Seneca police Lt. Mark Tiller shot and killed 19-year-old Zachary Hammond on 26 July 2015 in the parking lot of a Hardee’s restaurant in Seneca, South Carolina.[1][2] Hammond had driven there with his date, 23-year-old Tori Morton, whom an undercover officer posing as a buyer had lured to the lot to sell a small amount of marijuana; Morton sat in the passenger seat of Hammond’s Honda Civic as Tiller approached the driver’s side with his gun drawn.[1][2] Tiller fired twice as Hammond drove away, with one bullet entering his chest from the side and the other striking him from behind, according to an autopsy commissioned by his family.[1] Morton was later charged with possessing 10 grams of marijuana.[1]
Tiller said Hammond tried to run him over and that he fired in self-defence, but the dashcam video, released three months later, does not show Hammond aiming the car at him: Tiller had stepped into the car’s path and then back out before firing, and was no longer in danger of being hit when he shot.[1][2] In October 2015 Tenth Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams declined state criminal charges, concluding Tiller reasonably believed deadly force was his only way to avoid death or serious injury, while conceding the video was “troublesome” and that Tiller’s rush to the car had been improper procedure.[1][2]
A settlement, no admission
In March 2016 the city of Seneca agreed to pay about $2.2 million to settle the wrongful-death lawsuit brought by Hammond’s family.[3] Adams’s exoneration stood, and a Justice Department review of the shooting was still under way.[3]
