According to a new federal lawsuit, an Alabama teenager was asleep in his childhood bedroom when a police SWAT team “rammed down” the front door of his family’s home and fatally shot him.
Randall Adjessom was left bleeding out in the hallway for more than four minutes during an unauthorized “no-knock” raid by the Mobile Police Department before sunrise on November 13, 2023, according to the lawsuit.
According to a complaint filed Dec. 18, the 16-year-old was awakened by officers entering his home and breaking a living room window without his knowledge.
He got out of bed, grabbed a gun, and left his room “to protect his mother, grandmother, aunt, and sisters from the unknown intruders breaching his childhood home,” according to the complaint.
When Adjessom rounded a corner and saw officers in the hallway, he immediately raised his hands and began backing away, toward his bedroom, according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, one of the officers shot him four times, hitting him in the chest and torso.
According to Adjessom’s family’s legal counsel, who has reviewed the unreleased police body camera footage, he had his hands raised and did not pose a threat.
According to the complaint, the raid was conducted to find marijuana “purportedly possessed by Randall’s older brother,” who did not live there.
The officers did not have court permission to search the home before dawn, according to the complaint. In a news release issued on December 23, Grant & Eisenhofer, the law firm representing Adjessom’s family, stated that the raid was racially motivated.
“I still can’t believe Randall’s gone, and that this is another holiday season with nothing to celebrate,” his mother, Akouvi Adjessom, said in a statement.
“But we have love in our hearts and love for Mobile, and know the vast majority of people in our city want what we want: to be treated fairly, equally and with respect by our police,” the father’s relatives said.
The lawsuit names the city of Mobile and several Mobile police officers who have not been identified.
The Mobile Police Department declined to comment on pending litigation, according to a public information officer who spoke with McClatchy News on December 24. The city has also declined to comment.
In a statement on the lawsuit, the family’s civil rights attorneys, Elizabeth A. Bailey, Cynthia B. Morgan, and Steven A. Medina, said:
“The complaint is replete with revelations from our pre-suit investigation, perhaps none more repulsive than the fact that MPD body-worn camera (BWC) video of the shooting clearly shows Randall begin to retreat after realizing the intruders into his family home were members of the police force when he was repeatedly shot and killed in cold blood.”
Police didn’t tell family teen was shot
According to the complaint, Randall Adjessom never attempted to shoot the police officers he encountered in the hallway.
As he began to raise his hands and retreat while holding a gun with a laser sight, the laser shifted “from pointing in front of him at the police officers to the wall,” according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, one officer attempted to shoot his gun, but it malfunctioned and he fell to the ground.
The complaint alleges that another officer shot Adjessom four times.
“(Body worn camera) reveals that his body writhed with the pain from his injuries, but Defendant Police Officers did not immediately render medical aid,” the allegation states.
According to the complaint, body camera footage shows an officer saying, “What are we going to do with this,” referring to Adjessom.
Instead of providing medical assistance, the officers detained Adjessom’s family members in a room on the first floor and failed to inform them that the teen had been shot, according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, his mother did not learn of his death until hours later, when she was being questioned at a police station and officers showed her a photo of him dead or dying.
The officers began to render aid after Adjessom had been bleeding in the hallway for more than four minutes, according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, he was taken to a hospital about 40 minutes after being shot and died there. The hospital was approximately 8 minutes away from his home.
The Mobile Police Department is accused of a “systemic pattern of using excessive force against citizens of color; in particular, young Black boys and men,” according to the news release.
The lawsuit requests a jury trial and seeks unspecified damages.
‘Legacy of love and cherished memories’
Adjessom is survived by his parents, two brothers, and four sisters, according to the obituary.
He’s left “behind a legacy of love and cherished memories” as well as “brought joy and warmth to the lives of those fortunate enough to know him,” according to his tribute.
In her statement, Akouvi Adjessom questioned the role of police in a community.
“They’re supposed to be peace officers, aren’t they?”
“How many more young Black boys like Randall have to be buried following police brutality before the MPD’s legendary culture of unchecked excessive force is finally put to rest,” she asked.
