Fifteen-year-old Derrick Grant, a Black male, was fatally shot on January 17, 2018, in North Charleston, South Carolina. The shooting followed an incident the previous day in which Quadarrel Lamont Morton reported his girlfriend’s 2013 Hyundai Sonata stolen after leaving it running with the keys inside at a store. Morton said he later saw the vehicle in his neighborhood and confronted Grant as the teenager approached the car with the keys.

Morton told a 911 dispatcher he fired after Grant reached into the vehicle; he said he fired once and then a second time when Grant reached again. Police found Grant inside the stolen car with a gunshot wound to the chest. A neighbor who witnessed the event said Morton took out a gun, aimed into the front seat, and shot. The North Charleston Police Department ultimately announced no charges would be filed, concluding the shooting was justified and there would be no further legal action against Morton.

What details about that day or the people involved might help explain how the situation escalated to deadly force?