COLUMBIA, S.C. – The lawyer for a South Carolina police officer fired more than a year after shooting an unarmed teen during a drug sting says the officer hasn't been told why he's losing his job.
Attorney John Mussetto said in a statement Tuesday that Seneca Police Lt. Mark Tiller was given almost no notice before the police chief announced Tiller's firing in a news release.
Mussetto says Chief John Covington said to him what he said in Saturday's news release: that Tiller's firing is a personnel matter.
A state prosecutor did not press charges against Tiller for the July 2015 killing of 19-year-old Zachary Hammond. The prosecutor said while Tiller might have made a bad decision, he broke no law. Tiller is white, as was Hammond.
Federal authorities are still investigating.
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