Three former police officers charged with killing a young girl when they fired 25 shots at a moving car as a nearby crowd left a high school football game pleaded guilty Thursday to reckless endangerment as part of a plea deal.
Brian Devaney, 41; Devon Smith; 34 and; Sean Dolan, 25, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of reckless endangerment in a deal that prosecutors said the family of victim Fanta Bility was involved in. In exchange, prosecutors dropped charges of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter against the officers.
Bruce Castor, the lawyer representing the Bility family and a former Montgomery County district attorney, said the officers could each be looking at 20 years behind bars. He noted, though, that he thinks it is “extraordinarily unlikely” that they get sentenced to that much time, given that the court may perceive the guilty plea as the officers taking responsibility for their actions. Sentencing is scheduled for January.
Prosecutors contended the Sharon Hill officers negligently fired at a car they wrongly believed was involved in gunfire that broke out as the game ended in August 2021. Four people were shot by police outside the stadium, including soon-to-be third grader Fanta.
“The agony we feel constantly. We’re reliving the loss of our dear Fanta, who was just 8 years old when she was killed by Sharon Hill police officers,” Abu Bility said Thursday following the court hearing on the officers’ guilty pleas. “It’s impossible to describe the words since her mother and her siblings witnessed this tragic incident. They will have to live with that trauma imprinted in their memories for the rest of their life.”
Ballistics testing could not determine which officer fired the shot that killed Fanta, but a grand jury recommended that all three face charges in her August 2021 death. Their lawyers have accused prosecutors of succumbing to political pressure to pursue charges.
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Castor said Fanta’s family agreed to accept the plea deal after they heard the DA’s arguments in the case and after he discussed with them the difficulty of proving the manslaughter charges beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
“We pray that as a result of police officers being held accountable, we can – as a family and as a community – finally have some closure and begin the healing process,” the girl’s uncle said.
The officers told investigators they thought the car driving toward them was the likely source of the gunfire, prompting them to return fire.
Fanta had attended the game with her mother and an older sister who was also shot but survived. Her family, who belongs to a community of immigrants from Guinea, described her as a sweet child who had a smile for everyone.
The officers were later fired by the Sharon Hill Council, a small borough near Philadelphia International Airport. Devaney was not wearing a body camera at the time, while Dolan and Smith did not turn theirs on, investigators said.
The chaotic scene unfolded after two teens got into an argument and exchanged gunfire outside the Academy Park High School stadium. The district attorney initially charged the teens with murder over the child's death, but those charges were later dismissed.
Castor said the Bility family will now proceed with its civil lawsuit against the officers and police department.
