COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - The mother of a young black man shot to death by a white man in Mid-Missouri said Thursday she'll ask the Justice Department to investigate after the local prosecutor decided not to file charges.
Brandon Coleman, a 25-year-old groundskeeper at the University of Missouri, was killed May 19 following a confrontation in Columbia. No arrest was ever made, and Boone County prosecutor Dan Knight announced Wednesday that the shooting was "legally justified" under the state's self-defense laws and that he wouldn't file charges.
The case has stirred racial tension in Columbia, but generated little publicity outside of Mid-Missouri. About 25 people attended an NAACP-organized rally Wednesday after Knight's decision was announced.
Coleman's mother, Winona Coleman-Broadus, believes racial prejudice played a role in the decision.
"It is a concern that we have unfair and unjust law enforcement here and African-American people are not getting a fair shake," Coleman-Broadus said. "If this was a black man shooting a white man, this would have been handled totally differently."
Knight disagreed and said he looked at evidence that included police reports, visits to the scene of the shooting and witness statements.
"In this case, just like all cases I have ever handled, I based my decision on the evidence, the law and my ethical responsibilities as a prosecutor, and not on the race or races of the people involved," Knight said.
Coleman family attorney David Tyson Smith questions whether a hate crime was committed, noting that racial comments were exchanged prior to the shooting.
Coleman died during a confrontation outside the shooter's home. A statement released by Knight on Wednesday indicated that the shooter's father brandished a large knife and Coleman pointed a .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun at the older man.
Knight determined that the shooter fired at Coleman out of fear that his father would be shot. Coleman died of blood loss after suffering three gunshot wounds.
Coleman-Broadus said her son was simply defending himself by pointing the gun at a man who she said waved the knife at him twice.
"My son was retreating," Coleman-Broadus said.
But Knight, in his statement, said Coleman "was an initial aggressor in the confrontation" and was not acting in self-defense or defense of others when he displayed his gun.