Video apparently shows officer striking handcuffed teen murder suspect in head

Published 6:21 pm Friday, September 17, 2021

A home surveillance video appears to show a Mississippi murder suspect being struck by a member of the U.S. Marshals Task Force.

The video shows 17-year-old Kevin Harris being led from a house in handcuffs and a person in law tactical gear strikes Harris in the face as he’s walked by.

Harris is one of two teenage suspects charged with capital murder in an August shooting that killed a Mississippi man and a 6-year-old boy at a gas station in Canton. The victims were innocent bystanders and not targeted in the shooting, police have said. The man, 42-year-old Tracy Wilder, was helping add oil to someone’s car and 6-year-old Jeison Elias Ramon Lopez, was struck by a bullet as he said in the back seat of his mom’s care parked at the station.

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Harris’ mother told Jackson area media that the video was captured during the arrest early Thursday at her South Jackson residence.

“The U.S. Marshals Service is aware of an incident that occurred (Thursday) morning involving members of our multi-agency Gulf Coast Regional Task Force in Mississippi. We take any allegation of misconduct by our personnel or task force partners seriously and we are currently gathering information regarding the incident,” a Marshals Service spokesperson said in a statement.

Two other suspects are in custody on accessory and conspiracy charges in connection with the murders, police said.

The FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office all say they’re working on an investigation of the video.