The family of Murbarak Soulemane met with the State Attorney’s Office in New Haven on Wednesday to learn the next steps in the investigation into the police shooting that led to the 19-year-old's death.
Reverend Dr. Boise Kimber, who is representing the Soulemane family, said that he along with the family met with Middlesex’s State's Attorney Michael Gailor, one of the people in charge of the case. Dr. Kimber and the family also asked that Patrick Griffin, a veteran prosecutor, be brought in for the case.
“We have two state attorneys that will be on the case, we have somewhat of a comfort level since Pat Griffin is on the case,” said Dr. Kimber. “We are working on this relationship with Mike Gailor and we know there are a lot of moving pieces with the investigation and case.”
According to Dr. Kimber, an investigation into the shooting that led to the death of Soulemane has not started.
“We have been asking for the U.S. Attorney’s Office to get involved but we need this investigation to start today,” said Dr. Kimber. “We believe that these individuals that will be doing the investigation will be fair in doing this investigation.”
Typically, state police are involved in officer-involved shootings, however, the Division of Criminal Justice is now in charge of the investigation since a state trooper was involved.
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“We have some level of confidence that these inspectors will do a better job than what the state police officers would be doing,” said Dr. Kimber.
Tahir Muhammad, Murbarak’s uncle, spoke during the news conference.
“It was a great meeting. We met with the State Attorney and investigators who are going to be on the case,” said Muhammad. “They looked us in the eyes and told us we should have faith in them and they’re not going to be bias and we feel pretty confident.”
Dr. Kimber said that while there is not a timeline of what will happen next, he along with the family will be in contact with the state’s attorney office on a daily and weekly base.
“We know just by looking at the video that this young man was murdered,” said Dr. Kimber. “They had tased him and that was a shock to him and anybody who watched this video with common knowledge or common sense will know that this young man was murdered and we would not let it go.”
It was announced during the news conference that there will be a memorial service for Soulemane on Sunday and Reverend Al Sharpton is expected to be in attendance and speak.
