Only July 26, Zachary Hammond, 19, was shot twice by police and killed. A letter from the family’s attorney to the U.S. Attorney General and the FBI Director claims the police officer celebrated the killing of Zachary by desecrating his body and making fun of his killing.
Lieutenant Mark Tiller, the officer who shot Zachary, claims he shot in self defense as Zachary attempted to “run him over” during an undercover drug mission involving minor marijuana possession. Despite Lt. Tiller’s claims that he acted in self defense, the autopsy of Zachary’s body found that he was shot in the back.
In a letter from Eric Bland, the attorney for Zachary’s family, it would appear that the officers involved with Zachary’s shooting celebrated after Zachary was dead. In the letter, Bland writes that a witness “states that the officer who opened Zachary’s door and pulled his dead body from the vehicle then went to the trunk of his police car and pulled something out. The officer walked back over to the man on the ground rolled him over to his side, put something underneath his body, and then rolled him back. . . . a police officer with the neighboring police force has confirmed to SLED that the Seneca Police Department celebrated the killing of Zachary by desecrating his corpse. After Zachary had been shot and killed, member(s) of the Seneca Police Department lifted his dead hand and ‘high fived’ Zachary Hammond.”
A federal investigation into the event as been launched.
