JACKSONVILLE, Fla — As demands increase for more transparency from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, the mom of a teen victim of an officer-involved shooting says she is still demanding answers.
Latoya Cash says her son, 17-year-old Kwame Jones, was killed by police on Jan. 5. She said JSO has given her family little information about the shooting, saying an “exchange took place” before the officer fired his gun several times.
“I don’t know how many times he was shot, I was denied an autopsy report, I didn’t see him until 10 days after and the day before the funeral service,” Cash said.
Meanwhile, Cash says her son’s friends told her something happened before police took action.
“It’s very frustrating,” Cash said.
JSO said officer N.E. Lawson approached the vehicle and fired his weapon several times after some exchange between police and Jones took place. It was Lawson’s first officer-involved shooting. He was placed on administrative leave.
First Coast News asked JSO for body camera footage of the incident. JSO denied our request for the body camera footage, saying it’s part of an active investigation.
Since JSO started using body cameras in 2018, footage from only two officer-involved shootings has been released. JSO Sheriff Mike Williams said previously that he would be okay with releasing footage sooner if it doesn’t compromise a case.
“It’s not as important to release footage as it is to make sure we get those investigations correct,” Williams said in a news conference last week.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Florida State Attorney Melissa Nelson said JSO has advised it is legally prevented from releasing footage before any administrative hearing of an officer who shot someone.
That hearing is held after the State Attorney’s Office completes its investigation into a shooting. It says moving forward, it will determine the public release of body camera footage of officer-involved shootings.
Cash has joined in recent protests asking for more transparency from JSO.
“On a regular basis when someone asks me, “what happened?” I don’t have an answer,” Cash said.
She is onboard with JSO releasing body camera footage but says there needs to be oversight at different levels.
“We should be there looking at the body camera footage for the first time the State Attorney and whoever else is looking at it. I don’t want them to determine what they should or what they shouldn’t release,” Cash said.
Jones continues to wait for answers on what happened to her son and is hoping for officers to be held accountable for their actions.
“As a black woman, I tell my own community that we need to stick together too, it’s not just young black boys, it’s everybody, all lives matter,” Cash added.