Jury finds that 96 Liverpool fans 'unlawfully killed' in Hillsborough disaster

Many things went wrong on that day in April of 1989, most notably police negligence, according to a jury.

By Roger Gonzalez

Apr 26, 2016 at 1:36 pm ET • 2 min read

The Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 people were killed and hundreds more injured in 1989 at an English soccer match when part of the stands collapsed, saw a huge and long-awaited development arrive on Tuesday. Per the Liverpool Echo, a jury of nine found that the Liverpool fans were unlawfully killed.

Per BBC, on April 15, 1989, fans attending an FA Cup semifinal match between Liverpool and Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough stadium packed the west stands as police errors and more caused the disaster. Hundreds of people were crushed at the stadium as 2,000 fans flooded to an already-packed area of the stadium behind the west goal.

The questions answered by the jury at the Hillsborough inquest. pic.twitter.com/WfEycXOTZt
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) April 26, 2016

David Duckenfield, the South Yorkshire police commander who was in charge the day of the disaster, admitted last year that his failure to close a tunnel lead to the overcrowded section that collapsed, per The Guardian.

From the Liverpool Echo:

This is the truth about Hillsborough - 96 Liverpool fans were unlawfully killed after a series of failures.

The Liverpool fans who died in the disaster were victims of gross negligence at the hands of match commander David Duckenfield, the inquest jury today concluded .

In a landmark verdict the inquests jury said those who died in the disaster had been killed unlawfully.

The decision - which sparked cries of joy in the packed courtroom - could now pave the way for criminal action following the inquests.

Revealing their decision just after 11am, the jury said the 96 victims were unlawfully killed.

The courtroom heard there were major omissions in the 1989 operational order, and that police response to increasing crowds outside the ground was "slow and uncoordinated"

According to BBC, the jury concluded the following:

Police errors caused a dangerous situation at the turnstiles

Failures by commanding officers caused a crush on the terraces

There were mistakes in the police control box over the order to open the Leppings Lane end exit gates

Defects at the stadium contributed to the disaster

There was an error in the safety certification of the Hillsborough stadium

South Yorkshire Police (SYP) and South Yorkshire Ambulance Service (SYAS) delayed declaring a major incident

The emergency response was therefore delayed

Sheffield Wednesday failed to approve the plans for dedicated turnstiles for each pen

There was inadequate signage at the club and misleading information on match tickets

Club officials should have requested a delay in kick off as they were aware of a huge number of fans outside shortly before the game was due to start

As you can imagine, it's been a long time coming for family members of the victims, who as you can see below, were thrilled at the news. Now they must await legal action to take place for those responsible.