Updated at 8:25 p.m. with testimony in the trial's sentencing phase ending for the day.

The mother of Jordan Edwards thanked jurors Tuesday for convicting her son's killer rather than letting him "walk away."

"The police just walk away and don't have to give account for anything," Charmaine Edwards testified in the punishment phase of Roy Oliver's trial. "I'm forever grateful that y'all seen it in your hearts to see that it was wrong."

Earlier Tuesday, the Dallas County jury convicted the former Balch Springs police officer of murder for shooting the unarmed 15-year-old as he left a party with his brothers and two friends in April 2017.

Roy Oliver was found guilty of murder and not guilty on two counts of aggravated assault. (Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)

Oliver, 38, was found not guilty, however, on two counts of aggravated assault for firing his rifle into the car full of teens.

"Oh, praise God!" someone exclaimed outside the courtroom as the Edwards family and friends quickly flooded the hallway, smiling and hugging one another.

Oliver's wife, Ingrid, broke down in tears as she left the courtroom. She and Oliver have a 3-year-old son with autism.

The former officer, who was fired from the force not long after the shooting, was immediately taken into custody, and his bond was revoked.

He faces up to life in prison when testimony resumes Wednesday in the trial's punishment phase.

In the hallway after the verdict was read, Jordan's father, Odell Edwards, embraced supporters, rocking them from side to side as he wiped tears from his reddened eyes.

Jordan Edwards was shot in the head and died instantly in April 2017.

Odell Edwards said he wanted to jump up and down when he heard the word guilty.

"I just want to say I'm happy, very happy," he told reporters after the verdict. "It's been a long time, hard year. Just really happy."

His attorney, Daryl Washington, said the verdict meant more than justice for Jordan.

"It's about Tamir Rice. It's about Walter Scott. It's about Alton Sterling," he said. "It's about every African-American, unarmed African-American, who has been killed and who has not gotten justice."

He said what happened to Jordan never should've happened.

"We're just happy here in Dallas, Texas, that Roy Oliver is going to have to do his time for taking Jordan's life," Washington said.

1 / 6Odell Edwards hugs Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson after a guilty verdict in Roy Oliver's murder trial.(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer) 2 / 6People in the courtroom react to a guilty verdict during the ninth day of the trial of fired Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver, who was charged with the murder of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas on Tuesday.(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer) 3 / 6Karen Dancer, Jordan Edward's grandmother, holds her head after Tuesday's verdict in Roy Oliver's trial.(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer) 4 / 6Odell Edwards and Charmaine Edwards, parents of Jordan Edwards, embrace supporters after a guilty verdict in the trial of former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver.(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer) 5 / 6Lead prosecutor Michael Snipes hugs Odell Edwards, the father of Jordan Edwards, after the verdict Tuesday.(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer) 6 / 6Odell Edwards (right) speaks to members of the media after a Dallas County jury found Roy Oliver guilty in his son's slaying.(Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

Both of Jordan's parents, who have watched the trial from the beginning, hugged lead prosecutor Michael Snipes, who shed tears of his own after the verdict was read.

"I'm happy," said Charmaine Edwards as she walked back into the courtroom. She was Jordan's stepmother, but he called her Mom. She'd known him since he was a toddler.

Oliver was charged with murder and four counts of aggravated assault by a public servant for the April 2017 on-duty shooting. He was on trial for murder and two of the assault charges.

Jurors also had the option of finding Oliver guilty of manslaughter, a felony that carries a lesser punishment, up to 20 years compared with up to life in prison for murder and aggravated assault.

The fatal shooting of the unarmed black teenager by a white police officer became the latest rallying cry among critics of police brutality.

Body camera footage played for jurors showed how quickly the police response escalated the night Jordan was killed. Within minutes, Oliver went from joking with teenagers to running down a street pointing a rifle.

He and Officer Tyler Gross were responding to a call about a rowdy house party around 11 p.m. April 29, 2017. The cops joked with the stream of teenagers leaving the house.

While talking to the party's host inside the house, gunshots rang out. The shots were later discovered to have been fired from a nearby nursing home.

The officers ran from the house — Oliver to get his patrol rifle — and toward the nursing home. Within 54 seconds, Jordan was dead.

Gross was trying to stop the Chevrolet Impala that Jordan was in with his brothers and friends when Oliver fired into the car. Oliver said he thought the car was going to hit his partner.

Prosecutors say they support police officers but that cops like Oliver need to be held accountable for their bad actions.

"They have to follow the law just like everybody else," said prosecutor George Lewis.

Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson sat in the courtroom throughout the trial and even questioned Jordan's mother when she testified.

The case was tried by Michael Snipes, the county's first assistant district attorney, who told jurors that he regularly visited the scene of Jordan's death trying to understand Oliver's perspective.

Oliver testified in his own defense that he "had no other option" but to shoot into a car that he feared was going to hit his partner.

But Snipes called that "the most unreasonable, craziest thing you've ever seen in your life."

1 / 5Lead prosecutor Michael Snipes gives a closing argument during the trial of fired Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver.(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer) 2 / 5Defense attorney Bob Gill gives a closing argument during Roy Oliver's murder trial in the death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards.(Staff Photographer / Rose Baca) 3 / 5Roy Oliver stands during his attorney's closing argument Monday at the Dallas County courthouse.(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer) 4 / 5District Attorney Faith Johnson hugs Kevon Edwards, the older brother of Jordan Edwards, during the trial of former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver.(Staff Photographer / Rose Baca) 5 / 5The defense and prosecution wait while the jury deliberates Tuesday, the ninth day of the trial of Roy Oliver's murder trial.(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)

Snipes pointed out that Jordan and the others in the car weren’t connected to the nursing home shooting.

“This innocent kid was not doing anything wrong,” Snipes said.

Friends and family described Jordan as a happy, dedicated teenager. The ninth-grader worked out every day, made good grades, played football and planned to go to college.

He was known as either "Smiley" or "Peanut."

"He was the real deal," Snipes said. "It's not a fairy tale. He really was that great."

Jordan "should not be in the grave right now," Snipes told jurors during closing arguments.

Jordan Edwards' brother Vidal Allen testified during the first day of the trial of fired Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver. (Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)

Jordan’s brother, Vidal Allen, was driving the Impala the night of the shooting. He testified that he heard someone yelling for him to stop but couldn’t see that it was a police officer.

“I didn’t understand that was a police officer at that time,” Allen said. “I just wanted to get home and get everyone safe.”

Allen said he wasn’t trying to hit police officers. And Gross said he didn’t think the car was trying to hit him.

"I was in fear that the vehicle was close to me, but not in fear that the vehicle was trying to run me over,” Gross testified.

Defense attorney Miles Brissette (left) questions Balch Springs police officer Tyler Gross. (Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)

Unlike Oliver, Snipes said, Gross didn't open fire on the teens "because he didn't need to."

Defense attorneys and Oliver himself said he was merely trying to defend his partner, but the prosecutor challenged that argument.

"None of those shots could've done anything to protect Tyler Gross," Snipes said.

But the defense said the only perspective the jury should base their verdict on is Oliver's.

"It doesn't matter that looking back in hindsight we'd all make a different decision," defense attorney Bob Gill told jurors.

Snipes reminded the jury about another perspective: that of the other teens in the car who watched Jordan die. He said Oliver could easily have more blood than just Jordan's on his hands.

"You murdered him," Snipes told Oliver, then turned back to the jury. "It could've been five murders."

Staff writers Dana Branham and Jennifer Emily contributed to this report.