Church musician Corey Jones was shot and killed by a police officer from the Palm Beach Gardens Police early Sunday morning on Interstate 95's southbound ramp.
Police say Nouman Raja, one of their officers in the department, was on duty while wearing only plain clothes and driving an unmarked car when, at around 3:15 a.m., he came across a vehicle that was seemingly discarded.
Raja claims that an armed man approached him as he exited his vehicle. The officer then shot the armed man, who died moments later. The armed man, police claimed, was Jones himself, according to news station WPTV.
However, Jones's brother, who was not identified, told the news station that his car had broken down while he was on his way home from a music gig. Jones was set to play drums at a church later on the same day.
The incident has left Jones' family and friends on a quest for more answers. "It's some b-s they didn't release everything right when it happened," a childhood friend of Jones said, according to The Root. "So I feel like it's almost a cover up. They're trying to hide something. Corey having a gun I never even heard of him having a gun."
Meanwhile, the police department is receiving death threats after the fatal shooting, with Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association head John Kazanjian criticizing the department for staying quiet.
"We don't want another Ferguson. They need to get out there and address the public...chief, get out there and tell the public what is going on," Kazanjian said, the New York Daily News reported.
