Autopsy Report Completed for Jabari Peoples, the Teen Shot and Killed by Police, as Family Lays Him to Rest

The autopsy report for Jabari Peoples — the 18-year-old college student shot and killed by a police officer in Alabama — has been completed.

However, the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office’s public release of the autopsy report has been delayed due to the ongoing investigation into his June 23 death in Homewood, a spokesperson for the office told PEOPLE.

The coroner’s office said that the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) requested that the autopsy report be withheld while the case is still part of an active investigation.

News of the autopsy report’s delay comes as family and friends gathered to lay Peoples to rest at a public funeral viewing on Friday, July 11, in Aliceville. A celebration of his life and his interment are scheduled for Saturday, July 12.

The latest also comes after the city of Homewood filed a petition asking a judge to dismiss a motion from Peoples’ family asking for the city to release incident reports and evidence — including police body cam video, according to WBRC-TV and AL.com. 

“We don’t know what’s on the video, good or bad, but it needs to be seen,” Peoples’ family attorney Leroy Maxwell previously said in a press conference. “The family deserves the truth. And the community deserves accountability.”

The city responded that the petition should be denied as the requested documents from the family was in the hands of ALEA, which is leading the investigation into Peoples’ death, and that the documents requested by the family were “protected from disclosure by statute and common-law privilege protecting law enforcement investigations,” according to the AL.com.

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The Homewood Police Department (HPD) previously called the incident involving Peoples’ death an “officer-involved shooting” in a June 24 statement.

Police said an officer was investigating a “suspicious vehicle” near an athletic complex around 9:30 p.m. local time on June 23, when one of the occupants of the vehicle “engaged in a physical altercation with the officer” and “produced a handgun, resulting in an officer-involved shooting.”

On June 25, the department released more details about the shooting in a press release, seemingly in response to the family’s call for transparency. They added in the statement that the officer “smelled the odor of marijuana” off the car and ordered both occupants, including Peoples, to exit.

After the teen, who was the driver, exited, the officer “observed a handgun in the door pocket of the open driver’s side door” and attempted to handcuff Peoples to arrest him for unlawful possession of marijuana when he “began to actively resist,” the release continued. 

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In the struggle, the officer was knocked down, and Peoples “broke away” and “retrieved the handgun,” leading the officer to fire one round “to defend himself, in accordance with Alabama state law,” the release added.

The officer called for backup, and once they arrived, they began issuing medical treatment to Peoples, who was later transported to the hospital and eventually pronounced dead.

Peoples’ family said in a social media statement following the incident, however, that the teen “was not armed,” “was not aggressive” and “did not resist.”

His family also said, “Jabari complied — and within seconds, he was taken to the ground and shot. A witness was present. That person saw everything. There was no weapon. There was no threat.”