ALICIA ALL AMY ARLEN ASHE BECK BOY BREELAND CALEB COPS COP_1 COP_2 COP_3 CROWD DERKIN GOVERNOR_EAMONS JAVIER JESSE JOEY KERRY KID LYNDON MAN MAN_2 MIKEY MR_D MYRTLE PASTOR_JANAE PIERCE PRESTON PROTESTERS REED REPORTER REPORTER_1 REPORTER_2 REPORTER_3 RIVERA RUIZ SANDRA SHAMEEKA SHAWN SHERIFF_PLATT SHIRLANE STUDENT TAI TESS TOUR_GUIDE WOMAN PRESTON Previously on Shots Fired. ARLEN I killed Joey Campbell. Had Lieutenant Breeland not intimidated me, I would have come forward sooner. BREELAND You did this. JAVIER This is Ms. Hadad. It's gonna be a supervised visit. ASHE I've lost Kai. Breeland has to be behind this. SHERIFF PLATT Sweetheart. Every man, every available unit. Wake every son of a bitch up. PRESTON Preston Terry. REED You should know. Someone killed Breeland. COPS SHERIFF PLATT Come on! COP 1 I got these two! COP 2 Open up! Open up! PASTOR JANAE Agent Akino, something's going down at the Houses. We need you to get here. CALEB Ecklund! I got this. SHAMEEKA What is all this? CALEB Lieutenant Breeland was killed tonight. You know anything? SHAWN No. CALEB Okay, just stay inside, all right? COPS PASTOR JANAE This is America? MAN Yo, that's not right! PASTOR JANAE Navy SEALs showed more restraint raiding Bin Laden! COP 3 Back off! PASTOR JANAE Record him, record everything. What are you restraining him for? MAN All right, all right, man, take it easy. KID PRESTON Hey! What the hell is going on? WOMAN Boy, get back in the house. SHERIFF PLATT A murder was committed on my turf. You have no place here. ASHE Sheriff, this is excessive force bordering on harassment. SHERIFF PLATT A few hours ago, Lieutenant Breeland told his daughter he was coming over here to apologize to Shameeka Campbell. Now he's dead. You call it excessive, I call it thorough. PRESTON Wasn't he shot on his own property? SHERIFF PLATT After leaving here, we believe he was followed. ASHE So you don't know who did it? SHERIFF PLATT Somebody here knows something. And we're gonna come back here every day if we have to until somebody talks. COPS PRESTON I was trying to reach you all night. Deputy Carroll called. He was impressed by the way you handled that confession with Arlen. He wants us back front and center. Where were you? ASHE I went for a drive. Had to clear my head. PRESTON Can you think of anything your husband said recently that seemed out of character? SANDRA He said he was considering early retirement. It just came out of nowhere. I figured it was just midlife stuff. TESS Dad said something to me yesterday. He said that he was there when Joey Campbell was killed, and that he was trying to cover it up to protect the people who were with him. ASHE Did he say who he was trying to protect? TESS No, but he said he was also blackmailing someone. That he was just trying to make it right. SANDRA I-I'm sorry, I can't do this today. I'm sorry. SHERIFF PLATT It's okay, you just. If you want to know anything else, we'll have to do it another time. ASHE Thank you, ma'am, for your time. PRESTON Breeland should've been locked up, not murdered. ASHE What's done is done. We just need to focus on presenting to the grand jury. PRESTON How am I supposed to move to indict Beck now? Without Breeland's testimony, it'll be next to impossible to prove Jesse wasn't there to buy weed. ASHE I'll just have to get that guy Lyndon to talk. PRESTON He already said. He worked for Joey and he sold to Jesse. ASHE A grown man selling drugs for a kid? He lied his ass off. I just have to get him to admit it. ASHE You believe how hot it is today? LYNDON Yeah, global-ass warming. What the hell do you want? ASHE I was on the other side of the glass when you told that fairy tale at the Sheriff's office. The one about Jesse and Joey. Let me hear it again. LYNDON I sold weed for Joey. Jesse was a customer. The end. ASHE Except Jesse didn't get high and Joey stopped dealing. This really how you want to play this? Your boy Breeland ain't here to protect you. Go ahead, put hands on me. Give me an excuse to pay your ass back for that bunk-ass story you sold. LYNDON I'm just trying to do right. Keeping my job so I could stay on parole. But y'all seem to keep the thumb on us. ASHE Keep talking. LYNDON Breeland used my parole as leverage. Always sweating me when he needed favors. ASHE So you come into the sheriff's department lying on Jesse and Joey? That was a favor? I'm sure you want to do right after rolling over for a dirty cop. You were promised amnesty, you'll get it. I just need you to say all this on the stand. You lie up there, your ass is going straight back to jail. PIERCE How much of a role do you think race played in this? PRESTON A big one. PIERCE You want my advice? Stick to the facts. In this climate, race will make everybody uncomfortable. You'll lose the grand jury, whom I can assure you is gonna look a whole lot more like me than you or Beck. PRESTON You want me to ignore race in a civil rights case? He felt ostracized. It affected him when he approached Jesse. PIERCE Beck's actions are being presented to the grand jury, not his color, not Jesse's. PRESTON Race was a contributing factor. I can't ignore that. REPORTER 1 Mr. Terry, can you comment on the indictment? REPORTER 2 Mr. Terry, how do you feel about the government's case against Deputy Beck? PRESTON No comment. REPORTER 2 Wait, is this case more about justice or politics? JESSE What? I didn't do anything. BECK License and registration now. Get out. JESSE I'm sorry. BECK Out of the car! JESSE I'm sorry, all right? BECK Get out! PRESTON Is this video consistent with Deputy Beck's statement? ASHE No. During our initial interview, Deputy Beck said that after refusing to comply, Jesse eventually opened his car door. But in the video, it's clear that Deputy Beck physically pulls Jesse from his vehicle. PRESTON And did you ask him what prompted him to pull Jesse Carr over that day? ASHE Yes. Deputy Beck said he pulled Jesse over because he was a white guy in that neighborhood, and I quote, "A white guy in that neighborhood means drugs." PRESTON And were his suspicions correct? Was Jesse Carr in that neighborhood to buy drugs? ASHE Lieutenant Breeland, the first officer on the scene, reportedly located marijuana in the glove compartment. I believe this is false testimony. I believe Lieutenant Breeland planted the marijuana in Jesse's glove compartment in order to make an unlawful stop that resulted in murder look legit. PRESTON And did you investigate this theory? ASHE Yes. I discovered that Beck had threatened to come forward about abuses within the sheriff's department involving Lieutenant Breeland. This was shortly before the Jesse Carr shooting. I believe that Lieutenant Breeland planted the marijuana in order to control Beck and the situation. PRESTON And can you please explain to the jury why Lieutenant Breeland isn't here to testify to that himself? ASHE He's deceased. PRESTON Do you believe Lieutenant Breeland would testify that information if he were here today? ASHE Yes. PRESTON Thank you. BECK I swear I don't understand this. It's like a damn free-for-all for the prosecutor. Witnesses get to speculate, and I'm not even there or even get a chance to have my attorney. RIVERA It's-it's not a trial, it's a hearing. And you have something most others in your position do not. Once a cop says that he feared for his life, it's almost impossible to indict. Trust me. BOY ALICIA Oh! BOY Here. ALICIA Ooh. BOY KERRY Jeremiah! Christian! Boys, get back here! This is not. ALICIA Excuse me. Hi, he dropped this. It gets a lot easier, I promise. KERRY Thank you. ALICIA They're precious. SHERIFF PLATT Should any unrest break out, Menard County's on call in case we need backup. GOVERNOR EAMONS That's not why I asked you here. Have a seat. Sheriff, I trusted you with the Auxiliary Deputy program. It was your job to keep the volunteer deputies and the citizens of Gate Station safe. Regardless of the outcome of these grand jury proceedings, you failed miserably. SHERIFF PLATT Unfortunately, Lieutenant Breeland. GOVERNOR EAMONS Let's not scapegoat the dead. I'm demanding your resignation. SHERIFF PLATT Forgive me if I'm not exactly inclined to heed your demands, Governor. GOVERNOR EAMONS You'll heed, Sheriff. I'm personally committed to that. SHERIFF PLATT Why don't we just see what Arlen has to say about this? Governor. PRESTON Deputy Brooks, from your point of view, what was it like for Deputy Beck being the only black man on the force? CALEB I doubt it was fun for him, but he never complained. PRESTON And what about the tours? He never expressed his concern over a program where wealthy white men were patrolling poor black neighborhoods with your fellow police officers? CALEB Yeah. He hated it. Like, wanted to shut it down, and he wasn't alone. I thought it was messed up, too, but it wasn't about skin color. It was about right and wrong. PRESTON So you are testifying under oath that Deputy Beck never felt isolated, never felt outcast? CALEB Well, yeah, he felt isolated, but not just from the department. PRESTON Then from whom? CALEB The black community. I'm not saying the sheriff's office is some liberal utopia, but I know one thing white people never called Beck a sellout. PRESTON I think Pierce was right. Should've taken race out of it. When we walk into that courtroom, we're asking a jury to ignore whatever personal biases they carry. ASHE There's the law and then there's reality. Something just came on the news. MAN Any last words? BECK Uh, yeah. I finally got my license to shoot these crackers. MAN That's right. BECK Oh, man. MAN That's my boy. BECK No, no, you know I'm just playing, man. Uh, real talk, you know how hard I've worked for this badge, man. It just feels good to be able to do things the right way, you know, make a difference, treat people with respect. I'll make y'all proud. ASHE So what was that, the director's cut? A whole lot different than the first video your paper put out. SHIRLANE Beck's cousin reached out. He said he had a video of Beck calling white people "crackers." Our paper needed inroads online, so we paid him a thousand bucks for it. PRESTON And you just decided to release the most provocative part. SHIRLANE My editor insisted. PRESTON So why release the rest of the video? Your editor looking for more followers? SHIRLANE I posted it. I don't know if Beck is guilty or not, but if the media is gonna publicly lynch the man, I thought people should see it. RIVERA The release of the full video proves that my client is not a racist. As a matter of fact, Deputy Beck has been railroaded by the DOJ, and I suggest they drop this case and instead spend their efforts investigating the underbelly of corruption in Gate Station. PRESTON Hey, what's up? ASHE It's about Lyndon. Sheriff deputies caught him selling drugs. They said he was using the auto shop as a front. PRESTON That's convenient. ASHE Exactly. PRESTON We got to get him out. We got to get him on the stand. ASHE I tried. He's being processed. Also got himself a lawyer who says I coerced a testimony out of him. PRESTON You didn't, did you? ASHE What? PRESTON I'm sorry. I-I just have to wrap my head around this. He was my star witness. ASHE Guess you'll have to give a hell of a closing argument. PRESTON I thought these proceedings were about race. Maybe you thought these proceedings were about race. After all, isn't that what our justice system's always been about? Ever since the Jim Crow era, black men being sent to work camps for spitting on the sidewalk or making the god-awful mistake of looking a white man in the eyes. That isn't just the history of Gate Station. That is the history of this country. PRESTON We have a race-based justice system rooted in our biases, rooted in our prejudices. PRESTON It's that very same system that taught Deputy Beck to be the officer he was revealed to be the day he encountered Jesse Carr. JESSE Great. Po-po. Check this out. BECK You lost, boy? JESSE No, sir. PRESTON These proceedings are about the common sense facts of the case. BECK What are you doing in this neighborhood? JESSE Why did you pull me over? BECK 'Cause you don't look right JESSE I didn't realize it was illegal to be in this part of town. BECK Depends on what you're doing here. JESSE I came for some fried chicken. PRESTON Deputy Beck pulled over an unarmed young man, a young man who posed no threat of any kind. BECK License and registration. JESSE What? I didn't do anything! BECK License and registration now. PRESTON Yet Deputy Beck chose to escalate the situation. BECK Get out. JESSE Sorry. BECK Get out of the car. PRESTON See, the facts suggest that marijuana had been planted inside Jesse's vehicle in order to substantiate a stop that should have never been made in the first place. His civil rights were violated. Deprivation of rights as defined by law. And as a result, Jesse Carr lost his life. An indictment doesn't mean that an accused is guilty or innocent. It just means that there have been enough unanswered questions that have been presented to warrant a trial. History tells us that white jurors will empathize with the victim. JESSE I'm sorry, all right? PRESTON Black jurors will empathize with the shooter. BECK Get out of the car! PRESTON I'm asking you all to stop yourselves right now from doing that. JESSE Why? BECK Get out of the. PRESTON I'm asking you to empathize with a justice system that needs to answer our prayers for fairness, common sense. and humanity. That is what is at stake here, folks the humanity of our justice system. Because if Deputy Beck were a white cop who pulled over a black boy named Trayvon or Tamir or Emmett, I'd be asking for the same thing. I'd be asking for an indictment. MR D All right, here we go. PRESTON In about five minutes, the jury will be in their third hour of deliberations. MR D It's crazy how it all comes down to this. PRESTON What? MR D The fate of justice in the hands of 16 randomly selected people. PRESTON What about you? Still believe in the system? ASHE I've seen many a guilty man walk. PRESTON Makes you understand why people take matters into their own hands. ASHE But failure's not an option. Beck, then Arlen, then Platt. PRESTON Preston Terry. Thanks. Jury reached a decision. BECK Hey. KERRY Josh? BECK It's okay, it's okay.What's up? CALEB Josh, I'm sorry. I'm here to arrest you. KERRY No. CALEB They decided to indict. KERRY BECK Do you mind if I get a minute just to say good-bye? CALEB Yeah. BECK Thanks. KERRY Damn it, it's not right. You're a good person. You're a good man. BECK Hey, come here. CROWD BECK I'm glad it's you, man. MAN Pack him up and take him away. Don't bring him back. WOMAN Drive him away. REPORTER Excuse me, Ms. Carr, can you tell us what this means to you? ASHE You're supposed to be drinking champagne. PRESTON I don't feel much like celebrating. ASHE Yeah. Today, when you said you understand why people take matters into their own hands, what'd you mean by that? You have something you need to ask me? PRESTON You have something you need to tell me? ASHE Yeah. This is a mistake. PRESTON What is? ASHE This. Us. You know, I'd be hurt if you asked what it is you're questioning, but at least I'd respect you for having the guts to say it. PRESTON Ashe. Ashe, hold up. REPORTER It's been about three weeks since Deputy Beck's indictment. REPORTER 2 Deliberations have resumed in the case of the U.S. government versus Arlen Cox. CROWD PASTOR JANAE You must indict. Make it right, you must indict. REPORTER 3 Mr. Terry, care to comment? PASTOR JANAE Make it right. PROTESTERS REPORTER 3 Mr. Cox is the founding officer and Ceo. SHAMEEKA Joey had a crush on a girl from his class. Her mother insisted he come over for dinner, you know, so the family could get to know him better. Afterwards, he called to tell me that he could tell the girl's mother liked him, especially when he told her he wanted to enroll at NC St. State. I'm sorry. PRESTON It's all right. SHAMEEKA He wasn't sure the dad liked him, though, but he promised he would tell me everything when he got home. The girl lived about ten minutes away. An hour went by and I couldn't reach him. Soon after that, two cops, Breeland and Derkin, came over. And they told me my boy had been shot. They said they thought it was drug-related and they searched his bedroom. Then they said they recovered weed from my son's bedroom. I didn't believe them, but they said since the drugs were found in my home, that I could lose custody of my youngest son, Shawn. PRESTON Thank you, Ms. Campbell. No further questions. PIERCE Between Cory and Shameeka, we've had excellent witness testimony. Mr. Terry, we should rest. PRESTON Not yet. Not until I get Arlen on the stand. REED Mr. Terry. PRESTON Mr. Wyatt? What are you doing here? REED We need to talk. PRESTON What about? REED Breeland mentioned he was holding on to some sensitive info. Info your people should see. I don't know what it was, but I think he may have had a storage unit. PRESTON Where is it? REED I wish I could tell you. He wrote something about storage two different times in a calendar. I'll keep digging. With everything Breeland shared about the sheriff's department, I don't know who I can trust out here. PRESTON Let's keep this between us. CROWD MAN Can't hide behind your money now. ARLEN Lieutenant Breeland waved me out of the car and he ordered me to, to handcuff the young man. And I-I attempted to follow his orders. PRESTON And did you hear the young man screaming, "Somebody call my moms, somebody call my moms"? ARLEN Yes, I did. PRESTON And yet we are to believe that you were the one scared? ARLEN Well, he was a bit unstable. PRESTON So you think a person scared for his life should have a demeanor of stability? ARLEN No, I didn't say that. PRESTON Was he scared for his life, yes or no? Answer the question. Yes or no, Mr. Cox? ARLEN Yes! Yes, he was, as was I! I was frightened for mine. And whatever authority Lieutenant Breeland was attempting to impose, all he managed to do was to. was to get the poor boy more frightened, more violent, and he kicked me in my knee. And I, I-I-I wanted to discharge my Taser, and I reached for my gun by mistake. Yes, I was unstable. So was he. My God. BREELAND Hey! Come here! The hell you running for, Joey? JOEY Y'all like to crack heads. DERKIN Got any drugs on you? JOEY I'm not hustling anymore. BREELAND So are you a choir boy now? JOEY Are you? BREELAND You turn around and put your hands up there. JOEY For what? BREELAND 'Cause I asked you to. JOEY Why? Man, get off me! BREELAND You know the drill! JOEY Somebody call my moms! You got to tell me why! Somebody call my moms! ALL BREELAND Don't you resist me! JOEY Don't cuff me, man! BREELAND Stop resisting! JOEY Somebody call my moms! BREELAND Sir! JOEY Get off me! BREELAND Handcuff him for me. JOEY Please. BREELAND You can help cuff him now. Roll him over. JOEY Call my moms! Somebody! ARLEN Ow! Ow! JOEY Get off me, man! Let me go, man, come on! Somebody call my moms! Somebody call. DERKIN You shot him. Why the hell'd you shoot him? BREELAND Get in the car now. CROWD Somebody call my justice! Somebody call my justice! Somebody call my justice! Somebody call my justice! Somebody call my justice! Somebody call my justice! Somebody call my justice! Somebody call my justice! Somebody call my justice! PRESTON We, uh. We presented the best case we could. Unfortunately, the grand jury has decided not to indict Arlen Cox. CROWD PRESTON To Ms. Campbell, to all of you. I'm sorry. MYRTLE They're letting a murderer get off, same as they always do! Always! TAI We need to burn this place down! CROWD SHAMEEKA No! No! No, damn it, no! Look, now, some of y'all knew Joey. Some of y'all never even heard of him till he got killed, but you're here, so. I guess we're all in this together. MR D We're with you, sister. SHAMEEKA We need to step up, y'all. We need to step up! They got these cops right here to make sure we don't act the fool. But we need to step up before these cops act the fool on one of our kids again. We got to organize. Y'all want to honor my son. Y'all want to honor Joey. We cannot be a reactionary community. Not no more, y'all. Not no more. WOMAN America doesn't see us. MAN We're Americans, too. MAN 2 The system needs to be accountable to the people! PROTESTERS PRESTON It can't end like this. ASHE I know. I know. AMY How do you propose to bring the city and state together when so many people feel that the system is unjust? GOVERNOR EAMONS By working with community leaders, law enforcement, business owners, and educators. For example, after deep reflection on my part and some number crunching by my team, we are reinstituting the education initiative. AMY That would be the initiative funded by Cox Group Financial, correct? GOVERNOR EAMONS The Cox Group will no longer be affiliated with the initiative. I've reached out to some members of the community for support. It will still be privately funded, but I believe with an issue as precious as educating our children, the character of those who contribute is as important as the funds you receive. AMY Whoa, whoa, whoa. You may have just lost your most valuable campaign donor just one week before a very tough election, Governor. GOVERNOR EAMONS If I'm going to lose, I'll do so with clean hands. RUIZ We put a lot of work into this case. Let's lick our wounds and get the next one. PRESTON The next one is Sheriff Platt. RUIZ You don't have approval to pursue this. PRESTON I have evidence given to me by Deputy Beck that proves the training records have been falsified. RUIZ The falsified training records will be blamed on Breeland. It's time to move on, Mr. Terry. This is coming from the Deputy Supervisor. PIERCE For whatever it's worth, I don't get inspired much anymore. You inspired me. PRESTON I believe your husband may have a storage unit that could help the police locate his killer. TESS Yeah, we found the key. PRESTON You did? TESS Yeah, but we don't know the address. SANDRA My husband's lawyer asked us about it, but we felt more comfortable giving the key to the sheriff and asking him to look into it. He just left. We can call him if you like. PRESTON No, no, that won't be necessary. Thank you. PRESTON Mr. Wyatt, any progress on locating Breeland's storage unit? REED You mean the address I left with Akino? PRESTON What? REED At your hotel. She didn't tell you? PRESTON Actually, I. I just missed her call. If you have the address handy, can you text it to me? REED No problem. BREELAND He didn't know what the hell he was doing out there. I told him to cuff the kid and he shot him. SHERIFF PLATT Easy. Take it easy. As far as you know, it's a drug-related homicide. Stick with that story. Don't deviate under any circumstances. SHERIFF PLATT You got a warrant? Looks like breaking and entering to me. Put that weapon on the ground. PRESTON He recorded your conversation because he didn't trust you. I'm guessing it was for good reason. Maybe you stood for something once, but you covered up Joey's murder, you falsified training records, and you. you killed one of your men. You're going to jail, Sheriff Platt. SHERIFF PLATT Justice isn't won in the courtroom. It's won in the street. I'm on the front lines every day. And my guys are on the front lines every day, and I treat them as my family. And they're the only family I got. That's something to stand on. I'll take that recorder off your hands. PRESTON It's evidence. SHERIFF PLATT Inadmissible in court. ASHE Fortunately, we have a search warrant for this facility. Your good friend Governor Eamons helped us sift through the red tape. Put your weapon on the ground. You're under arrest. PRESTON Thank you. MAN Welcome. ASHE Any word from the powers that be about Platt? PRESTON Well, he admitted to falsifying training records and to covering up Joey's murder. But he wants a deal before discussing Breeland's death. ASHE These guys and their deals. PRESTON You know something? Breeland's gone, Beck and Platt are locked up, and I still don't know if we made Gate Station any better. ASHE You might never know. We just have to keep trying to save the world one case at a time. PRESTON We had our first dance here. ASHE We did. It was this close from becoming a barroom brawl. PRESTON I don't see any threat of that here now. ASHE Did you really think I was capable of killing Breeland? PRESTON It crossed my mind. ASHE That's what you think of me? PRESTON I just know how much your daughter means to you and how you'd do anything for her. But now I know what makes you different than the people we put away. ASHE And what's that? PRESTON You want to do good. You are good. ASHE Thank you for being there when there was no one else. PRESTON Yeah, well, somebody once told me partners got to have each other's back. ASHE Gonna miss you. PASTOR JANAE So the same grand jury that did the impossible- indicted a cop- let another man guilty of the very same crime roam free. CROWD PASTOR JANAE Rather than watching from the sidelines, we need to be active participants in the pursuit of justice. There needs to be more of us in the jury pool. In order for that to happen, we need to register to vote. We have our new friend Sarah Ellis who is here to help us organize that effort. MIKEY Pastor, I'd register to vote if you go run for something. CROWD MIKEY We can all vote! We can all vote! PASTOR JANAE I don't like to be put on the spot like that. And lastly, I extended an invitation to one of the deputies in the sheriff's department to come talk to us, and it appears that he's accepted. CROWD PASTOR JANAE Welcome, Deputy Brooks. CALEB Thank you. As Pastor Janae said, I'm Deputy Brooks. I know this won't happen overnight, but I think we should get to know the people of this community we're serving. And I think you should get a chance to know us. I love this town. I've lived here my whole life. ARLEN What is this? PRESTON A list of civil rights violations from inmates at your various correctional facilities. I'm never gonna rest, not until you get what you deserve. STUDENT is so much better. JESSE But Deadpool has got more. My bad, dude. JOEY No problem, man. TOUR GUIDE Anyway, does anyone have any questions so far? JOEY No. TOUR GUIDE All right, great, let's head to the student store.