The family of Antwon Rose II, the 17-year-old shot three times in the back by an East Pittsburgh Police officer last week, will lay him to rest on Monday.
As CNN reports, protesters have demonstrated in downtown Pittsburgh since Antwon’s shooting on June 19, demanding accountability for Officer Michael Rosfeld, the cop who killed him, who has yet to be charged with anything in relation to the teen’s death.
Rosfeld, who took his oath with the East Pittsburgh Police Department just hours before shooting Antwon (he had served as a cop for seven years on other departments, however), is now on administrative leave.
Protesters chanted, “Three shots in the back, how do you justify that?” according to CNN.
A wake was held on Sunday for Antwon. TribLive, a local news outlet, reports that hundreds of mourners came to pay respects for the Woodland Hills honor student.
“Today has been a particularly difficult day because the finality begins to set in, when you see your son laid out, embalmed and lifeless,” Lee Merritt, who is representing Antwon’s family, told CNN on Sunday. “Tomorrow will be a more difficult day.”
On June 19, East Pittsburgh police pulled over a car believed to have been involved in an earlier shooting. Antwon was a passenger in the car, along with at least one other person.
From CNN:
The officer ordered the driver out of the car and onto the ground, police said. Antwon and another passenger “bolted” from the vehicle, and the East Pittsburgh officer opened fire, striking the teenager, police said.
A 23-year-old female bystander captured the police shooting on video and told ABC it was as though Officer Rosfeld “was taking target practice out on this young man’s back. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t say, ‘Stop running.’ He didn’t say anything.”
On Good Morning America Monday, Antwon’s mother, Michelle Kenney, responded to people who cast blame on her son by saying that he shouldn’t have been in the car that was pulled over by East Pittsburgh police.
“My son is dead. For all those people that say that, their son must be at home,” she said.