Des Moines police footage in 16-year-old’s fatal shooting won’t be public, panel rules

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Footage from body cameras Des Moines police officers were wearing when they shot and killed a 16-year-old boy will not be made public, a state panel has ruled.

The Iowa Public Information Board ruled May 18 that video of the shooting should be withheld, dismissing a complaint filed by Des Moines TV station KCCI that sought to have the video released.

Trevontay Jenkins was killed in the Dec. 26 shooting in an apartment.

Prosecutors have linked his death to a Jan. 23 shooting at the Starts Right Here alternative school in Des Moines that left two teenagers dead and the program’s founder injured.

Disparaging comments about Jenkins surfaced online following the police shooting, which prosecutors say led Jenkin’s half brother and another teen to kill 16-year-old Rashad Carr and 18-year-old Gionni Dameron.

Bravon Tukes, 19, and Preston Walls, 18, have been charged with first-degree murder and other counts for the killings. The two will be tried separately later this year.

The Iowa Public Information board dismissed the complaint filed by KCCI-TV reporter James Stratton on the basis of Iowa’s juvenile records law, according to the station. City attorneys had previously denied the station’s records request filed with the Des Moines Police Department.

Stratton argued the video should be released because Jenkins did not enter the criminal justice system, and said the department could remove identifying information from the video, according to the Des Moines Register.

Three police officers fired more than a dozen times, after the boy allegedly pointed a gun at them. Officers were dispatched to the home to respond to a domestic dispute and have said they tried unsuccessfully to de-escalate the situation.

The Iowa Attorney General’s office determined the officers “acted with legal justification.”