Deputy US Marshal who shot, killed Frankie Jennings won’t face charges, Meck DA says
Saying the officer feared for his life, Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather III on Tuesday said there was not enough evidence to prosecute a deputy U.S. Marshal who fatally shot Frankie Jennings at a Charlotte gas station in March.
Eric Tillman, a senior inspector with the U.S. Marshals Service, fired three shots at Jennings on March 23 while attempting to serve multiple warrants at a gas station on The Plaza, Merriweather wrote in a letter Tuesday to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Johnny Jennings.
Tillman briefly struggled with Frankie Jennings at the driver’s side door of Jennings’ black Mercedes, Merriweather said in the letter. During the struggle, Frankie Jennings put the car in gear and it began to move forward, Merriweather said. Tillman then saw Jennings’ “hands reaching toward a gun in the center console cupholder,” at which point Tillman fired three rounds at him.
Frankie Jennings was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the DA’s letter. A loaded semi-automatic handgun was located in the center console of his car, Merriweather wrote.
An autopsy found that Jennings was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest. He also had gunshot wounds in both arms.
“Given the corroborated evidence that Senior Inspector Tillman was reasonable in his belief that he and other officers faced an imminent threat of great bodily harm or death, the evidence in this case would be insufficient to prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Senior Inspector Tillman did not act in defense of himself or another,” Merriweather wrote.
“Consequently, I will not be seeking charges related to the death of Frankie Jennings.”
Jennings turned 32 on the day of his death.
He had six Charlotte-based warrants and seven in York County, S.C., CMPD Capt. Joel McNelly said after the shooting.
Those warrants against Jennings are in addition to three out of Carolina Beach, south of Wilmington, the Observer previously reported.
Officers’ fear for safety
North Carolina law allows officers to use deadly force if they believe it’s necessary to protect themselves or others from death or great bodily harm.
According to Merriweather’s letter, Tillman recalled that one of the warrants the officers were trying to serve on Jennings involved him trying to assault officers in Carolina Beach by dragging them with a vehicle.
Tillman said he also was aware that Jennings had warrants from Charlotte for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and charges related to an incident in which he allegedly shot into a vehicle.
Tillman told investigators what happened as he and other officers attempted to apprehend Jennings at the gas station:
Jennings was sitting in the driver’s seat of a Mercedes that was still running when one deputy grabbed him with two hands and attempted to pull him out of the car. Tillman recalled he had one hand on Jennings “for a moment.”
“(Tillman) could see the decedent’s car moving forward, and he believed (Union County Sheriff’s) Deputy (Tate) Mills fell to the ground on his right side,” Merriweather wrote. “He could see the Mercedes was going to make contact with (fugitive task force) officers who were pulling in front of the Mercedes to his left. He saw the decedent’s hands reaching toward a gun in the center console cupholder, and he fired his service weapon at the decedent. He recalled firing his weapon three times. The shots were very rapid.”
One officer in the task force told investigators he heard someone saying “gun” just before shots were fired. Another said Jennings rammed his vehicle as he tried to cut him off.
According to an interview transcript, when a CMPD investigator asked Tillman why he fired his weapon, he replied: “I was uh fear for ... the life of the people that the car was heading towards ... potentially for Mills, who was on the ground, and then myself and the people to my left with the firearm ... So kinna three threats at once, I guess.”
Frankie Jennings’ fiancee
Five of the fugitive task force officers who attempted to apprehend Jennings spoke to CMPD investigators and generally corroborated Tillman’s account.
But Nayja Johnson, who described herself as Jennings’ fiancee, stated that she was in a separate vehicle at the gas station and could see that Jennings had his left hand up and his right on the steering wheel when the shots were fired. She contended he did not own any firearms and had never seen him with a firearm. She said she had six brothers and that the gun could have belonged to any of them.
Johnson also stated that Jennings knew he was wanted and that he had been running from law enforcement for about a month.
Merriweather’s letter states that several of Johnson’s assertions were “directly contradicted” by the evidence from a video surveillance video at the gas station.
“A frame-by-frame analysis of the video appears to show the decedent reaching toward the center of the vehicle with his right hand while his left hand remained up until Deputy Mills began to struggle with the decedent,” the letter reads.
Moments later, an SUV blocks the camera, making it impossible to see whether Jennings was reaching for a gun when Tillman shot him.
The task force officers were not wearing body cameras and their vehicles were not equipped with recording devices, Merriweather’s letter states.
Lab analysis concluded that Jennings’ DNA was on the trigger, grip and trigger guard of the gun found in his car.
Sister mourns brother
Jennings’ sister told the Observer after the shooting that she had traveled from New York to visit him. Latannya Jennings described him as laid-back person who wouldn’t hesitate to give the shirt off his back to someone in need. He was an important figure to his family in his roles as father, son, brother and friend, she said.
“Most of all, he was human like all of us,” Jennings said during a vigil. “We all bleed the same blood, red.”
Her brother’s life, she said, should not have been ended by law enforcement.
Staff writer Mike Gordon contributed.
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 12:59 PM with the headline "Deputy US Marshal who shot, killed Frankie Jennings won’t face charges, Meck DA says."
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