Merritt stressed the importance of charging the officer in the case, something that rarely happens when unarmed black people are killed by police.
Balch Springs Police Chief Jonathan Haber announced Oliver's termination at a press conference Tuesday evening, according to The Dallas Morning News. The Dallas County Sheriff's Department and the Dallas County District Attorney's Office are handing the investigation of the shooting. Police arrived at the scene to investigate an underage drinking complaint and spotted the vehicle leaving.
Edwards and the others in the auto that he was traveling in were trying to leave the party when Oliver fired into the moving vehicle.
On Monday, Police Chief Jonathan Haber said body camera footage showed the auto was driving forward, away from the officers - not reversing toward them.
Jordan Edwards was a freshman at Mesquite High School.
The officer has not been identified.
Edwards' family said in a statement that while they were pleased that Oliver had been fired, they also "anxiously await this officer's. arrest for the crime of murder". Police say that as officers dispersed the party they heard gunshots outside.
Jordan Edwards, 15, was reportedly doing what any teen would be doing on a Saturday night: hanging out with friends. "Their young lives will be forever altered".
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Jordan Edwards' family's attorney, Lee Merritt, released the statement on his Twitter account, also asking people to follow the family's wishes to not protest, march or threaten officers.
"We have a dead 15-year-old with no causation on his part or anybody of the vehicle", Merritt said on Monday. Haber previously said the department was getting threats on social media in response to the shooting.
He added that the department was now waiting for the results of independent investigations being carried out by the Dallas County Sheriff's Department and District Attorney's Office. On Sunday, Haber told reporters that a vehicle began reversing toward officers in "an aggressive manner", and in defense, an officer armed with a rifle shot into the auto, hitting Edwards, who was sitting in the front seat. According to Lee Merritt, an attorney for the Edwards family, Oliver is already attempting to appeal the decision.
Edwards family spokesperson Mercedes Jackson said the initial reports that the boys were backing up toward police "in an aggressive manner" unfairly portrayed the children. They saw Jordan's body for the first time late Monday night, he said.
"In fact, according to the video that I viewed, the vehicle was moving forward as the officers approached".
Edwards' family was satisfied with the agent's dismissal, but said there was still "a long way to go" to achieve justice and asked for Oliver's arrest for murder.
"We are declaring war on bad policing", he said as Jordan's parents sat silently beside him, wiping their eyes with tissues and gazing downwards.
Sgt. Jon Craker of the Balch Springs Police Association declined to comment on Oliver, saying the chief had instructed officers not to speak publicly about the case.
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