Shirley Newbill looks at a painting of her son, Eric Logan, on June 16th, 2020. Logan was shot and killed one year ago by a white South Bend police officer.
(Annacaroline Caruso/WVPE News)
Exactly one year ago, Eric Logan, a black man from South Bend, was shot and killed by a white City police officer who didn’t activate his body camera. The community is still dealing with the aftermath of the fatal shooting and is finding ways to remember Logan on the anniversary of his death.
A South Bend police officer shot Logan while responding to a call of someone breaking into cars on June 16th, 2019. The officer says Logan approached him with a knife which is when he opened fire. The officer did not have his body camera turned on.
The incident sparked outrage in South Bend and drew national attention.
Shirley Newbill, Logan’s mother, is remembering the fatal shooting one year later. She says not enough has been done to bring justice after her son’s death.
“My son was killed," she says. "We know that. But they haven’t done anything to the police that killed him and I want that officer to go to jail for what they did to my son. I don’t have a son now. They took it all away from me.”
Newbill is spending the day trying to keep her son’s memory alive.
“[Logan] would probably be washing the car, barbecuing, talking to his friends, trying to take me somewhere," she says. "He always brought me something back if he didn’t take me with him. He was good to me.”
Newbill plans to attend a vigil Tuesday night with other community members to honor Logan.
She says more needs to change in South Bend so what happened to her son doesn’t happen again.
The officer who shot and killed Logan is no longer on the South Bend Police force. A special prosecutor declared the shooting as justified after an investigation, so the officer was not charged.
Protestors have recently criticized South Bend officials for not taking enough action with police reform in the year following Logan’s death.
South Bend Mayor James Mueller announced Monday some plans for police reform in the near future.
