Family Of Melvin Jay Calls For Justice After Bodycam Video Released

Melvin Jay’s family is demanding justice after he was fatally shot in his home by Prince George County (MD) Department officer Braxton Shelton on Feb. 1.

The family, DC News Now reports, plans to file a civil suit.

Shelton responded to a break-in at Jay’s apartment complex, but was not informed by the dispatcher that anyone was inside. Shelton allegedly ordered Jay to put his hands up. The 31-year-old reportedly complied before Shelton shot and killed him.

PGCD officials say that Jay had a gun inside his pocket when he was shot, and another was located by the sink.

District 7 county Councilmember Krystal Oriadha told the outlet that Jay should not have been killed. “We have to make sure that this incident doesn’t happen in vain and someone learns from this so that a moment like this doesn’t happen again,” Oriadha said. “No matter the circumstances, he did not have to die.”

Jay’s family held a press conference March 6 at A Clarke Law in conjunction with the advocacy group Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, where they called for Jay to receive justice.

The pain we feel is immeasurable,” said Leonard Lee Jr., Jay’s cousin. “And the questions swirling in our minds are endless. Our grief is raw, our anger is justified, and our resolve is unwavering.”

“We’re always told, ‘Think before you act and react so you won’t regret your decision,” Jade Mathis, the Jay family’s attorney, said in a statement. “Or ‘make a decision that cannot be repaired.’ That rule should not be an exception just because you’re wearing a uniform or a badge.”

Shelton has been on paid leave ever since the incident occurred.

As Fox 5 DC reported, following the release of the bodycam video, the family has been relentlessly calling for justice. An unnamed cousin told the outlet, “We are hurt. We are just tormented by the video, the fact that we cannot hear him, hug him, say ‘I love you,’ it’s just devastating to all of us,” Jay’s cousin told Shomari Stone. “We seek justice. We are going to allow this to unfold, allow the truth to come out, you know, and seek justice for my cousin. Because he deserves it. He did not deserve what happened to him.”

Attorney Andrew Clark, who is representing the family of Jay in a yet to be filed civil suit, told Fox 5, “For compliance to happen, and for you still to be shot, what kind of world are we living in here today? Melvin Jay did not deserve to die.”

Clark continued, “Well, I ask you to sit in your home, on your cozy couch, and have somebody that you don’t know that is coming into your house, barge into your house, and start making commands to you, and see how you react to that.”

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