able to cry out,” Rev. Herbert Daughtry said in a press conference Tuesday at Bethesda Baptist Church on Mercer Street. He called for a full investigation of the case. Many of the black leaders in attendance said the police were insensitive. They echoed the sentiments of Councilman-at-large L. Harvey Smith, who has long endorsed recruiting residents to the police force that are from the community they will eventually patrol. The shooting comes at a time where local police have been walking on eggshells as the result of some recent incidents that point towards racial profiling and police insensitivity. Two weeks ago, hundreds of Arab-American residents took to the steps of City Hall in protest of what they called unfair treatment by the JCPD. In New York, officials are sifting through the evidence surrounding last year’s shooting of Amadou Diallo, who was mistakenly thought to be a suspect in a crime. A grand jury is deciding the fate of several NYPD officers who are facing police brutality and murder charges. Immediately following the Anglin shooting, it was believed that the arresting officer’s 9mm handgun went off during a supposed struggle for the weapon. Since the initial reports were filed, First Assistant Prosecutor Terrance Hull said that may not have been the case. Witnesses supporting accounts that Anglin may have been shot from behind have surfaced, as well as many inconsistent stories as to how and why the officer’s weapon discharged in the first place. According to police accounts, Anglin suffered a single, fatal gunshot wound to his head. In the past week, it was learned that Anglin’s family had initially been misinformed by police, who had told her that the boy had been killed in an auto crash. In addition to the mistakes by the Jersey City police mistakes in informing Anglin’s grieving mother of his death, she was also not brought in to identify the body of her slain son, officials said. Anglin and a pair of other boys were chased down by police officers responding to the theft of a van in the Greenville section of the city, according to police. After slamming into a police car in pursuit, the van was stopped on Bayview Avenue in a residential area. Prosecutor Hull said that the case is moving along at a good rate, while there could potentially be more people out there with answers. Because so many houses were nearby, Hull said that someone must have heard the crash and looked out their window to see what the racket was all about. In addition to crash, witnesses may have also been drawn to their windows following the crack of a single gunshot in the street outside. Hull said that there was no blood inside the van, and that all clues point to the boy being shot outside of the van. Witness accounts have varied, from Anglin being shot while he fled the scene, to one that has him being pinned down and shot in the back of the head by the officer. “We’re trying to interview as many potential witnesses as we can,” Hull said. Hull, who was still waiting for the autopsy report at press time, said that the prosecutor’s office will continue to evaluate the clues and determine the direction of the investigation. He said that if he had to guess, the case will probably land before a grand jury. Witnesses that may be able to shed some light on the case call the Homicide Task Force of the prosecutor’s office at 915-1345.