Nebraska prosecutors said an Omaha bar owner who shot and killed a George Floyd protester acted in self-defense and will not be charged, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said that 22-year-old protestor James Scurlock, who is black, jumped on the back of Jake Gardner, who is white, and began choking him after the owner of the side-by-side Gatsby and Hive bars fired two warning shots into the air on Saturday when demonstrators tackled him as he tried to back up from the confrontation.
Relying on numerous videos of the incident and eyewitness testimonies, Klein told KMTB News that Gardner, who has a legal gun permit, “has said ‘I did what I did to defend myself’ and we find that we can’t disprove that from the evidence that we have.”
Kleine added to the World-Herald that he and Omaha police spent some 12 hours reviewing numerous video and interviews, and that “There was a consensus that the actions of the shooter were justified. We certainly wish that none of this would have happened. It’s a senseless death.”
Scurlock’s father, James Scurlock II, disagreed with the decision and said much more video exists of the incident. He insisted that “What I want is justice. This was a quick answer.”
The attorney representing the Scurlock family, Nebraska State Sen. Justin Wayne, said he was disappointed by the decision and requested that Kleine turn the case over to a grand jury.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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