US cop guilty of killing teen

– A Texas jury yesterday found a white police officer guilty of murder for the shooting to death of a 15-year-old African American boy – a rare conviction result in a high-profile police shooting case.

Roy Oliver had fired five bullets into a car full of teens last year, killing Jordan Edwards while responding to a call of underage drinking at a party in Dallas.

The unarmed Edwards and four others were leaving the party after hearing gunfire, which had come from another nearby location. Oliver fired a rifle into the car, hitting the teen in the head.

The jury deliberated for two days before returning the rare murder conviction of a police officer. They also found the officer, who was reportedly fired from his job, not guilty of two aggravated assault charges.

Similar convictions in high-profile questionable shooting cases have proven mostly elusive, illustrating the difficulty of convicting officers in deadly encounters where split-second decisions are made.

Police originally said Oliver opened fire because the car was backing up aggressively toward him, but the department changed its account after viewing bodycam footage, saying the car was driving away when Edwards was shot. –