The following statement is attorney Nana Gyamfi on behalf of Ms. LaTisha Nixon, mother of Gemmel Moore who died in Ed Buck’s apartment on July 27, 2017:
“On behalf of LaTisha Nixon, the family of Gemmel Moore and myself, I want to express our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Timothy Dean found dead in Ed Buck’s apartment.
“We are heartbroken. We are sickened. We are outraged.
“This was an avoidable tragedy. We are clear that this Black man’s death is the direct result of the failure of law enforcement and District Attorney Jackie Lacey to charge and prosecute Ed Buck for the murder of Gemmel Moore and the crimes he committed against all of his victims.
“Ms. Nixon and I warned sheriff’s department homicide detectives in every one of our meetings with them that Ed Buck would kill again if they did not stop him. Instead of heeding our warnings and following the leads we presented to them, they spent our meeting time alternatively trying to convince us that there was not evidence to charge Ed Buck with a crime or that even if there was enough evidence, the charges would not worth pursuing. Deputies continually and consistently ignored every witness, every screenshot, every receipt produced from the extraordinary reporting by Jasmyne Cannick. They claimed they needed witnesses. Our office did the work to get prosecutorial immunity for witnesses – even though pundits proclaimed we’d never get it – and brought those witnesses to speak with detectives only to have them marginalized and dismissed.
“After our last meeting, in which detectives spent half of it discussing the murder of Natalie Wood, it was clear to Ms. Nixon and I that detectives were still not serious about the investigation of Gemmel’s death, and we left with a sinking feeling that the investigation was headed nowhere. Our worst suspicions were realized when District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced that no charges against Ed Buck would be filed regarding the death of Gemmel.
“We know that Ed Buck should have been charged with multiple felony counts for his actions against Gemmel, including felony murder. The distribution and administration of illegal drugs is a felony that might reasonably foreseeably result in death. Every time Ed Buck injected Gemmel with drugs, it was like he was holding a loaded gun to Gemmel’s head and playing Russian Roulette. The insistence by law enforcement and the District Attorney that there was insufficient evidence to charge Ed Buck would be laughable if it was not so disgusting and dripping with anti-Blackness.
“We know that Ed Buck has escaped any level of discomfort as a result of Gemmel’s death because of white privilege. If a young white man was found dead in a wealthy Black man’s apartment with syringes and drugs all around, that Black man would have been handcuffed and taken directly to jail. Ed Buck was not handcuffed. Ed Buck was not taken to the police station to answer questions or be forced to call his attorney for assistance. Ed Buck was not charged. Ed Buck has suffered no repercussions even though law enforcement was informed by our team that Ed Buck was continuing his predatory Tuskegee-like torture of vulnerable Black gay men. And now, another Black man died in Ed Buck’s apartment and he has still not been handcuffed, taken to a police station, or charged. I’m not sure how many Black men are required to die at the hands of Ed Buck before the system of alleged “law and order’ do their jobs.
“Frankly, I am convinced that there are more dead Black bodies that are attributable to Ed Buck’s predations, but one – Gemmel Moore’s – should have been enough.
“The family of Gemmel Moore demands that the sheriff’s department arrest and charge Ed Buck, and that the District Attorney prosecute Ed Buck, for two counts of felony murder and all additional counts related to his abuse and torture of Gemmel and other vulnerable Black men who have come forward. The complicity must end , and end today.”
