In a heart-wrenching incident that has ignited outrage across Columbia, Missouri, Marquis Rivera, a 22-year-old facing a mental health crisis, was murdered by local police officers.
Despite multiple pleas for help, the tragic encounter on August 4th, 2023, ended with police blowing off Rivera’s kneecap, shooting him in the heart, and leaving his body outside for six hours with no medical attention. It was Rivera’s roommate who returned home from work to find his lifeless body covered in blood, according to the family.
Now, after a six month investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Columbia (Missouri) Police Department, the family of Marquis Rivera learned that charges will not be filed against the cops who killed him.
The announcement came as a blow to the Rivera family, who had been holding onto hope for justice for Marquis.
“We have the body cam footage from the first initial call Marquis made, and we have body camera footage when they killed him. There’s not one point in the body cam footage where we seen Marquis shoot at the officers,” said Marquis’ sister Katiana in a now-viral TikTok that has over 1 million views.
“And this is the problem. The problem is they had a lack of care, of compassion, and negligence when it came to Marquis. If someone calls the police and asks for help because they are having a mental health crisis they are supposed to get that help, he wanted help and that was not given to him,” Katiana continued in the video.
Following the murder of Marquis, Columbia city officials asked the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) to investigate the shooting per their controversial department policy.
The MSHP is the same agency that investigated and found KCPD’s execution of Black man Malcolm Johnson as justified, despite the fact he was being pinned down by 4 cops and one cop shot him in the head from point blank range. It is also the agency that investigated and never penalized Kansas City cop Blayne Newton who has murdered at least three people that the public is aware of.
This past Friday, the investigation concluded with no charges filed in the murder of Marquis. According to the Columbia Missourian, Callaway County’s First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Benjamin Miller delivered the devastating news to Rivera’s mother Katuiscia Penette over the phone.
The shooting occurred after Rivera contacted Columbia (Missouri) multiple times to alert police that he intended to harm himself. Initial unsubstantiated police allegations claim that Rivera fired multiple times at the cops before the two policemen returned fire, none of the allegations of Rivera firing shots have been substantiated, and the family directly disputes that such an encounter ever occurred.
Family members of Marquis have spoken out after being notified that charges against the cops would not be filed. In the nearly ten-minute video posted by his cousin Janay on Tiktok, she provides a timeline of events detailing her cousin’s murder. Based on her account, the police reports are not only false but cover up the negligence and violence inflicted by the police.
In the video, Janay explains that Rivera contacted police on two separate occasions and informed them that he was having a mental health crisis. The first call was made at 3:07 p.m. According to Janay, two cops showed up to the apartment complex where Rivera was staying. During this initial interaction, one cop repeatedly questioned Rivera about his mental state while the other cop did not speak to Rivera at all. Janay emphasizes that during the nearly 20 minute interaction with the cop, Rivera can be heard clearly stating his intentions to self harm on multiple occasions.
Trigger Warning: video mentions suicide
Janay then explains Rivera provided the cop with contact information for his ex-girlfriend. During the phone call between the ex-girlfriend and the cop, the ex-girlfriend can be heard telling the cop that Rivera does have a gun to which the cop responds, “that’s interesting.”
Trigger Warning: video mentions self-harm
On the same phone call, the cop can be heard telling the ex-girlfriend that he has enough to take [Rivera] in for a 96-hour evaluation.
Trigger Warning: video contains an audio response to a mental health crisis
Janay continues explaining that when the cop returns to Rivera, he again questions him repeatedly about his mental state. Rivera, realizing the police were not going to be of any assistance, eventually informs the cop that he is fine and is going to go inside to play video games. The cop, instead of accounting for Rivera’s previous cries for help and taking him in for evaluation like he said he would, retreated and left Rivera alone.
Moments later, at 3:57 p.m Marquis Rivera called Columbia Police again with a mental health crisis. The same cops from the previous interaction showed up again.
When police arrived on the scene, Rivera was armed. However, as Janay explains in the TikTok video, police body cam footage shows that Rivera discarded his gun and even lifted his shirt to show his waistband to let the cops know that he was unarmed. Rivera, according to Janay, “didn’t want to be here anymore” and was pleading for the cops to shoot him. During the exchange, as Janay continues to explain, the cops spoke to Rivera with “the utmost sarcastic and heartless demeanor”. According to family members, Rivera was left unarmed during this stand-off for 15 minutes without proper intervention.
According to Janay, body cam footage also shows that during this stand-off, the cops allowed Rivera to walk away, run to retrieve the gun he had previously discarded, collect bullets from inside his apartment, and return back to the stand-off. While family members do confirm that Rivera shot into the air, Janay further explains that based on the body cam footage their family has, the video shows no evidence of Rivera firing at officers.
Janay describes that the officers “blew off his entire knee cap” rendering him disabled before shooting Rivera in the heart.
Janay concludes the video with more disturbing details, stating that the cops left Rivera lifeless on the ground for six hours. It was Rivera’s roommate who returned home from work to find his lifeless body covered in blood.
The family has not released the video footage of the cops killing Rivera out of respect for his mother who has not seen the footage.
Marquis Rivera’s sister, Katiana Edwards, has organized a GoFundMe page in honor of Marquis Rivera in order to raise money for a lawyer and a private investigator as the family intends to sue the Columbia (Missouria) Police Department for negligence.
