PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Sharon Hill Council on Thursday addressed the heavily-redacted report on the death of Fanta Bility, the 8-year-old girl investigators say was likely killed by a bullet from a police officer’s gun.
Protesters and activists have been demanding to see the full version since the report came out.
Darby NAACP President Sheila Carter helped lead protesters at the Sharon Hill Borough Hall Thursday morning, demanding that officials reveal more about last year’s shooting death of Bility. Protesters also came Thursday evening, yelling "Say her name, Fanta Bility!" and demanding the full, unredacted release of the report. They followed Council members into the Thursday night meeting.
Three Sharon Hill police officers shot her while they were responding to reports of shots fired at a high school football game on Aug. 27, 2021.
All three officers - Brian Devaney, 42, Sean Dolan, 42, and Devon Smith, 34 - were fired and face homicide charges and a lawsuit from Fanta Bility’s family.
Last month, the borough released a 55-page report about the shooting, but 40 of the pages had either partial or total redactions.
“Council sincerely thought that it was a good idea to share with the public what we could at this time, considering there’s still pending litigation. It clearly was not the right choice," Council President Tanya Allen admitted during the evening meeting.
The borough had appointed former Philadelphia District Attorney Kelley Hodge and the Fox Rothschild law firm to investigate law enforcement policies and procedures as part of the inquiry into the deadly shooting.
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“Two of the items that I was requesting were the cost for the report that Ms. Hodge had completed for Sharon Hill Borough, and I also had requested police policy and procedures pertaining to active shooting,” Carter said in the morning.
“If you’re not going to share Ms. Hodge’s findings, at least let us know what is in place now, if any.”
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Council said during the evening meeting that more than $76,000 had been paid to the firm that wrote the report.
The number was met by some shock from residents.
“We care about this community. We got that report done for this community. Who cares if it was $100, $200,000? Who cares?" said Councilmember Rodney Hill.
There were heated moments between Council members and the public, who continued to demand the full report.
As for police procedures, Council says Police Chief Richard Herron has a copy of the unredacted version.
They hope to have an update to their policy that they can share with the public by Council's October meeting.
Sharon Hill Mayor Hykeem Green did not initially return KYW Newsradio’s calls for a statement about the case.