Police Shooting Victim's Family Responds To Decision to Clear Officer that Killed 15 Yr. Old Courtney Williams

The family of a 15-year-old boy shot by a Minneapolis police officer and members of a community police oversight group say they can't support a grand jury decision to clear the officer.  The group met with Minneapolis Police Chief William McManus for 21/2 hours and say they still have many unanswered questions about what happened the night Courtney Williams was killed by officer Scott Mars in late October. The officer said he repeatedly yelled for the boy to stop and fired after the boy stopped and raised an arm. He said he heard the boy say he had a gun.  Authorities say a pellet gun that resembled a .45-caliber pistol was found 10 to 15 feet from Williams' body. They say his fingerprint was on the gun.  McManus said he believes the officer was justified in firing the shot.  The boy's family and Relations Council officials want to see a transcript of the grand jury's deliberations and some said grand jury proceedings need to be opened to the public."There's still lots of questions about the three to five minutes that led up to the shooting and then just the chaos that insued afterwards; what really happened?" said Ella Davis Suggs, Williams' aunt. She says the family is still in shock over the shooting.  In fact Suggs says Williams' mother left town for a few days in order to get away from the proceedings surrounding her son's death. Suggs says the family believes the police conducted a thorough investigation. But she says there's more questions to be answered. "The pieces that are still missing, like some of the questions, like the proximity of the shooting. Some of the forensic information. What transpired between the paramedics and the hospital? [more]