McNeill
ROCKINGHAM, NC - In a case shockingly similar to recent shootings in Kansas City, MO and Ocala, FL, the family and attorneys for 23-year-old Jadyn McNeill want to know why authorities with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO) still haven’t arrested 72-year-old William Griffin a week after he shot McNeill five times through his door. Now the family has hired renowned national civil rights attorney Harry Daniels and Carnell Johnson to help fight for justice for the young Black man as he continues to fight for his life in a North Carolina hospital.
The attorneys say the case bears disturbing resemblances to two recent shootings where older, white homeowners shot innocent black victims through the door. In Kansas City, MO, an 84-year-old white man, Andrew Lester, shot Black teenager Ralph Yarl in the back of the head last year after Yarl rang his doorbell mistakenly thinking Lester’s house was where he was supposed to pick up his two younger brothers. In Ocala, FL, 60-year-old white woman Susan Lorincz was convicted of manslaughter earlier this month after she shot and killed her Black neighbor, Ajike “AJ” Owens, through her door. Lester was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.
According to the family, Griffin and the McNeills have lived directly across the street from each other for roughly eight years when Jadyn knocked on his neighbor’s front door the morning of Thursday, August 22, to talk and spread his Christian faith. Instead of engaging in conversation, however, Griffin fired seven shots through his door hitting Jadyn five times.
Jadyn’s father, Charles McNeill, arrived on the scene the same time as a RCSO deputy and saw his son standing in the front lawn bleeding from his wounds while Griffin was waving two handguns. According to the father, the deputy never ordered the armed and agitated Griffin to put down his weapons, pulled his own firearm or even placed Griffin in custody. It wasn’t long, however, before the RCSO distributed a release to local media that cast McNeill as a would-be burglar instead of an innocent shooting victim. McNeil has no criminal history.
The case has even caught the attention of National religious and civil rights leader Bishop William Barber II who has issued a statement saying, “The preliminary facts of this case are distrusting. A young man goes to share his faith and is shot five times through the door and there’s no in-depth investigation and no arrest. That means there’s no justice. We join this young man, his family and national civil rights attorney Harry Daniels in demanding action. There must be a full investigation and a proper arrest. “
“The simple fact is that the Richmond County Sheriff's Office arrived at a scene where a white man, who was still armed, had gunned down a young Black man through his door and did nothing,” Daniels said. “Now they want us to believe that the victim, who has no criminal history, all of a sudden decided to break into his neighbor’s house, in broad daylight, while the neighbor was home without wearing any shoes.”
“That’s not just absurd. It’s insulting. Jadyn McNeill is fighting for his life in intensive care while his shooter remains free. He deserves better than this.”
“Imagine arriving at a crime scene where one man is waving a gun and another is bleeding out in the front yard,” said Johnson. “I’ll guarantee you that if the races were reversed, Griffin would be in jail right now.”
