March 04, 2022
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Investigators determined that gunfire from three former Sharon Hill police officers killed 8-year-old Fanta Bility after a high school football game last summer.
Three former Sharon Hill police officers who are facing criminal charges in the fatal shooting of 8-year-old Fanta Bility last August will stand trial.
Magisterial District Court Judge Robert Burke upheld manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges against Devon Smith, 34; Sean Dolan, 25; and Brian Devaney, 41, during a hearing in the case in Media, Delaware County on Thursday.
Lawyers representing the three former cops called the charges "disgusting" and claimed that they were improperly filed due to political pressure, the Inquirer reported.
The defendants' lawyers argued that the police officers' response was reasonable to a situation they described as chaotic, according to KYW Newsradio.
Police gunfire was initially prompted by gun shots between 16-year-old Angelo "AJ" Ford and 18-year-old Hasein Strand just a block away from Knight Park, where an Aug. 27 football game between Academy Park High School and visiting Pennsbury High School was taking place. The officers were stationed near the exit to secure the area as spectators left the game.
The three former officers and some witnesses said that the gunfire was coming from the direction where a dark Chevy Impala was driving up the street and toward the crowd as people were leaving the game. Police then opened fire on the vehicle as it approached the scene, prosecutors said.
Investigators determined the vehicle was occupied by two young women who had attended the football game and had nothing to do with the initial gun fight.
Burke sided with the prosecutors, saying that by firing gunshots at the moving vehicle, the three former cops were also shooting at the crowd they were sworn to protect.
Smith, Dolan and Devaney are each facing one count of voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter, and 10 counts of recklessly endangering another person. The three former police officers are scheduled for an arraignment on March 30.
Sharon Hill police officers, from left, Devon Smith, Sean Dolan and Brian Devaney.
Bility, who had attended the football game with her family, was struck in the back by police gunfire and died at the scene, according to evidence discovered during a two-month grand jury investigation in Delaware County.
Bility's 13-year-old sister and two other people also suffered injuries from gunfire that prosecutors determined came from police officers.
Bility and her sister, along with the other spectators, had turned to run back into the stadium as the police gunfire erupted. The other two victims struck by police also had been trying to get back into Knight Park. They suffered injuries to their lower extremities.
The grand jury investigation found that the bullet that fatally struck Bility exited her body and was recovered from the track inside Knight Park. Ballistics evidence confirmed the bullet came from a Glock 17 service weapon used by Sharon Hill police, but investigators were unable to determine which of the three officers fired the deadly shot because the bullet was too damaged.
Twenty-five bullets traced to the service weapons of the officers were recovered from the scene, investigators said.
Devaney was not wearing a body camera on the night of the shooting. The body cameras worn by Smith and Dolan were recovered by detectives, but did not include any footage of either gunfire incident. Body cameras worn by Sharon Hill police are manually activated by officers.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer withdrew murder charges against Ford and Strand, who have been charged with multiple crimes for their roles in the initial gun fight. Lawyers representing the three former police officers said that both teenagers should be on trial instead.
Sharon Hill Borough Council fired all three cops in January. As part of an ongoing investigation, Sharon Hill Borough Council hired former Philadelphia District Attorney Kelly Hodge to conduct an administrative probe of the police department's policies and procedures.
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