The parents of an Aliceville teen fatally shot by police returned to Homewood Wednesday to get answers from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and city officials.

Jabari Peoples’ mother, Vivian Sterling, and father, William Peoples, said they won’t rest until they know what happened to the 18-year-old and why.

“We’re broken,” said William Peoples. “We’ve got a hole that can’t be filled, never will be filled.”

“Ask me how we feel? Ask us how we’re doing? We’ll never be doing good,” he said. “We’ll never be whole again.”

The two were accompanied by other family members and Black Lives Matter activists who “occupied” Homewood City Hall seeking to speak with Mayor Alex Wyatt, who is not seeking re-election.

Instead, they met with the city manager in a conference room where they also took a phone call from a lawyer for ALEA, said BLM leader Eric Hall.

The conversation got heated at times, and Williams Peoples eventually left the room, saying he was tired of hearing the same excuses over and over.

Hall said they were not pleased with telephone conversation and will continue to demand release of the footage and the officer’s identity.

“(ALEA’s attorney’s) response was he shared a statement with the attorney and talked about the disclosure law, which was the law recently passed, that shares that ALEA does not have to provide the family with the video they are demanding to see,” Hall said.

“Of course we’re not pleased with that.”

‘It wasn’t nothing Jabari did’

Peoples, a 2024 graduate of Aliceville High School where he was a standout athlete, was shot June 23 in Homewood Soccer Park.

Homewood police say a veteran officer, who has not been publicly identified, approached the vehicle to investigate because of a recent increase in criminal activity in and around the city’s athletic complexes.

The officer, police say, smelled marijuana and ordered Peoples and his female friend out of the vehicle.

The encounter ended with Peoples resisting, breaking away from the officer as he tried to handcuff him, and grabbing a gun from the driver’s side door pocket, police say.

The officer fired on Peoples, who was pronounced dead a short time later at UAB Hospital.

Peoples’ family and their attorney, Leroy Maxwell, disagree with that narrative, saying that Peoples wasn’t armed and didn’t resist.

“When my (other) son came running saying Jabari was shot, I started making calls. When I found he was shot by the police, immediately I knew it wasn’t nothing Jabari did,” Vivian Sterling said. “I knew it was on the police because I knew my son.”

“We talked to them about it, that’s said to say, but we taught them this,” Sterling said. “I know he wouldn’t have resisted. He would never have resisted for no sack of weed. I knew that was a lie.”

Maxwell on Monday said Peoples was shot once in the back and is demanding ALEA release any footage of the shooting.

ALEA said releasing the footage would hinder the ongoing investigation.

“ALEA reviews requests for disclosure on a case-by-case basis,” ALEA spokeswoman Amanda Wasden said Wednesday.

“If ALEA receives a disclosure request in an investigation that is no longer active, the agency will review the request and respond as required by Alabama Code section 36-21-213.”

‘The family deserves the truth’

Maxwell on Wednesday filed a petition in Jefferson County Circuit Court seeking to have Homewood city officials release the video.

The petition, Maxwell said, seeks to preserve critical evidence and identify parties as the family considers a potential wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit.

It requires the court to compel Homewood to disclose body cam footage, incident reports, use-of-force documentation and the names of all officers involved.

“We don’t know what’s on the video, good or bad, but it needs to be seen,” Maxwell said. “The family deserves the truth. And the community deserves accountability.”

‘We will continue to escalate’

Black Lives Matter representatives have conducted numerous protests this week at Homewood City Hall and ALEA’s office on Summit Parkway. Activists say more are planned.

“We are engaged in active protests at this point,” Hall said. “We will continue to be engaged in active protests until we get the answers that we want from those who are in a position of power.”

“This has only intensified. We don’t negotiate with terrorists,” Hall said.

“At this point we have no choice but to engage in active boycotting in the city of Homewood.”

“We are asking everybody to not spend one dime in the city of Homewood,” he said. “If they can’t value our lives…then they don’t deserve our dollars.”

“If they continue to ignore us,” Hall said. “We will continue to escalate.”

Hall said the family wants to the full, unedited video. He said he knows multiple city, county, state, and police officials have viewed it.

“It’s unfair that the family doesn’t know what happened to their loved one,” Hall said.

“This family don’t deserve the run around, the neglect, and the lack of empathy that those who are in position of power,” Hall said. “No city official in Homewood has stepped up.”

Homewood City Councilman Carlos Aleman released this statement Wednesday on Facebook:

“As a father and as a member of the Homewood City Council, I cannot stop thinking about what I would need if my own son died in an incident involving law enforcement. I would want to know the truth. I would want to see what happened. I would need to see the body camera footage.

“I have not seen the video. I am not part of the investigation. But I do know that both Jabari Peoples’ family and the City of Homewood have requested that ALEA (the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency) release the footage to the family, and those requests have been denied. That is heartbreaking.

“The video should be shown to the family. As a parent, I would want the dignity of being able to see for myself how and when my child died.

“There are two matters at hand: the ongoing investigation being conducted by ALEA. Second—and just as important—is the matter of transparency. Families deserve clarity. They deserve answers. They deserve more than silence.”

Asked if viewing the footage would be hard, Sterling said, “It wouldn’t be hard because I want to know what happened to my son. What was hard was going down there seeing my son laying there cold in the funeral home. That’s what’s hard.”

The family and activists said the race of the officer does not matter to them.

“We already know City of Homewood has a history of racial and discriminatory practices,” Hall said. “We know based off witness statements, the harmful words and how Jabari was treated when he was aggressed by the police officer.”

“I want that police officer to understand this family knows the words that were said to their child,” Hall said. “This family knows how you disrespected him, this family knows you referenced and called him a “boy.”

Peoples would have turned 19 on Thursday. His family has planned a party in his honor at Aliceville City Park.

“I’m not able to be with my son on his birthday and he had made plans,” William Peoples said. “He was special.”