GULFPORT, Miss — Gulfport Police say a suspect who was shot by a police officer had a weapon at the time he was shot.
Jaheim McMillian's family and the community rallied outside police headquarters calling for justice, handing out flyers of the 15-year-old. Balloons were placed outside Family Dollar in his memory.
"This rally is about getting the correct footage, we want to see what happened, for Gulfport Police Department to release the video," protestor Reginald Virgil said.
The teen died after being shot by a police officer, and now protestors are calling for transparency.
"We're just trying to get the truth, and the truth is on the footage police body cam and family dollar," Virgil said.
The incident happened on the 6th of October, outside the Family Dollar on Pass Road in Gulfport. Police say stories swirling on social media are wrong.
"[They] began brandishing firearms at passing motorists and began chasing one of them," Chief Adam Cooper said. "Two officers in two separate marked units entered the parking lot behind the vehicle. Immediately two individuals exited the vehicle and started to flee...giving them instruction to stop fleeing. One of the officers noticed McMillian was armed and gave orders for him to stop and drop his weapon. McMillian did not comply. McMillian turned his body and weapon towards the officer and the officer fired at McMillian."
Mary Spivery's son is one of the other four teens in custody, she said the boys are going to be tried as adults.
"My son was arrested on aggravated assault, two counts and a $500,000 bond," she said.
She told Eyewitness News, she knows her son would never do something that would land him such a serious charge.
"I want some answers, I want some justice, I want my son released and the other three too. I want justice for Jaheim."
Videos from that night are gaining attention on social media. One video shows an interaction between Jaheim's mother Katrina Mateen and an officer outside a Mobile hospital where he was airlifted.
Meantime, Chief Cooper says he's frustrated by a separate post online.
"People are posting and identifying our officer Lt. Brian Watson as the officer that was involved in this incident, along with the address, photographs of him and his family and his children. Let me just say this, he has nothing to do with this, he was out of state when this occurred," Cooper said.
Chief Cooper says all dash cam and body camera footage has been turned into the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) as they are leading this investigation.