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(Trends Wide) — Three Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania, police officers were charged Tuesday in connection with the shooting death of 8-year-old Fanta Bility as she left a high school football game on Aug. 27, 2021, prosecutors said. .
Officers Devon Smith, Sean Dolan and Brian Devaney were each charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter, one count of involuntary manslaughter, as well as 10 counts of reckless endangerment, according to criminal complaints.
Charges of involuntary manslaughter were “appropriate” in this case rather than manslaughter with disregard for life because there was no evidence of malice, according to a news release from Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer’s office.
Trends Wide has contacted the three officers and their attorneys, as well as the Sharon Hill Police Department, for comment.
The incident occurred when two teenagers, Angelo “AJ” Ford and Hasein Strand, opened fire in a dispute outside a suburban Philadelphia high school football game, according to the complaint. In response to the shots, the three officers who were guarding the exit of the football match at the time discharged their weapons at a vehicle that was driving on the street between the officers and the football stadium and the spectators leaving the match.
The officers’ shots hit four people as they were leaving, including Bility, whose injuries were fatal, according to the reports. The officers’ shots hit a car driven by two girls who were going to the soccer game and the vehicle had nothing to do with the original altercation between Ford and Strand, according to the complaints.
Investigators recovered a total of 25 9mm shell casings in the area where the officers fired their weapons, with ballistic evidence matching the officers’ service weapons, according to the complaint.
Stollsteimer also announced Tuesday that he has ordered his office to drop murder charges against Ford and Strand, the two teenagers, for their role in Bility’s death. Such charges had been brought up earlier in the investigation.
“While I believe these defendants must be held accountable for initiating the series of events that ultimately led to Fanta Bility’s death, the evolution of the grand jury investigation makes it appropriate to drop these charges at this time,” Stollsteimer said. in the statement.
Strand pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a firearm for his role in the Aug. 27 events. Strand will serve a prison term of 32 to 64 months and remain under judicial supervision until 2030, according to the terms of his agreement, the statement from the prosecutor’s office said.
Ford still faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault and weapons possession, according to the district attorney’s office.
Trends Wide has contacted the public defender representing Ford and Strand for comment.
“From the moment the call was received on August 27, my team of investigators and prosecutors have worked tirelessly to pursue justice for Fanta and the other victims of that tragic night. Today’s charges are a major step forward in that process.” Stollsteimer said in the statement.
“I am convinced that the prosecutor’s office and the grand jury did exactly what they were supposed to do,” Bility family attorney Bruce L. Castor said in a statement to Trends Wide on Tuesday. “I am very pleased with the way the DA’s office handled the case and the Bility family is equally very impressed.”
According to the prosecutor’s office, bail has been set at $500,000 for each defendant and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for January 27, 2022, in Springfield District Court.
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