Therefore, Officer Raja, a probationary employee with the city, has been terminated from employment effective Wednesday, November 11, 2015, at 5 p.m.
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The criminal investigation into the October 18 shooting is ongoing.
Details of exactly what happened have not been released by police. Raja was on duty but was wearing civilian clothing and driving an unmarked auto.
The death of the 31-year-old Jones is the latest fatal incident across the country involving police and black men.
Whitely on Thursday said the city still “must answer for the multiple failures” that led to Raja shooting Jones.
Palm Beach Gardens police fired officer Nouman Raja almost a month after he shot and killed Corey Jones on a highway off ramp.
“Through all of the sorrow and pain that accompanied Corey’s death, our family is encouraged by the multitude of well-wishers who have reached out to us during this hard time”, the Jones family said Thursday. “We need to start understanding that there’s a lot more preparation necessary in order for them to handle high-pressure situations day after day”.
Police Benevolent Association President John Kazanjian said Stepp and the assistant police chief went to Raja’s house this morning and told him he was being fired.
Jones’ family’s lawyer, Benjamin Crump, claims that, according to Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg, Jones never fired his weapon that night, while he himself was shot at several times.
It came after his devastated family members gathered at rallies to protest the shooting and demanded justice for Jones and transparency in the investigation. Jones did not fire back. His body was found 80 to 100 feet from his vehicle. In a report, Raja said he failed to turn in the morphine due to “work-related issues” and failed to file other reports as well. That first gun was later stolen, so Jones bought another gun by making monthly payments, she said.
The attorneys said Jones had five wounds – a few of them exit wounds- and one shot broke his arm.
“All lives matter. This is not a black thing”, he said before introducing his wife, who is white.
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Otherwise, he said, officers can “make grave mistakes and someone ends up going to their grave”.
