Police in Raleigh, North Carolina have released body-cam footage of a police-involved shooting that sent protesters into the streets earlier this week amid rumors that a “little boy” had been gunned down.
In multiple YouTube videos posted Wednesday, Raleigh Police walked through the entirety of the foot chase and eventual shooting of 26-year-old Javier Torres. The department released the footage after pleading with residents “not to rush to judgment in this incident,” after a Facebook Live video claimed a boy holding a pizza had been the victim of the officer-involved shooting.
According to a video containing the body-cam footage, officers arrived to the scene after receiving calls of a man with a gun near a strip mall, and identifying a man who matched the description from the 911 call.
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Torres can be seen in one of the videos running away from two different cop cars, holding a pizza box and with a dark object sticking out from his pants pocket—which police identify as a gun.
An officer is then seen chasing Torres on foot, along with a police vehicle that attempts get into Torres’ path.
“Drop the gun! drop the gun!” the officer yells as he runs after Torres. “Drop it right now! Drop the gun!”
The video then cuts to the body camera of another officer running towards Torres in the backyard of a white house. As Torres approaches the oncoming officer, the video slows down and shows a dark object in Torres’ hand as he runs from the officers behind him.
“Mr. Torres comes running directly at the officer with the gun in his right hand,” the video states.
Torres is then shot, but the video does not make it clear which officer shot Torres—the one approaching him from the front or one of the two officers chasing him from behind.
“I'm unarmed, I'm unarmed,” Torres is heard yelling while on the ground, with two officers surrounding him. He then wails in pain. “Ah, fuck!”
Footage is slowed-down again to show a dark object shaped like a gun lying in the grass not far from Torres and the other two officers.
One or two officers are then seen staying by Torres’ side until emergency medical services arrive, with the video claiming that the officers were rendering aid at that point.
The videos posted on YouTube came after protesters reportedly burned flags and chanted that the police department was like the “KKK.” One person was arrested during the demonstrations.
