The FBI Columbia Field Office, the U.S. attorney for South Carolina and the Department of Justice Civil Right Division will participate in the investigation into Zachary Hammond’s death, according to a DOJ release.
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According to the Seneca Police Department, Tiller shot Hammond through an open window because he believed the teen was operating his vehicle in a threatening manner. “We’re just trying to find answers”.
Hammond’s mother, Angie, said, “Not only are we grieving that our son is gone, we don’t know why it happened or what happened”.
“Our son deserves that, and we deserve that as a family”, father Paul said.
According to the Post and Courier newspaper, Hammond and the woman were on a first date and eating ice cream on the night of the shooting.
Police say Hammond had driven a 23-year-old woman to the parking lot to buy marijuana from an undercover cop, the AP said.
Hammond first backed up toward Tiller’s auto, and then gunned his Honda Civic at the veteran officer, an attorney for Tiller claimed.
The officer opened fire – in self-defense, police say – after the unarmed teen accelerated and drove toward the officer.
An earlier autopsy by the Oconee County Coroner found the bullets lodged in the chest and shoulder but didn’t make any conclusions about the direction they traveled.
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Hammond wasn’t armed or even a target of the sting when he was shot, a lawyer for the family said.
