Kansas City, MO. – The Missouri State Highway Patrol has launched an investigation after police repeatedly shot a pregnant woman in a store parking lot on Friday. 

According to a witness who spoke with the Kansas City Star, 26-year-old Leonna Hale had her hands up and told officers she couldn’t get on the ground because she was pregnant moments before the officers shot her. 

The shooting happened around 8 p.m. on Friday in the parking lot of a Family Dollar store in Kansas City, Missouri. According to officials, Kansas City Police officers received a report of a carjacking and the stolen vehicle was spotted in the store’s parking lot. 

When police arrived at the scene, Hale was sitting in the car with a man. Officers suspected Hale and the man had been involved in a carjacking in a neighboring city and ordered them to get out of the vehicle, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.  

According to Shé Danja, a witness who was at the store and recorded  the shooting, the man exited the vehicle and tried to flee the scene. Officers chased him. Shé Danja said when Hale got out of the car she had her hands raised in the air. When officers ordered Hale to get on the ground, Hale told them she couldn’t because she was pregnant. She then ran a few steps away from the officers, who responded by shooting her five times, Shé Danja said. Shé Danja wrote in a post on Facebook that Hale seemed “scared at them all coming towards her with guns in her face.”

“One, two, three, four, five. I remember it because it didn’t stop. They shot five times,” Shé Danja said during a phone interview Saturday with The Star. “I remember seeing her hit the ground and I froze.”

The cell phone footage shows Hale lying on the ground with blood on her shirt as an officer handcuffs her. According to Shé Danja, more than a few minutes went by before officers offered Hale assistance.

It’s unclear whether Hale was armed. Sgt. Andrew Bell of the Highway Patrol told local reporters on Friday that a “suspect” handgun was discovered in the parking lot after the shooting, but he did not specify then whether Hale herself had a weapon. 

Hale was taken to the hospital with serious injuries but was in stable condition as of Friday night, according to Bell. According to the Kansas City Defender, she has a broken arm, a collapsed lung, and bullets lodged in her body.

The shooting remains under investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

@streetmediahype Kansas City Police Department shot an unarmed pregnant black woman 5 times. Then continue to put her in handcuffs #kansascity #viralvideos #viraltiktok #policeshooting #streetmediahype ♬ original sound – streetmediahype

New Orleans, LA – The 2022 graduating class of the all-Black boys high school St. Augustine is celebrating after all 100 of its graduates have been accepted to college. Even more, the class has collectively earned $9.2 million in scholarships. 

A proud parent of one of the graduates posted a video of the class celebrating their achievements on Twitter. The caption read “It’s late but I don’t care. The world deserves to see this black boy joy. Congratulations to THE St. Augustine High School class of 2022. 100% college acceptance. $9.2M in scholarships. Straight out of the 7th ward of New Orleans. Let that make headlines! Dance!”

It’s late but I don’t care. The world deserves to see this black boy joy. Congratulations to THE St. Augustine High School class of 2022. 100% college acceptance. $9.2M in scholarships. Straight out of the 7th ward of New Orleans. Let that make headlines! Dance! 💜💛 pic.twitter.com/ZO9GdfMceI

— ⚜Jeaux⚜ (@Kay_Jeaux) May 19, 2022

“I felt proud about that because young Black men, people usually doubt us and I just appreciate all the money and scholarships,” St. Augustine graduate Tre’Kevin Ellis said. “Everyone worked so hard for it fighting adversity with COVID and Ida.”

St. Augustine High School, located in New Orleans, LA, was founded in 1951 and remains one of the leading educational institutes for Black boys in the state. 

They describe themselves as a “beacon of hope in the world of education for the African American community.” 

Congratulations to the graduating class of 2022!

TITUSVILLE, Fla. – A Florida police officer is out on bond after he was arrested and charged with manslaughter for the deadly shooting of James Lowery in December.

According to investigators, on December 26, 2021 police got a call about a man assaulting a woman in the street. Officer Joshua Payne, 29, was one of several officers who responded to the domestic violence call. 

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) report, when the officers first arrived on the scene they saw a man running away. 

A short time later Payne confronted a man, later identified as James Lowery, whom he thought was the same person who had attacked the woman. Payne and Lowery got into a “physical altercation”, the report says. 

Lowery ran away and Payne tried to stop him with his Taser, but it had no effect. That’s when Payne gave commands for Lowery to stop and get down, according to the report.

Lowery climbed a fence, at which point Payne pulled his firearm and fired both his gun and his Taser at the same time. The officer fired a single bullet, which struck Lowery in the back of the head. He died at the scene. 

Payne surrendered at the Brevard County jail Wednesday morning on a $15,000 bond.

Investigators later discovered that Lowery was not involved in the attack on the woman.

“We’ve always known that James was not involved in the initial call. We knew that because we knew the people who were involved in the initial call and we gave that information to FDLE and to the police department,” said Natalie Jackson, the family attorney.

Payne claimed Lowery looked similar to the suspect and the officer attempted to question him, according to the state attorney.

The FDLE turned over the results of its investigation to the state attorney’s office on May 6. After reviewing the case, the state attorney decided to pursue a manslaughter charge against Payne. 

Well-known civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump is representing Lowery’s family. He released a statement following the announcement of the manslaughter charges:

“We are encouraged by the State Attorney’s decision to file charges against Officer Payne for his deadly actions, but we will not stop fighting until there is a conviction. Officer Payne targeted, stalked, tased, and shot James in the back of the head despite the fact that he wasn’t involved in the case that was being investigated, wasn’t armed, and was in no way threatening the officer. Officer Payne’s actions, as laid out in black and white in the affidavit, were nothing short of criminal.

“Nothing will bring James back to his family and loved ones, but we can bring them a measure of justice by holding Officer Payne accountable. And today’s charges bring us one step closer.”

The family is set to meet with the state attorney Friday to review the evidence against Payne, according to a news release.

No trial date has been set.