Jaheim McMillan

Jaheim McMillan, 15, a Gulfport High School freshman, was shot eight times, including once in the head, by Gulfport, Mississippi Police Officer Kenneth Nassar outside a Family Dollar store on October 6, 2022, after officers responded to reports of teenagers waving guns at passing motorists. Police said McMillan fled, then turned toward Nassar with a weapon, prompting the officer to fire; McMillan was taken off life support two days later. A bystander video that circulated afterward appeared to show him already stopped and raising his hands before the shots were fired, directly contradicting the official account. A Harrison County grand jury found “no criminal conduct” on Nassar's part in February 2023, four months after the shooting. His family and civil rights organizers have since formally asked the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to investigate the case. No one has ever been charged in McMillan's death.

Gulfport, MS · Harrison County

• 2022: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The reported-weapons call, the pursuit, and the shooting, per a 106-page Mississippi Bureau of Investigation report and dash and body camera footage the Mississippi Department of Public Safety released in 2025.
• Gulfport police received a report of several minors inside a car waving guns at passing drivers; officers stopped the vehicle at a Family Dollar, and most occupants fled on foot, including McMillan.
• Police Chief Adam Cooper said McMillan “turned his body and his weapon toward the officer” after being ordered to stop, prompting Officer Kenneth Nassar to fire, striking him eight times including once in the head.
• A bystander video that circulated on social media shortly after the shooting appeared to show McMillan already stopped and raising his hands in the air in the moments before shots were fired, directly contradicting the department's account.
• McMillan was taken off life support on October 8, 2022, two days after the shooting; four other teenagers in the vehicle were separately arrested on aggravated assault charges related to the reported gun-waving.
• The investigation was handled by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation under a state transparency law requiring independent review of officer-involved shootings, and the case was referred to the Mississippi Attorney General's office before being presented to a Harrison County grand jury.
• The Harrison County grand jury announced on February 22, 2023 that it found “no criminal conduct” by Nassar and declined to indict him; dash and body camera footage and the full MBI report were not publicly released until nearly three years after the shooting, in November 2025.
• McMillan's family, represented by civil rights organizers including Black Lives Matter Grassroots, have formally requested that the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division investigate the case following the state grand jury's decision.

• Whether McMillan in fact turned toward Officer Nassar while holding a weapon, as the official account maintained, or whether he had already stopped and raised his hands, as bystander video appeared to show, was never independently resolved at any criminal trial since the grand jury declined to indict.
• Why the dash and body camera footage central to both accounts was withheld from public release for nearly three years after the shooting, despite a state transparency policy requiring release of such footage, has not been fully explained.
• The full reasoning behind the grand jury's “no criminal conduct” finding, beyond the state's brief public statement, has not been made available, as grand jury proceedings are sealed under Mississippi law.

• Mississippi Free Press — “Jaheim McMillan Shooting Video Released, But Officer Not Indicted”
• WLOX — “Grand Jury clears Gulfport police in shooting of Jaheim McMillan”
• Newsweek — “Jaheim McMillan's Family Demand Gulfport Police Release Bodycam Footage”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs