For more than two years, Sherita Harris has been waiting for someone to be held responsible for a bullet that struck her in the head while she rode in the passenger seat of a car in Jackson, Mississippi.
On Friday, the mother of five finally got a sign.
The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office announced that two state police officers have been charged in the shooting, which left her with a partially paralyzed face, permanent memory loss and damaged sight and hearing.
“It’s been so long, I thought they forgot and were going to sweep it under the rug,” Harris, 40, said, her speech halting and slurred from the gunshot wound. “It brings me a little joy.”
Mississippi Capitol Police Officer Michael Rhinewalt and former officer Jeffery Walker were each indicted by a state grand jury on aggravated assault charges, accused of shooting Harris “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.” Rhinewalt and Walker were also accused of shooting at Harris’ friend, who was driving. The officers have said they opened fire after the friend, Sinatra Jordan, shot at them during a chase, which Jordan denies.
The indictments were handed down in December; the state Attorney General’s Office announced them Friday afternoon.
Lawyer Scott Gilbert, who is representing Rhinewalt, said in an email that the officer “acted appropriately when he returned fire after being shot at by the suspect” and was confident he would “be vindicated at trial.”
Walker’s lawyer, Francis Springer, said in an email that Walker “maintains his innocence, but must not make any comments before trial.” Walker is also facing federal civil rights charges alleging that he beat a motorist during an arrest in July 2022, a month before Harris’ shooting. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.
Justin Smith, who is representing Harris in a $3 million lawsuit against Mississippi authorities, said he did not expect the news because the state Attorney General’s Office rarely charges police officers in shootings.
“I’m just shocked and surprised the AG’s office took the initiative and they are indicting the officers,” Smith said.
The state Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that it would not comment on the case because it is in “active litigation.”
Sean Tindell, the commissioner of the state Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Capitol Police, said in a statement that Rhinewalt had been placed on unpaid leave pending an internal hearing. Walker, he said, left the Capitol Police in July 2023.
Since Harris’ Aug. 14, 2022, shooting, the Department of Public Safety has created an internal affairs division to independently handle complaints against officers, Tindell said. Capitol Police officers now wear body cameras; Walker and Rhinewalt were not wearing cameras at the time of Harris’ shooting.
Harris has no recollection of getting shot. The last thing she remembers is her friend, Jordan, saying the police were pulling them over. She woke up in a hospital three days later, face torn apart.
The officers, both new hires at the Capitol Police as part of a crackdown on crime in Jackson, said Jordan led them on a chase through downtown after fleeing a traffic stop. Walker testified in a September 2022 hearing that he and Rhinewalt opened fire on the car after Jordan fired at them first. Walker described a rolling gun battle that ended in a residential neighborhood. Walker said he saw objects thrown from the car during the chase but that the items had not been found. Their patrol car was not hit by bullets, he said.
Jordan, who has been held in jail since the incident while awaiting trial on charges of fleeing and aggravated assault on police officers, disputed Walker’s account of how the chase started, the route it took and where shots were fired. In letters and interviews, Jordan has said he didn’t have a gun and did not throw anything from the car. He also said officers beat him up, which was corroborated by a witness interviewed by NBC News. He and his lawyers could not be reached for comment Friday.
After the chase ended and Jordan was arrested, officers searched the car and found no gun, Walker testified. But they did find Harris suffering from a gunshot wound.
The witness previously told NBC News that she heard one of the officers exclaim, “Oh my God, oh my God” after discovering Harris.
Harris said she required surgeries to remove a bullet and repair her left eye and ear. The left side of her face remains partly paralyzed, and she struggles to chew food. She said suffers from depression and PTSD. She gets by with the help of a caregiver and rarely leaves home.
The indictments, Harris said, brought her a bit of relief from her pain.
