Under the Guise of Transparency Sharon Hill (PA) Releases Heavily Redacted Report in Police Murder of Fanta Bility. 8 Yr Old Black Girl Shot Dead by Cops who Fired Wildly Into a Crowd Exiting a Game

From [HERE] Sharon Hill Borough Council released its report Friday on the policies and procedures surrounding the police shooting death of 8-year-old Fanta Bility. The report was made by a law firm hired by the Council.

The new report is heavily redacted, with many of its findings and recommendations not visible to the public.

Borough Solicitor Courtney Richardson said the redactions are to protect the purist of justice as cases are still pending.

She said the Borough wants to create policies and procedures so that this never happens again. Bruce Castor, the attorney representing Bility's family called the report "unacceptable."

"The undated and redacted report made public today by Sharon Hill Borough is an insult to the memory of Fanta and completely unacceptable in any society that values the truth and the Rule of Law. The heavily edited report raises more questions in the minds of the family and the public than it answers," he said in a statement.

On Friday night, members of the Delaware County Black Caucus and other community members express similar concerns.

"We need to know what it is that Sharon Hill Borough Council and the police department are hiding," said Arnold Jones, chair of the Judicial and Law Enforcement Committee.

Richardson said she does not have a time frame on if and when officials will be able to release an unredacted version of the report.

"The borough is not hiding anything. I want to be very clear the borough did not have to release this report at all. And it did because it said listen we want to share as much as we can given the circumstances because the community has a right to know something," said Richardson.

Bility was shot in August 2021 as she walked with her mother following a football game at Academy Park High School.

Three officers, identified as Brian Devaney, Sean Dolan, and Devon Smith, fired their weapons as the game was letting out in response to gunfire they heard in the vicinity that was unrelated to the football game.

They fired 25 shots at a black Chevy Impala, which they believed was where the shots were coming from.

That vehicle was passing the exiting crowd, which included Bility. Each officer was charged with 10 counts of reckless endangerment and one count of manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter, according the to the charging documents.

Last week, the defense filed a motion to drop voluntary and involuntary manslaughter charges against Devaney, Dolan, and Smith.