Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg told reporters at a press conference that his office was charging Raja with one count of manslaughter by culpable negligence and one count of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm.
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The former cop who fatally shot a popular musician along a Florida highway last fall was granted $250,000 bond Thursday but ordered to remain on house arrest.
A grand jury indicted former Palm Beach Gardens police officer Nouman Raja in the shooting death of Corey Jones, a popular drummer who was killed on the side of the road after his vehicle had broken down.
Raja was on a burglary detail and in street clothes when he came upon Jones, whose vehicle had broken down on a highway off-ramp early one Sunday morning in October.
Raja’s attorney, Richard Lubin, did not immediately respond to phone calls or email.
His family and lawyers have insisted he would not have had his gun out as Raja approached if he had identified himself as a police officer or shown a badge. The operator answered 33 seconds after the last shot was sacked, according to charging documents, and Raja yelled at someone to drop the gun to make it appear that Jones was still armed, according to the documents. Raja shot Jones “as a result of the confrontation”, police said, killing him.
Raja, 38, was sacked shortly after the shooting. And Raja repeats his demand. Ten seconds of silence then pass before three more shots, each fired about one second apart, are heard.
At a news conference Thursday after the ex-officer’s hearing, an attorney for Jones’ family said the tow truck recording is crucial evidence in the case.
According to the investigation, Raja had left his department-issued duty firearm in a holster in a auto.
Raja had been told by his supervisor to wear his tactical vest with police markings on it while working the assignment, but his vest and police radio were on the van’s floorboard next the driver’s seat when the shooting occurred, the affidavit said.
Raja told the dispatcher he shot the man and that he had been “hit”, meaning shot “at least three to four times”, according to the affidavit.
Jones had a license to carry a firearm and had purchased the gun days prior to the shooting. The safety on Jones’ chrome.380 handgun was still on when the gun was found.
The officer used his personal cellphone to call 911 after the shooting, providing his version of what happened. Convicting a police officer for an on-duty killing hasn’t happened in Florida in almost three decades, in part because officers are given wide latitude to protect themselves from perceived danger. Both men apparently pulled guns on each other, but Raja was the only person to fire his weapon, shooting six shots, striking Jones three times.
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The family and their lawyers praised the good police in the system and spoke to their desire to see Raja held to the highest standard possible for taking Jones’ life in what they said was an unprovoked intention to kill.
