CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The fiancee of a man killed by the U.S. Marshals Service in 2021 is suing the officer who killed him and the federal government.
Frankie Jennings was shot and killed during an attempted arrest at an east Charlotte gas station in March of 2021. Authorities said Jennings tried to reach for a gun in the cupholder of his car when a marshal opened fire, killing him. No charges were filed in the case when the Mecklenburg County District Attorney's Office said the shooting was justified.
Jennings was wanted on several warrants, including assault with a deadly weapon against law enforcement and two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
According to the narrative presented by the DA's office, Officer Eric Tillman and other officers with the U.S. Marshals Office saw Jennings driving a Mercedes-Benz with his fiancee, Nayja Johnson, on March 23, 2021. The couple had reportedly just finished filling up with gas when officers moved in to arrested Jennings. Tillman and other officers attempted to pull Jennings out of the vehicle when Tillman claimed Jennings stepped on the gas and crashed into a parked police vehicle. He then said Jennings reached for a loaded handgun.
Tillman fired three shots and gave Jennings emergency aid until paramedics responded, according to the DA's office. He died from injuries he sustained from being shot in the chest.
The DA's office interviewed other officers who were on the task force, including detectives from other area departments and an officer from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. They also interviewed other witnesses and Johnson herself, who in her statement said Jennings was "murdered with his hands up" and didn't pose an immediate threat. She also said she knew law enforcement officers were approaching them based on the clothes they were wearing and said she ran to be by Jennings' side, but was pushed to the ground and handcuffed by officers, sitting in a police car for about 30 minutes. She also said the gun could have belonged to one of her six brothers. Merriweather's letter, however, said her assertions were disproven by the surveillance video.
WCNC Charlotte previously spoke with Johnson in the wake of the shooting along with her attorney. She demanded the release of the surveillance video to the public, and made the same assertion to us that she did to investigators: "He was innocent and his hands were up."
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