Courtney Williams and a group of other kids passed a pellet gun from one to another as they ran from police. It ended up in Williams' hands shortly before he was fatally shot by a Minneapolis police officer early on Oct. 24, a close friend told investigators.
Police made public nearly 200 pages of investigative reports Monday, three days after a grand jury cleared officer Scott Mars in Williams' shooting death.
During a Nov. 16 interview with police, the friend -- who was not named in the documents -- said he, Williams, 15, and a group of other teens encountered a kid with a pellet gun after they left a friend's birthday party Oct. 23. They began running and passing the gun around after somebody said police were coming.
On Monday, police met behind closed doors at the New Beginnings Baptist Tabernacle for 2½ hours with family members and members of the year-old Police Community Relations Council. Using a projected computer presentation, they laid out the investigation into Williams' death.
Williams' aunt said there are still too many unanswered questions to support the ruling.
"We still don't have the big picture," said Ella Davis-Suggs. "I do know that this is a culture that has not had our community's best interests at heart."
Williams was shot in the head and shoulder by Mars shortly after midnight on Oct. 24 as a foot chase ended in the 3000 block of Knox Av. N. in the Jordan neighborhood.
According to Mars' statement, given Oct. 25 and made public Monday, the officer said he repeatedly yelled for the teen to stop. He fired after the boy stopped and he could see that the teen held a chrome handgun near his right thigh.
"The suspect then looked me in the eyes over his left shoulder and spun around, raising the gun toward me, and I believed he was going to shoot me," Mars said.
"At this time I fired two shots at the suspect. I observed the suspect drop to the ground and I saw his gun fly through the air."
Authorities have said a pellet gun that resembled a .45-caliber pistol was found 10 to 15 feet from Williams' body. They have said his fingerprint was on the gun.
According to Williams' friend: "A kid ran back down there and said the police was coming and you better start running. And the BB gun was being passed. The gun was passed to me after we was running and I just passed the gun on because I was scared. I didn't know what to do, so I just passed it on and Courtney grabbed it from me. ... I ran through a different yard than Courtney. I ran right. Courtney ran left. Next thing I heard was two shots," the police documents said.
Police Chief Bill McManus said after the meeting that he believes "Mars' actions at the time of the shooting were justified."
Mars, who has been on desk duty, was scheduled to be back on patrol Monday night, said Sgt. John Delmonico, president of the Police Federation.
Delmonico said he understands the concerns raised by Williams' family and community leaders.
"I just question whether there will ever be enough evidence to satisfy their concerns to where they would agree or understand what happened," Delmonico said.
The Rev. Ian Bethel, co-chair of the Community Relations Council, said the community side of the council, "respectfully agrees to disagree" with the grand jury's conclusion.
Davis-Suggs, the Williams family's designated spokeswoman, said she was also surprised to learn Monday that the gun was located so far -- 10 to 15 feet -- from her nephew's body.
In addition, Davis-Suggs said, there are many smudged fingerprints on the gun. The only readable fingerprint from Williams, she said, was found on the barrel.
"How do you pull a gun on someone and only leave one fingerprint on the barrel?" she asked. "Who holds the barrel of the gun with one finger?"
Davis-Suggs also questioned whether there was any minority representation on the grand jury. She said she had not been given any information about grand jurors, their racial makeup or where they live.
Williams' family and community leaders are seeking a transcript of the testimony to the grand jury. They said they believe that grand jury proceedings need to be open to the public.
"We don't know what evidence was allowed in that room," community leader Spike Moss said. "All of us were scared to death when it went to the grand jury."
Bethel said the council plans to hold two hearings over the next few weeks for citizens to air their concerns.
Davis-Suggs said Williams' mother, Tahisha Brewer, is looking for closure, not necessarily to affix blame.
"The wound is still pretty deep," Davis-Suggs said. "Today, it was like the scab was ripped off."
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