Morgan London Rankins
Birth date:
August 25, 1986
Death date:
February 23, 2017
Age at Death:
30
About
Born in Austin, Texas, and living there her whole life, Morgan London Rankins had many goals and aspirations for her successful life ahead. From a very young age she understood the value of life after surviving kidney cancer at age 3. One of her biggest dreams was to make a name for herself in the music scene, starting to write music and becoming more involved in the creation of hip hop music. Despite struggling with mental illness, she was still a very bright student, achieving a psychology degree from Huston-Tillotson University in 2016. Continuing her path of creating music for a living, she was enrolled in Austin Community College to pursue a degree in Commercial Music Management. She was very involved in her faith, being baptized at the age of 10, and had very positive relationships with her parents, grandparents, brother, cousins, and numerous friends.
Austin officers' encounter with Rankins began when 911 dispatchers received two calls from Rankins' grandparents' address. When officers arrived at the house, a Dodge Charger reversed out of the driveway and turned around in the street, and then accelerated towards the officers causing them to jump out of the way. Then Morgan sped away, causing a car chase that ended with her crashing into a pole after nearly swerving into another officer. The police officer approached the car with his gun drawn. Then the officer shot 3 bullets at Rankins, two of them connecting with her chest, killing her. The district attorney claims that she had charged the officer with a knife.
Was justice served?
As of February 2021, justice for the death of Morgan London Rankins had not been served. The Travis County District Attorney's Office released a statement clearing the Austin police officer of any charges related to the death of Morgan. Despite drawing his gun before ever seeing a weapon, the use of deadly force was still somehow permitted.