Three members of a small Pennsylvania borough’s police department have been charged in the shooting death of an 8-year-old girl killed during a melee at a high school football game last August, KYW CBS-3 Philadelphia reports.
Sharon Hill police officers Devon Smith, Sean Dolan and Brian Devaney are each charged with 12 counts of manslaughter and reckless endangerment in connection to the death of 8-year-old Fanta Bility, plus the wounding of three others, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Tuesday.
The shooting happened at a local high school football game between Academy Park-Pennsbury football game August 27 when 18-year-old Hasein Strand and 16-year-old Angelo “AJ” Ford got into a confrontation that ultimately led to the two shooting at each other. The three officers, who were working the gate as security, ran to the fight and started firing, discharging a total of 25 shots. Strand and Ford were not injured.
Police originally charged Strand and Ford for Bility’s murder, but those charges were dropped, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Tuesday. “These officers made a split-second decision to return fire. We trust them to get that decision right and they got it horribly wrong,” Stollsteimer said.