Eight-year-old Fanta Bility was leaving a high school football game with her family when three Sharon Hill police officers fired toward a vehicle they wrongly believed was connected to nearby gunfire. Police bullets struck four people in the crowd. Fanta was killed.
The shooting happened on August 27, 2021, outside the Academy Park High School football stadium in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania. Former Sharon Hill Police Officers Brian Devaney, Sean Dolan, and Devon Smith were working near the stadium as spectators were leaving the game.
According to WHYY reporting, all three officers fired their weapons after hearing gunfire in the area that was unrelated to the football game. They fired 25 shots at a black Chevy Impala they believed was the source of the gunfire. The vehicle was passing the exiting crowd, which included Fanta and her family.
The officers’ gunfire killed Fanta and wounded three other people, including her sister. Authorities later said they could not determine which officer fired the specific round that killed Fanta.
The case initially drew outrage because two teenagers involved in the earlier gunfire were first charged in connection with Fanta’s death. Those charges were later reduced after a grand jury investigation focused on the officers’ gunfire. The three officers were charged with manslaughter and reckless endangerment, and the Sharon Hill Borough Council voted to fire them shortly after the charges were filed.
In November 2022, Devaney, Dolan, and Smith each pleaded guilty to 10 counts of reckless endangerment. As part of the plea agreement, the more serious manslaughter charges were dismissed. NBC10 Philadelphia reported that the plea agreements came after consultations with Fanta’s family.
On May 5, 2023, the three former officers were sentenced to five years of probation, with the first 11 months to be served on house arrest. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that prosecutors had asked for jail time, while defense attorneys sought leniency.
Deputy District Attorney Doug Rhoads said in court that the officers displayed a “horrible amount of recklessness,” even if the outcome was unintentional. Judge Margaret Amoroso decided incarceration was not appropriate, citing the officers’ lack of prior criminal records, community service history, and what she described as no ill will in their actions.
Fanta’s family later reached an $11 million settlement in federal lawsuits over the shooting. The lawsuits alleged that Sharon Hill failed to properly train and supervise its officers and that police used excessive force when they fired toward the vehicle near the crowd.
The settlement also included non-monetary terms, including police training requirements, citizen advisory involvement, and plans to name a park after Fanta. In 2024, 6abc reported that Fanta’s family and local leaders introduced proposed legislation known as Fanta’s Law, aimed at requiring more firearms and use-of-force training for police.
For many people who followed the case, the outcome remains difficult to accept: three officers fired 25 rounds toward a crowd leaving a school football game, an eight-year-old child was killed, three others were wounded, and the criminal punishment ended with misdemeanor convictions, probation, and house arrest.
