January 12, 2023

DEMANDS FOR THE CITY OF DES MOINES, AFTER THE MURDER OF TREVONTAY JENKINS BY THE DES MOINES POLICE 

Around 12am on Christmas night, December 26, 2022, three DMPD officers; Noah Bollinger,  Zachary Duitscher, Thomas Garcia murdered a 16-year old Black child, he will be referred to as Black child for the duration of this press release. This Black child was murdered in his own home. While Black child’s mother was being restrained outside of the room where Black child, a minor, was surrounded by officers. Black child asked for his mother thrice and the police refused to let her be with her son. We belive the act of isolating Black children from their mothers is intentional and comes from the legacy of slavery. We belive policing was created to uphold cattle slavery and is a threat to Black life. The Des Moines Black Liberation Movement are demanding the body camera footage of Black child’s murder be released to the public and the Des Moines Police department be abolished. 

One of the officer on the scene of the heinous, racist, and heart breaking death of Black child had an existing relationship with Black child and knew about his struggles with mental health issues. Said police man informed other officers  that he knew Black child and allegedly had the situation under control. His counterparts chose not to leave and continued to escalate the situation. which resulted in the death of Black child. 

Black child’s brother was on FaceTime with a family member when one of the officers fired their gun at him. He fell to one knee, and wrapped his arms around himself. The other officers began shooting at him, firing a total of 14 shots at 16 year old Black child, murdering him in cold blood. 

One of the officers present, Thomas Garcia, was caught arresting people in their own homes during the first weekend of protests in the summer of 2020. He cornered community members in an elevator and became verbally and physically aggressive with protestors. Among them was an infant strapped to their mothers chest. Des Moines Black Liberation Movement demanded Garcia be fired after the incident. The Des Moines police failed to do so. 

This is the second son that this family has lost within two months. Black child’s older brother also lost his life to gun violence in the beginning of November. 

We are asking the community to surround this family that is deeply grieving with love and support. 

We ask that you rally behind them. We ask that you demand the county attorney Kimberly Graham release the body camera footage of Black child’s murder. 

We ask that you join us in efforts to abolish the Des Moines Police and reallocate their funds to community centers services for all marginalized peoples. 

We are demanding: 

• The public release of the body footage cam footage of Black child’s murder be released to the public, without any edits. 

• Immediate firing of Thomas Garcia Noah Bollinger and Zachary Duitscher 
  Victim services and financial compensation for the family of the deceased. 

• The abolition of the Des Moines Police department and reallocation of their funding to support community-centered proactive initiatives.