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A 15-year-old teen from Clarksdale, Mississippi, Cornelius McGee Jr., was fatally shot on Monday, May 22, 2023, by a cop, leaving netizens enraged. McGee was fleeing the police officer's house around 4:30 p.m. when the tragic incident occurred, as he (the officer) did not approve of his daughter's relationship with the former.
While the news is not confirmed, many cybernauts believe the father was a former Clarksdale Police Department officer, Andrew Bankhead. According to FOX13, the Mississippi officer had previously told Cornelius McGee he wasn't allowed to come into his home. In an attempt to flee, the 15-year-old was climbing the fence when he was shot in the back.
In her interview with the press, McGee's mother, Jacqueline Rash, stated:
"He ain’t got nothing. Why would you shoot him in his back? With his back turned and him running from you. He’s already out your house. Why shoot him?"
The Clarksdale PD received a call about a residential burglary, and they arrived on the scene around 4:30 p.m. They found the homeowner and one person dead.
Online records for the property and documents with the city of Clarksdale named Andrew Bankhead as the owner, which matched the name of a Clarksdale Police Department employee who resigned on May 10. A LinkedIn page for the man also listed the PD as his employer.
Cornelius McGee's death has netizens fuming demand justice
As news of Cornelius McGee's death spread, internet users were horrified and outraged. They demanded that the shooter be given homicide charges. While the shooter's identity is still unknown, many believe that it did not change the severity of the crime. User@Aplocalypse3DX highlighted this in their tweet, calling it a "murder."
Twitterati also pointed out that Cornelius McGee was just a teenager. They added that his going to meet his girlfriend was something everyone did and did not warrant murder.
User John Steiner pointed to the trend of several cops using their guns too easily in his tweet. He wrote:
"The journalist Elie Mystal had the same observation about what he was taught as a kid, "Their race is cop. That's it."
Here are some more comments seen online:
According to Chief of Police Robbi's interview with USA Today, Clarksdale Police Department handed the investigation of Cornelius McGee's shooting to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation as the incident involved a former CPD cop. The bureau stated that they were actively investigating and, at the time, were not considering the case "an officer-involved shooting."
However, the name of the officer is not yet released.
