A 23-year-old man from North Carolina is still in urgent care after being shot several times on August 22 when he went to his neighbor’s front door to pray with them.
Authorities have named the neighbor as 72-year-old white man William Griffin. He has not been charged because he said he shot black 23-year-old Jadyn McNeill because he thought she was trying to break into his Rockingham home.
Several news outlets cited the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office to say that the killing is still being looked into and will be looked at by the district attorney.
There are no signs that the shooter and the victim knew each other before the incident.
Eight years ago, McNeill lived across the street from the man and knocked on Griffin’s door to give him a spiritual blessing. That’s when he was shot five times through Griffin’s front door.
McNeill said Griffin didn’t not know his son because Griffin and McNeill had lived next door to each other for almost ten years.
“[Jadyn] would read his Bible here in the driveway a lot,” he said. “He just strolled up and down the drive.”
The State Bureau of Investigation and the sheriff’s office are working together to decide if charges will be brought.
The lawyers for the McNeil family have been putting pressure on the sheriff’s office to file charges since the shooting.
Harry Daniels and Carnell Johnson, the lawyers, said that this case was similar to high-profile cases in Missouri and Florida where young men were shot through a door in similar situations.
In a press release, Daniels said, “The simple fact is that the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office arrived at a scene where a white man, who was still armed, had shot and killed a young Black man through his door and did nothing.”
“Now they want us to believe that the victim, who has never been in trouble with the law, decided that day to break into his neighbor’s house while the neighbor was home and not wearing shoes.”
The lawyers also say that Griffin’s father said the deputy did not tell Griffin to put down his guns, draw his own gun, or arrest Griffin.
Johnson said, “Imagine going to a crime scene where one man is waving a gun and another is bleeding out in the front yard.” “If the races were switched, I promise you Griffin would be in jail right now.”
Daniels agreed with this point of view.
“That’s not just crazy. “It’s rude,” Daniels said. “Jadyn McNeill is fighting for his life in intensive care, but the person who shot him is still free.” He should get more than this.
Griffin’s decision to pull out his gun after a simple knock at the door left McNeill in critical condition, and his family is still trying to figure out why he did it.
His father, Charles McNeill, said, “He was shot seven times, but he was only hit five.” “This is the person who lives across the street from me.”
The father McNeil said that his son was shot during the day when he went to the man’s door to pray with him.
At that moment, a hail of shots went through their front door and hit Jadyn McNeill in the hand, arm, chest, and stomach.
“He is aware.” “That young man is strong,” McNeill said. “He had in mind to try to spread the good news.”
People in the news said that McNeill tried to stop the fight when he saw his son put up his hands. “When I got across the street to my son, he was still standing there with his hands up to this guy.”
The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office has since denied his story, saying on Facebook that the homeowner thought Jadyn, who has never been in trouble with the law, was trying to break in, even after the first shots were fired.
“Based on what we know, he knocks on the door,” said lawyer Johnson. “The family said that no one kicked or tried to break down the door.”
A statement from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office the day after the shooting said that a neighbor on McDonald Church Road had called the police to report an attempted break-in.
Before deputies got there, the caller allegedly told the 911 Center that the homeowner had already fired several shots to scare off the person at the door and kept shooting when the person didn’t leave.
The first officer to arrive at the scene saw that McNeill was hurt and gave him first aid right away.
The police report says that McNeill’s father arrived around the same time as the officer and saw his son bleeding in the front yard while Griffin was waving two guns around.
Jadyn McNeil was last said to be in stable health, but he is still in the ICU.