Also it was an assistant U.S attorney.
Fredrick Franklin, an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Omaha, is the one who went for charges after the District Attorney ruled it was self defense.
The special prosecutor, Frederick Franklin, made a statement today.
Special prosecutor: Jake Gardner was waiting in his bar for looters before fatal encounterThe night James Scurlock was shot and killed by bar owner Jake Gardner, Gardner and other people sat inside his downtown bar with a shotgun and three handguns, discussing how they would deal with looters.
Special prosecutor Fred Franklin talked Wednesday about the evidence Omaha police had gathered about the May 30 fatal shooting of Scurlock, 22, by Gardner, 38. The shooting occurred during a night of protests over the May 25 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
A grand jury led by Franklin charged Gardner last week with four felonies: manslaughter, attempted first-degree assault, making terroristic threats and weapon use. Sunday, authorities said, Gardner killed himself in Hillsboro, Oregon.
As he was sitting in the bar, Franklin said, Gardner was texting back and forth with people who were providing reports on what was happening downtown and in the Old Market. As they sat in the darkened bar, Franklin said, Gardner made reference in texts and Facebook messages to looters and how they could be dealt with. One of the conversations dealt with whether the "field of fire" from inside The Hive was clear, Franklin said.
A day before, Franklin noted, President Donald Trump had tweeted a statement that said, in part, “…when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” The tweet came after protesters had burned a police station.
Franklin also noted Gardner’s affinity for the president.
No one tried to go inside the bar, Franklin said, but vandals broke out the bar's windows. It would be understandable that Gardner was frustrated, Franklin said, and "you would imagine he emerged from that business with some anger about what had happened."
When Gardner went outside, Franklin said, the question becomes whether his state of mind was consistent with using deadly force.
Less than 10 minutes after Gardner emerged from the bar, Franklin said, David Gardner, Gardner's father, confronted someone videotaping what was happening in the streets. One thing that can be concluded from looking at the video, Franklin said, is that after David Gardner was knocked down and Jake Gardner started heading toward him, he didn't go to help his father up. (David Gardner already had grabbed a railing and started to get up.) Franklin said Gardner continued to "trot" after the person who knocked his father down.
Gardner, who had a handgun in his waistband, later ended up in the confrontation with Scurlock that ended in Scurlock's death after Scurlock jumped on Gardner's back and Gardner shot Scurlock.
Franklin said he could not disclose any of the testimony that came before the grand jury or identify any witnesses.
"I was saddened and am still saddened about Jake Gardner having taken his own life," Franklin said. The death, he said, "deprived the community to be able to have this evidence play out at trial."
Franklin said he was having lunch Monday with two people “whose insight and wisdom I greatly appreciate. And one of them said to me, 'You know, this is just a ridiculous tragedy. You have two families devastated by the loss of a son or brother or father. But that's what hate produces.' And I share that comment with you because I find it to be profound and apropos as it relates to this entire tragedy."
