Family of Brandon Webber ‘disappointed, but not surprised’ that no charges will be filed in his death

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Brandon Webber’s mother and her lawyer met with Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich for about 30 minutes before Friday’s news conference. Attorney Jake Brown told WMC Action News 5 they are “disappointed, but not surprised” that no charges will be filed against the officers who killed Webber.

“Neither the DAG’s office or the TBI have spoken to any of the witnesses that our investigator has spoken to,” said Brown. “That would be the citizens, neighbors who were on the front porch or in the yard at the very time this happened.”

Brandon’s family filed a $25 million lawsuit in U.S. District Court on June 12, on the one-year anniversary of Webber’s death, alleging the officers shot Webber as he sat peacefully in a car in his mother’s driveway in Frayser.

Brown said witnesses in the neighborhood told their investigators that Brandon never threatened anyone when the U.S. Marshals-Gulf Coast Regional-Fugitive Task Force arrived.

“They rammed him,” said Brown. “And got out of their cars without announcing themselves and opened fire with high-powered rifles.”

Brown said Webber didn’t point a gun at officers, as the TBI investigation says he did. Two autopsies, he said, one by the local medical examiner, and one by a private doctor in New York, suggest Brandon’s hands were extended in front of him.

“Both doctors say they were gunshot wounds consistent with the victim having held up his hands in front of him with the palms facing out,” said Brown. “There are bullet trajectories going in through the front palm and out through the back the hand and down thru the forearm.”

Brown said their investigation shows the victim in Mississippi that Brandon was accused of shooting and stealing a car from, the crime that triggered the warrant for his arrest, that victim, said Brown, has gang connections and is related to a member of law enforcement.

“We have very good reason to believe the individual Brandon is accused of shooting has a relative,” said Brown. “A close relative in law-enforcement. He’s a member of either the Oxford or Grenada Police Department. And that is more significant than it might seem at first.”

The U.S. Marshals Task Force sent to arrest Webber was made up of federal and local officers. Most, said Brown, were from Mississippi police departments, primarily the Oxford Police Department.

“We are taking a very had look at that,” Brown said. “Because that is the theory that we’re working on for why these agents showed up and shot him like they did.”

The federal lawsuit names five officers who fired their weapons, including officers from Oxford P.D. and Brown says they’re still waiting to find out the identities of other officers on the scene.

“We intend to go through the TBI’s report with a fine-tooth comb and see if it actually supports the story that they put out there. We know the autopsy doesn’t,” he said.

Brown said Jay Z’s Roc Nation is helping the Webber family by paying for some of the investigative services in the case.

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