The FBI will investigate the shooting of a young black man in Columbia after the local prosecutor declined to press charges.
Twenty-five-year-old Brandon Coleman, a groundskeeper at the University of Missouri, was shot to death by a white man May 19 after a confrontation in Columbia. Boone County prosecutor Dan Knight announced Wednesday that he wouldn't file charges, saying the shooting was "legally justified" under the state's self-defense laws.
“Brandon Coleman illegally pointed his loaded handgun at Rolland Deacon’s head and threatened to kill him,” he says. “Dustin Deacon then shot Brandon Coleman in lawful defense of his father.”
Coleman's mother sought the federal investigation because she believes racial prejudice played a role in Knight's decision.
Don Ledford, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri, told The Columbia Daily Tribune that the FBI will investigate and work with Dickinson's office and the Department of Justice to determine if federal charges will be filed.
