In the video below you see several officers surrounding a man in a parked car (parked because of the big police vehicle blocking it in) and at some point they fire on the man in the vehicle.
My friend’s cousin was killed today while sleeping in his OWN driveway by Phoenix PD. He was unarmed and shot at close range. Please share so we can get him justice. #justiceforjames pic.twitter.com/5C9CupUmqi
— jess (@heybtwj) July 5, 2020
The people recording the video across the street act like this is some grave injustice. Indeed the tweeter claims that his friend’s cousin was only ‘sleeping’ in his own driveway and was ‘unarmed’.
But this is what police say, according to DC Examiner:
According to the Phoenix Police Department, officers were responding to a call about a man who had previously been reported for aggravated assault returning to the scene with a knife. Four officers responded to the scene after they were directed by the caller to the address where Garcia was seated in his vehicle. When the officers told Garcia to exit the vehicle, he refused and brandished a gun.
The man refused to drop the gun and began to raise it toward the officers. As he moved the gun toward the police, one officer bashed in the passenger seat window to distract Garcia while two other officers fired into the vehicle, the department said.
Phoenix Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. Mercedes Fortune told the Arizona Republic that Garcia was not asleep in his vehicle, as some protesters have claimed.
“The suspect was not asleep in the vehicle. He armed himself, which is what lead to the officer-involved shooting,” she said.
It’s pretty much what I suspected happened. The guy was going to shoot an officer so they were forced to fire on him.
The police are doing their own investigation, however, which is standard when someone gets killed. Protesters are demanding the body-cam footage, as if it will tell a different story:
On Sunday, dozens of protesters gathered to demand justice for Garcia after the video was posted online. The protesters have demanded that the department release any body camera footage that was recorded. Councilman Garcia said in a post to Facebook he was not surprised by the shooting and demanded an independent investigation into it.
“It does not shock us that despite all the scrutiny from community Phoenix PD continues to respond violently to calls. But, we must all continue to ask for transparency and accountability,” he wrote. “The department also issued a premature statement leaving out facts about the case. We cannot allow for dishonest narratives to be built by violent departments. we will continue to call for independent investigations into officer involved shootings.”
Right now it’s just dozens of protesters, but I expect that to increase quite a bit in this anti-cop environment, especially when you have people who were there claiming the guy was ‘asleep’ and ‘unarmed’.
UPDATE: Here’s Police body cam footage released showing a gun being pulled out of the vehicle:
Definitely a gun. Maybe a Smith and Wesson, but I’m not sure. Either way, exactly what the police said it was.