White officer charged in shooting of black teen

EAST PITTSBURGH, Pa. — A white police officer was charged Wednesday with homicide in the shooting of an unarmed black teenager who was hit in the back while fleeing a traffic stop, a death that has fueled daily protests around Pittsburgh.

Prosecutors cited officer Michael Rosfeld’s inconsistent statements about whether he saw a gun in the teen’s hand.

The East Pittsburgh officer first told investigators that the teen turned his hand toward him when he ran from the car and that the officer “saw something dark he perceived as a gun,” according to the criminal complaint.

During a second recap of last week’s shooting, Rosfeld told investigators he did not see a gun and was not sure if the teen’s arm was pointed at him when he fired at 17-year-old Antwon Rose Jr.

The 30-year-old officer had been sworn in just hours before the June 19 shooting after working at the police department for a couple of weeks. He turned Rosfeld himself in and was released on $250,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court July 6.

Criminal homicide is a broad category that includes manslaughter and murder. Pennsylvania prosecutors typically specify what subsection of homicide they will pursue later in the case.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala said his office planned to ask a jury to consider the highest charge of firstdegree murder. He argued against releasing Rosfeld on bail.

“You do not shoot someone in the back if they are not a threat to you,” Zappala said.

The car Rose was in had been stopped on suspicion of involvement in a drive-by shooting. But investigators determined Rose had done nothing “except be in the car,” he said.

Two guns were found in the car, and an empty gun magazine was found in Rose’s pocket, investigators said.

Zappala said witnesses described Rose as showing his hands before the shooting, stressing that he did not have a weapon.

Rosfeld has been on administrative leave since the shooting.

The charge against Rosfeld comes a day after authorities arrested the second teen. That teen was identified Wednesday as Zaijuan Hester, who was charged with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a minor and other offenses in connection with the drive-by attack.

Rosfeld, of suburban Penn Hills, had worked at several other police departments during the past seven years.

MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police will release body camera footage of the fatal shooting of a black man “in the near future,” the city’s mayor said, after community activists called for greater transparency and demonstrators again took to the streets in a city with a history of high-profile police shootings.

Thurman Blevins Jr., 31, was shot and killed Saturday after Officers Ryan Kelly and Justin Schmidt pursued him on foot for several blocks and into a north Minneapolis alley. Investigators said Kelly and Ryan were responding to at least one report of a man firing a handgun.

The head of the police union has said Blevins ignored commands to drop the gun and pulled it out before the officers fired.