Florida conducting independent investigation as family demands to know why plainclothes officer never identified himself to stranded motorist

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The body of a church musician – shot dead by a plainclothes police officer after the stranded motorist waited for a tow truck close to a quiet Florida interstate – was found almost 100ft from his broken-down vehicle, it emerged on Thursday.

Lawyers for the victim’s family also revealed that Corey Jones, 31, was shot three times by the officer, Nouman Raja, during their fateful encounter in the early hours of Sunday morning near the I-95 in Palm Beach Gardens.

Corey Jones shooting: officer involved had previous suspension threat Read more

Jones, who had a legal permit for a concealed weapon, did not fire his gun at all, attorney Benjamin Crump said.

“How did Corey know that this was a police officer? Why didn’t he identify himself? Why didn’t he show the badge?” Crump said at an emotional press conference at Palm Beach courthouse on Thursday morning attended by members of Jones’s family.

“He rolls up on him in an unmarked white van with tinted windows. He doesn’t know if he’s about to get mugged, if he’s about to get robbed, or he’s about to be killed. Imagine yourself on the side of the road at three in the morning and an unmarked van rolls up on you.”

Stephen Stepp, the chief of Palm Beach Gardens police department, told reporters on Tuesday that Raja, 38, who was on duty in civilian clothes and driving an unmarked van, pulled up behind what he thought was an abandoned vehicle and was then confronted by Jones who was waving a gun.

“As the officer exited his vehicle, he was suddenly confronted by an armed subject,” Stepp said. “As a result of the confrontation, the officer discharged his firearm, resulting in the death of Mr Corey Jones.”

But Jones’s brother Clinton Jones, a former professional football player, told Thursday’s press conference it would be totally out of character for his brother – a man whose passion was playing drums in a touring church band – to confront an officer, especially with a weapon.

“He was the kindest, the closest, the happiest person anybody could imagine,” Jones said.

“I knew everything about my brother. We know that he would not ever, ever, ever pull a gun on police. This is not like him.”

Jones’s father, also called Clinton and church minister, wept as he recalled his son. “I raised my children to be respectable and to respect the law,” he said. “I always tell them to stay humble. I need answers. I need to know why is my son gone today.”

Dave Aronberg announced on Wednesday that his office would look into Jones’s death in partnership with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, at the request of governor Rick Scott.

“As state attorney my office is conducting an independent and thorough investigation, as we do in all officer-involved shooting deaths,” he said in a statement.

“We intend to fulfill our responsibilities of fairness and transparency under the law and to the community.”

A separate investigation is also under way by the Palm Beach County sheriff’s office. Officer Raja, meanwhile, remains on paid administrative leave.

Raja previously had been reprimanded by his commanders at a different police department for being “derelict in the performance of his duties” by repeatedly mishandling evidence and paperwork, according to his disciplinary file. He was found holding on to prescription drugs that he seized from a suspect and threatened with suspension.

Crump added that while no preliminary autopsy report had yet been received, he was able to say that Jones was shot three times, and there were five holes in his body representing entrance and exit wounds.

“One bullet came in through the side of his body, through his aorta and lodged in the upper side of his body,” he said.

He said the family also had questions about where Jones fell after he was shot. “At some point Corey was running away. His body was found 80 to 100ft away from where they initially met at the car,” Crump said.

“There are so many unanswered questions. It’s hard to understand because it makes no sense to them and it makes no sense to me.”

Jon Swaine contributed to reporting from New York.