DETROIT – A Wayne County Circuit Court Jury is hearing testimony today from three civilians who were in the house when a Detroit police officer fatally shot a Detroit girl.
Officer Joseph Weekley is accused of manslaughter in the death of seven-year-old Aiyana Jones.
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She was killed on May 16, 2010, when a special response team raided a house on Lillibridge.
LaKrystal Sanders, 34, was Aiyana's cousin.
She was in an upstairs flat when police detonated a flash grenade in the lower flat.
Sanders told the jury, "I heard a noise. Boom! Then pop."
Prosecutors say Weekley fired three seconds after the flash grenade went off.
--Weekley
Sanders wept as she described the voice of her mother Mertilla Jones.
"I just hear my mother screaming ‘They killed Ayaina!'"
Jones had been sleeping on the couch with the girl.
Sanders had been in a bedroom with her boyfriend, Chauncey Owens, who was a suspect in the shooting death of a teenager. He was the target of the raid and was arrested.
Sgt. Tim Dollinger of the Special Response Team is currently on the witness stand.