After Jordan Edwards' Death, Lawmakers Call for State Leaders to Prioritize Bills Around Policing

AUSTIN -- Calling Jordan Edwards' death a national problem and a dangerous disease, a group of about a dozen mostly black and Latino lawmakers called on the state's leaders to prioritize bills that could help prevent further deaths young black men at the hands of police. "We are at once outraged and in agony," said Rep. Helen Giddings, D-Dallas, the leader of the Texas Black Legislative Caucus. "Fifteen-year-old Jordan Edwards' life was snuffed out in an instant by a senseless and avoidable horror."Edwards was killed Saturday night when he and a few others were leaving a party police had responded to. As they drove away, officer Roy Oliver fired a rifle into the car and shot Edwards in the head. Initially, Oliver told police that the car was backing up in his direction when he shot, but body-cam footage disproved his statements and showed that the car was fleeing. He was fired on Tuesday.  Continue reading...