- A Mississippi jury declined to indict deputies who barged into Trevor McKinley's home and killed him.
- McKinley's mother said she was "extremely disappointed" but not surprised by the decision.
A Mississippi grand jury decided not to indict sheriff's deputies who barged into a 28-year-old man's home in 2021 and shot him to death.
Rankin County Sheriff's deputies shot Trevor McKinley to death inside his grandmother's house in August 2021 after responding to a domestic disturbance report. Jason Dare, an attorney for the sheriff's department, told Insider that a grand jury in January returned a "no bill" — meaning there's insufficient evidence to indict — for McKinley's case.
McKinley's mother, Jackie McKinley, told Insider that she was "very disappointed" in the decision, but was "not surprised" because "no one's ever held accountable for their actions down here."
Jackie McKinley said she was frustrated by the lack of communication from authorities to her family about the status of the investigation over the last two years.
She said she was unaware her son's case had even been closed when Insider reached out to her for comment.
"I'm extremely disappointed and I'm even more disappointed that it has taken almost two years and with zero information whatsoever," Jackie McKinley said. "I mean, literally, like, nothing."
"It's unfair and unjust, and families deserve to know, you know?" she continued. "I mean, we all know how the system is, and especially in the Rankin County. As sad as it is, it doesn't surprise me."
She said she spoke to Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey over the phone shortly after the shooting and that he was "very rude" and "hung up on me."
The sheriff's department did not return Insider's request for comment.
Trevor's relapse caused a fight with his fiancée
Trevor McKinley had a warrant out for his arrest when Rankin County sheriff's deputies were called to his home.
Trevor's former fiancée, Ashton Durr, previously told Insider that the couple got into a fight on June 1, 2021, after she found a stash of pills and confronted Trevor — who had been sober for several years at the time — about relapsing. Durr said Trevor chased her around the house and hit her after the confrontation.
One of Durr's friends told police about the fight, and deputies came to the house to question her, she said, but she refused to talk to them.
Durr said Trevor checked himself into rehab and stayed with his mother in Memphis, and upon completing the program, he learned that there was a warrant for his arrest, and made plans to turn himself in when he returned to Rankin County.
Trevor's grandfather called police to their home
McKinley returned to Mississippi in August and tried to turn himself in, his father, Shannon McKinley, previously told Insider, but the sheriff's department told him he would have to get a negative COVID-19 test first.
On August 21, 2021, McKinley's grandparents planned to take him and his kids to a lake to spend one last day together as a family before he turned himself in.
Sonny Quarles, Trevor's grandfather, previously told Insider that Trevor became irate when he asked him to put some drawers that he had removed back in place. Quarles said Trevor threw him to the ground.
Quarles said he called 911 because his wife, Charlene Quarles, began experiencing shortness of breath after the scuffle, but she recovered while he was on the phone, and he said he no longer needed assistance. Quarles said he called 911 a second time after Trevor began "cussing again," but he couldn't remember if he said that Trevor had hit him.
When deputies arrived, they came "flying up in the yard," Charlene Quarles previously told Insider.
"They jumped out of the car, didn't say one word, show nothing. One went for the front door, one went for the kitchen door," she said.
A few minutes later, Charlene Quarles said, she heard shots ring out as deputies shot her grandson inside the house.
In a press release after the killing, the sheriff's department said they were initially called to the home for a "medical call," but "a caller from the scene indicated that the call was a domestic disturbance," before deputies arrived.
According to the press release, deputies found Trevor hiding in the home's attic. When Trevor fled from the attic, he turned and fired multiple shots at deputies with a handgun, according to the release.
A Mississippi Bureau of Investigations report obtained by Insider said deputies told investigators that they also tried to use a Taser on McKinley as he fled.
Charlene Quarles previously told Insider that she believes her grandson hid from the deputies because someone from the sheriff's office threatened Trevor with violence if he didn't turn himself in.
"Trevor knows how they work up there," Quarles said. "He's been up there many times in his life, and he knows they do that. They're famous for roughing people up."
McKinley speculated that his son may have fired his gun because the electricity of the Taser caused his muscles to tense when it struck him.
Sheriff's deputies who shot Trevor apparently didn't write incident reports
Insider sued the sheriff's department in July 2022 for Rankin County Sheriff's Department incident reports related to McKinley's death.
The department's attorney only provided two incident reports related to the case in January 2023, after the grand jury reached a no-bill. Both reports were written by sheriff's deputies who arrived after McKinley was shot.
The first report, written by deputy Allison Defour, simply says that Defour arrived on scene after the shooting and "roped off an area across the front yard and up the side of the house" and "began a crime scene log of those that entered/exited the residence."
The second report, written by deputy Craig Williams, said Williams heard on his radio that two patrol cars were on a medical call that "turned into a domestic disturbance."
"The suspect was Trevor McKinley and was hiding in the attic," Williams wrote. "Dispatch advised there is an active felony warrant on Trevor. I then heard radio traffic of shots fired and responded to the scene."
Williams wrote that he identified himself to "deputy Pickle and deputy Little" as he entered the house.
The sheriff's department did not respond to Insider's request for comment about if the deputies involved in the shooting did not write incident reports and what the department's policy is on when to write a report.
5 deaths in 8 months
McKinley's death is one of five deaths involving Rankin County sheriff's deputies over an eight-month period in 2021. Insider sued the sheriff's department in July 2022 for records related to three of the deaths, including McKinley's. Insider previously reported the deaths of Cory Jackson and Damien Cameron.
Jackson died inside the Rankin County jail in May 2021 after deputies arrested him while he was having hallucinations and refused to drive him to the hospital, his family says. Cameron died in July 2021 after deputies chased him inside his home, Tased him, and knelt on his back for more than 15 minutes.
Deputies shot and killed Robert Rushton in December 2021 while responding to a call of a drug overdose. The sheriff's department said in a press release he was armed with two knives. The fifth man, Adam Coker, also died in the Rankin County Jail in September 2021.
No charges have been brought against deputies involved in any of the five cases. In October 2022, a jury declined to indict the deputies connected to Cameron's death.
'You're not following any kind of protocol'
Jackie McKinley said that when she tried to speak with Sheriff Bryan Bailey over the phone, she wanted to impress upon him that she thinks his deputies need better training.
"You're not doing things how they should be done, you're not," McKinley said. "You're not following any kind of protocol. You're just going willy-nilly killing people."
Damien Cameron's family has been in touch with McKinley's family since Trevor and Damien's deaths, talking and sharing experiences with each other, Jackie McKinley said. She said she hopes bringing attention to cases of police violence will lead to justice for others in the future.
"My son wasn't perfect, you know, he had a lot of demons and issues," Jackie McKinley said. "But he didn't deserve to die."