Source: screenshot / facebook
The family of Andrew Bankhead, the former Mississippi police officer who allegedly shot and killed 15-year-old Cornelius McGee Jr., claim Bankhead is innocent and the narrative being portrayed is “a lie.”
“They have judged my cousin, tried him, and convicted him, based on a lie,” Julius Voss, the first cousin of Bankhead, told WREG. “Had never seen him before, don’t know him, hadn’t seen him, knows nothing about him.”
But McGee’s mother insists her son was killed unjustly and Bankhead shot her son after catching him with his 15-year-old daughter.
Voss pushed back on that narrative claiming that Bankhead doesn’t have a 15-year-old daughter.
“There is no 15-year-old girl,” Voss said. “We definitely want to get that established first, that there was no girl letting the young man in the house.”
He also claimed that video security cameras caught a suspect entering Bankhead’s house through a window holding an AC unit.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has not released the video footage, citing an “open and ongoing investigation.”
McGee’s mother also said she saw the footage and said the person in the video is not her son.
Bankhead was been identified through social media as the man who shot and killed 15-year-old Cornelius McGee Jr. while he was running away after being caught with Bankhead’s daughter.
NewOne also found the social media page of Andrew Bankhead, although unsubstantiated, with photos of his Clarksdale police vehicle as well as other posts confirming his previous position in law enforcement in Mississippi.
(NewsOne does not agree with or promote the caption above.)
Here is what we know about the evening Cornelius McGee Jr. was killed.
According to reports, the deadly shooting occurred near Park Lane and West Second Street in Clarksdale, Mississippi on Monday, May 22, around 4:30 pm. Police were called to Bankhead’s home after a reported burglary and found McGee Jr. dead on the scene.
But Jacqueline Rash, Cornelius McGee’s mother, paints a very different picture of what happened that evening and says her son was killed for visiting Bankhead’s daughter.
Rash told Fox 13 Memphis that Bankhead did not approve of McGee’s relationship with his daughter and had previously told him not to visit her at his home. But according to Rash, Bankhead’s daughter snuck her son into the home through her bedroom window. When Bankhead discovered the boy in his home visiting his daughter, McGee got scared and tried to run away. Rash said Bankhead shot the boy in the back as he was trying to jump the fence.
In a Facebook post, Rash shared a post with beautiful photos of her son with a simple caption, “Justice for my baby.”
The post also encouraged friends and family to remember McGee Jr. for the good he brought into the world.
“Flood fb w/ THE GOOD of CJ.. a good big brother a wonderful little brother! The best son, good uncle, great athlete, etc,” wrote the author. “That’s all we want to see right now & I’m sure that’s all ma want to hear and see!!! JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED.”
The Clarksdale Police chief has confirmed that Andrew Bankhead is a former officer at the department and informed the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation which is actively investigating the case. Much information hasn’t been released about the investigation, but an MBI spokesperson told AP that the shooting was not considered an officer-involved shooting.
“More information may be released when available. At this time, no further comment will be made,” said MBI spokesperson Bailey C. Martin.
There have been no arrests in the death of 15-year-old Cornelius McGee Jr.
We will update this story as it develops.
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