Alabama governor backs withholding video of officer fatally shooting Black student

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is supporting a state agency’s refusal to release body camera footage in the fatal police shooting of an 18-year-old Black college freshman, saying the case must first be thoroughly investigated

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is supporting a state agency’s refusal to release body camera footage in the fatal police shooting of an 18-year-old Black college freshman, saying the case must first be thoroughly investigated.

Ivey said she was confident “the facts will prevail” when the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency completes its investigation into the June 23 shooting of Jabari Peoples by an officer with the Homewood Police Department.

“This case [is] a top priority, and I am confident they are working to efficiently get this done,” Ivey said in a statement Wednesday to NBC affiliate WVTM 13 in Birmingham.

Peoples, an aspiring police detective, was killed at a soccer complex where he was sitting in his parked car with his girlfriend. An officer approached his car around 9:30 p.m. because he said he smelled what seemed like marijuana.

Peoples’ girlfriend, whose name has not been released, has denied he had a gun, said family attorney Ben Crump.