FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – Jermaine McBean decided one summer day in 2013 to walk to a pawn shop, buy a pellet gun that looked a lot like a real rifle and stroll down a busy street back to his apartment complex with the gun in plain view. He was likely listening to music through earbud headphones, something he did a lot.
Alarmed by the gun, several motorists dialed 911, worried that the 33-year-old McBean seemed to be acting strangely. Some noted there were children around.
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies quickly arrived, saw McBean at the apartment complex and yelled for him to put the gun down. At first he didn’t react – perhaps he couldn’t hear because of his earbuds – then, as he began to turn around, he was fatally shot by Deputy Peter Peraza.
Now, nearly two years later, a Florida grand jury will investigate the McBean shooting. Homicide detectives have completed their investigation and turned the case over the prosecutors, who will soon present it to the grand jury. It’s not exactly clear when those jurors will get the case, nor why it has taken two years, though in Florida police shooting investigations can often take years to complete.
The McBean shooting generated only modest interest in 2013 but is getting renewed attention because of a wrongful death lawsuit his family filed and the national conversation about how police treat blacks. McBean was black and Peraza is Hispanic.