‘He took my heartbeat.’ Mom, family of man killed by Miami cop says he posed no threat
Antwon Leonard Cooper was trying to get away from a Miami police officer who had been patting him down and was hanging onto his dreadlocks, when another cop shot him on the right side of his head at close range, the dead man’s family attorney said Friday.
The confrontation earlier this month between Cooper, 34, and the officer began after Cooper was stopped for some type of driving infraction — likely an expired tag — and failed to provide a driver’s license, the attorney said. Cooper was killed after being ordered out of his red sedan.
“He shot him in the head at close range. And Mr. Cooper was not brandishing a weapon. That sergeant used lethal force and now we’re having Antwon’s funeral tomorrow,” attorney Rawsi Williams said Friday, surrounded in her Brickell law office by Cooper’s family. “Whatever it takes legally, morally or ethically, if it requires bringing national attention to Miami that’s what we’ll do. Because they must stop killing us.”
Williams and law partner Frank T. Allen, along with several members of Cooper’s immediate family, spoke to the media Friday after viewing portions of surveillance and body camera video. It was shown to them by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement as part of its investigation into the March 8 police shooting death of Cooper.
Mostly calm but clearly emotional, family members said they saw no reason for Cooper’s death. They said he wasn’t fighting with the officer, hadn’t swung at him and didn’t have a weapon when the sergeant and supervisor at the scene approached and fired at the right side of Cooper’s head.
A gun was found, police and Williams said, but several feet away on the ground. Williams said she has spoken with another man who was a passenger in the car and law enforcement officers familiar with the investigation. And, she said, no one has indicated to her that Cooper had or brandished a weapon in any type of way.
“They shot my son in the head,” cried Tilasha Cooper, Antwon Cooper’s mother. “He [the officer who fired his weapon] deserves to go to jail for 35 years. He took my heartbeat. He took it.”
Antwon’s grandmother Helen Bryant, who was instrumental in the upbringing of her grandson, said police killed Antwon like “some kind of animal, a dog or a rabbit.”
“You know my heart is just aching right now. I want him [the officer] accounted for, locked up and in prison. Not jail, in prison. I can’t hug him no more and I can’t see him no more.”
Allen, who said he’s litigated and seen body worn camera footage in several excessive use-of-force cases, was “stunned and shocked” by the sergeant’s actions.
“He wasn’t brandishing a weapon, or pointing one. He wasn’t punching of kicking or hitting,” said the attorney. “He was pulling away trying to free himself.”
Williams said the family will file a civil rights wrongful death lawsuit in federal and state courts. But by law they must wait six months until all parties are notified.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is investigating the shooting and whose officers met with the Cooper family, addressed the incident, but wouldn’t go into specifics about the shooting.
“Our investigation remains active and agents continue to conduct interviews,” FDLE Spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said. “I can confirm that Special Agent in Charge Troy Walker spoke with the family and their attorney for several hours yesterday, which is customary in these cases.”
The family also met with Miami Police Chief Manny Morales and Deputy Chief Cherise Gause, who offered condolences but wouldn’t go into particulars of the case, Williams said. On Friday, Morales called the meeting “incredibly emotional,” but stopped short of discussing the encounter between Antwon Cooper and the officer.
“The loss of life is tragic under any circumstances, and the Miami PD holds the sanctity of life at the center of all we do,” Morales said by email. “We offered our condolences and support to the family during this most difficult time. We will continue to fully cooperate with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement as they conduct their investigation.”
Though Miami police haven’t publicly named the officer who shot Cooper, several law enforcement sources have confirmed his name is Constant Rosemond, a veteran officer who at one point worked overseas for the United Nations and served as a police officer with Miami-Dade Schools Police.
On Friday, Fraternal Order of Police President Tommy Reyes said he hadn’t yet seen any body worn camera footage of the shooting, but he said he believes the gun found near the scene belonged to Cooper.
“My understanding is that he was in possession of a gun,” Reyes said.
Police have released no information on the March 8 incident other than what they said that day. Cooper and another man who hasn’t been named were stopped late that afternoon just outside of Miami Northwest Senior High at Northwest 10th Avenue and 71st Street, long after school had let out.
The initial dispatch call, according to police referred to an exchange of gunfire. But Morales, who went to the scene, wouldn’t confirm that. The chief said that after an officer noticed a weapon, there was a struggle between Cooper and the officer. The chief wouldn’t even say why the officer ordered the vehicle to stop.
State records show Cooper has a lengthy history of arrests and convictions for grand-theft auto, selling cocaine, armed burglary, home invasion robbery and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Cooper, who records show has spent time in prison, was currently awaiting trial on a 2021 misdemeanor charge of petty theft. According to court records, an officer pulled him over in Sunny Isles Beach for having a stolen tag on his car. At the time, Cooper said he’d never had a driver’s license and had not registered his car.
Only three weeks prior to Cooper’s death, a Miami police officer shot and killed 70-year-old Lazaro Vargas-Yera in Little Havana during an exchange of gunfire. The officer was called to the home over a domestic violence incident and shot Vargas-Yera after finding the man’s wife shot and injured in the home. She later died.
Also Friday, Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies shot and killed 23-year-old Zy’Shonne Johnson of Delray Beach, just outside BSO’s Fort Lauderdale headquarters building. Undercover deputies, including SWAT and ATF agents, had tried to arrest Johnson after making a drug buy, said Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony, who said he heard the gunfire from his office.
Tony said Johnson sped away in his car and into the sheriff’s office parking lot, striking several cars. Then, Tony said, he tried to run and when ordered to surrender, he turned toward deputies with a gun. Two SWAT members fired and killed him, Tony told WTVJ Channel 6.
Also by the Cooper family’s side Friday was Daniella Pierre, president of Miami-Dade NAACP chapter.
“As a mother I am emotionally disturbed by this,” she said. “And after watching parts of the body camera footage, I’m even more disturbed. We, as civil rights leaders, are very concerned. We have a mandate to make sure all alternatives [to the ultimate use-of-force] are used. We will monitor this investigation.”
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 5:23 PM.
