Three former members of the Sharon Hill Police Department received five-year probation sentences last week for their role in a shooting near a high school football stadium in suburban Philadelphia in August 2021.
The deputy district attorney said the cops displayed a “horrible amount of recklessness” by shooting 25 times at a car they erroneously thought was connected with gunfire the officers heard nearby.
Fanta Bility, an 8-year-old girl who had come to the Academy Park High School for a school football team, was hit in the back by an officer’s bullet that strayed into the crowd of people leaving the game. Fanta died in her mother’s arms.
Another Bility sister was grazed by a police bullet during the barrage. However, the then-12-year-old was not seriously injured.
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The occupants of the car, who all somehow avoided being hit by the officers’ fire directed at them, had nothing to do with the shooting the officers were reacting to, which was an exchange of gunshots between two teenagers just outside the stadium exit.
After pleading guilty to 10 counts of reckless endangerment, Brian Devaney, Devon Smith, and Sean Dolan will serve 49 months on probation. The sentencing accounts for the 11 months the men have already served on house arrest, according to NBC News.
Each defendant took a plea deal in November 2022, which dismissed their manslaughter charges.
Fanta’s uncle Abu Bility said the family wanted “closure” and didn’t want to go through with a trial.
“The agony we feel constantly reliving the loss of our dear Fanta, who was just 8 years old when she was killed by Sharon Hill police officers, is impossible to describe with words,” Abu Bility said.
“Since her mother and siblings were witnesses to this tragic incident, they will have to live with that trauma…
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