Prosecutors in North Carolina are seeking a second grand jury to indict a police officer who shot an unarmed black man to death in September, Al Jazeera America reported.
Last week, the Mecklenburg County Grand Jury did not indict Officer Randall Kerrick for voluntary manslaughter after fatally shooting 24-year-old Jonathan Ferrell and recommended that charges be reduced.
Kerrick was one of the few officers responding to a 911 call about a possible burglary after a homeowner heard Ferrell knocking loudly on the front door. Ferrell had just been in a car accident and is believed to have been seeking help. Once officers approached the home, Ferrell began running toward them, prompting Kerrick to fire his gun ten times.
Ferrell, a former college football player at Florida A&M University, died at the scene.
The shooting stunned people across the United States, specifically civil rights activists that argue police are took quick to use excessive force on young black men. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department arrested Kerrick and charged him with voluntary manslaughter immediately following the incident.
However, jurors did not agree with the charges after hearing evidence.
"We the Grand Jury respectfully request that the district attorney submit a bill of indictment to a lesser-included or related offense," the jury said in a handwritten note to the court on Jan. 21.
The district attorney in Mecklenburg County requested special prosecutors from the state's attorney general's office to assist the case as they move foward with the case.
"In the interest of justice, we will resubmit this case to the grand jury scheduled to meet Monday, January 27 to seek an indictment for voluntary manslaughter, the most appropriate charge given the facts in this case," Attorney General Ray Cooper said in a statement.
