At the time of his death, Perry was a recent graduate of
Phillips Exeter Academy in
Exeter,
New Hampshire, one of the most prestigious
preparatory schools in the United States. The revelation of this fact led to significant press coverage, much of it unfavorable to the police. The front-page headline of the
New York Post the next day was "COP KILLS HARLEM HONOR STUDENT". The
Village Voice suggested that Perry was shot because he was "too black for his own good", and
The New York Times wrote that "...the death of Edmund Perry raises painfully troubling questions". However, two witnesses backed up Van Houten's version of events, and the media frenzy was short-lived. Van Houten was cleared of any culpability in the shooting. Jonah Perry, an alumnus of the
Westminster School in
Simsbury, Connecticut, was later put on trial for assaulting Van Houten. He was found not guilty. The NYPD settled a wrongful death claim for $75,000 in 1989. Veronica Perry, the mother of both boys and their sister Nicol, died in the city six years later on October 22, 1991, of a heart attack aged 44. ==In popular culture==