During a racially riven time in America, a young African-American man is shot and killed by a white man. Controversy arises. Police and elected prosecutor alike determine the shooting to be self-defense, but after it becomes a cause célèbre, a special prosecutor is appointed and under his supervision, a grand jury issues an indictment for Murder. Fearing that the cost of the trial will bankrupt his family, the defendant commits suicide.
This case struck to the heart of a compassionate journalist named Joe Sexton, who spent 30 months researching his book “The Lost Sons of Omaha: Two Young Men in an American Tragedy.” He deeply interviewed the families and acquaintances of both men, and the criminal justice professionals who worked both sides of the case.
This controversial cross-racial shooting took place in May of 2020 in Omaha, Nebraska during the “George Floyd riots” that had spread around the country.
Former Marine combat vet Jake Gardner, 38, owned a bar in the city, and was armed and present in hopes of preventing more vandalism than his business had already sustained. His elderly father, a heart patient, was there too. When a “protester” shoved the old man to the sidewalk outside, Jake came to his aid and was faced with a hostile crowd. Gardner drew his Springfield XD 9mm, muzzle down as a menacing crowd of protesters (rioters?) backed him down the street.
A young woman who later said she wanted to “do something that matters in this world” leaped onto his back and pulled him to the ground. Gardner fired two warning shots and she fled, but then he was jumped by James Scurlock, 22, who got Gardner face down in the street, choking him from behind in a rear strangle with one arm and trying to take the gun with his other hand. Gardner was heard on surveillance video begging him to stop, to no avail, and Gardner finally fired a shot over his shoulder which proved fatal to Scurlock. The incident was recorded on multiple security cameras.
