It began, prosecutors say, when 2 teenage boys, carrying a grudge between them & the guns to settle it, exchanged gunfire outside a high school football stadium just as a game was winding down in the suburbs of Philadelphia.
It ended with the death of an 8-year-old girl named Fanta Bility — killed not by the 2 boys, but by a barrage of bullets unleashed by 3 police officers on the scene, who began firing toward a car they mistakenly believed was the source of the gunshots.
Now, more than 2 months after the fatal police shooting that shook the small town of Sharon Hill, criminal charges have been brought in the case — but not against the 3 officers. The 3 teenage boys have been charged with first-degree murder for setting in motion the events that led to the death of the girl, a daughter of West African immigrants who was attending the game to watch her sister, a cheerleader & her cousin, one of the football players.
The decision by prosecutors to charge the 2 teenagers, even though they did not fire the shot that killed the girl, while allowing the police officers involved to keep their jobs, has stirred outrage in the community & angered her family who worry that the police will ultimately evade accountability.
The charges rely on a legal theory known as “transferred intent,” which prosecutors believe applies in this case because they say the 2 teenagers had intended to kill each other & the result of their actions was Fanta’s death. But experts say prosecutors are stretching the definition of “transferred intent” & could have difficulty making the charges stand up in court.
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Source: New York Times
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