The Philadelphia Community Is Outraged After Police Killed A Man In Front Of His Mother

The people of Philadelphia are angry tonight following a deadly police shooting in West Philly. Witnesses looked on as police gunned down a 27-year-old man with a knife right in front of his mother.

Authorities are now looking into the incident, which was caught on video. Police were initially called to the scene around 3 p.m. for a report of a man with a weapon. 

Police can be heard in the video ordering the man to drop his weapon several times and even telling his mother to move out of the way as they prepared to fire on him. The man, who was pronounced deceased at a nearby hospital, was later identified as Walter Wallace.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

The people of Philadelphia are angry tonight following a deadly police shooting in West Philly. Witnesses looked on as police gunned down a 27-year-old man with a knife right in front of his mother. __________ Authorities are now looking into the incident, which was caught on video. Police were initially called to the scene around 3 p.m. for a report of a man with a weapon. __________ Police can be heard in the video ordering the man to drop his weapon several times and even telling his mother to move out of the way as they prepared to fire on him. The man, who was pronounced deceased at a nearby hospital, was later identified as Walter Wallace. __________ Witnesses say the man was not charging at police and critics of the officers involved are questioning why less lethal force wasn’t used to get the man to–click the link in our bio to read more. Search the hashtags for the full video. 📹: @nogunzone

A post shared by The Shade Room (@theshaderoom) on Oct 26, 2020 at 6:47pm PDT

Here is the full video of the police shooting:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

I’m heart broken to see it. I’m heart broken to have to share it. It’s missing so much context but the story is the same. This man was in clear visible mental health crisis. You can tell from the way the community is responding to him. He was non verbal. He was aggressive. He was not complying to police commands and he was not going to. The police who were brought into this situation had no idea how to deescalate or diffuse the crisis. Many police somehow find the capacity to disarm and diffuse hostile situations involving white people but “blacks” are policed differently— from the onset this was going to end badly. We don’t need more police. This whole unit that trapped and executed this man needs to be dismantled. These men that made this irreversible decision to execute this man in the streets need to be prosecuted. If they weren’t prepared to deal with a man in crisis despite having him outnumbered, surrounded, equipped with tasers, batons, cuffs, pepper spray, time, group tactics, family prepared to participate in getting this man some help … they should have stayed at home. Now they are criminals— murderers. Not police. They are apart of the problem.

A post shared by S. Lee Merritt, Esquire (@leemerrittesq) on Oct 26, 2020 at 2:39pm PDT

Witnesses say the man was not charging at police and critics of the officers are questioning why less lethal force wasn’t used to get the man to comply with their orders.

Police are looking to talk to eyewitnesses about the shooting. There were also unconfirmed reports circulating that Wallace may have been autistic.

According to NBC Philadelphia, investigators said the officers involved were wearing body cameras which will be part of the investigation.

In a response to the shooting, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner announced his office’s Special Investigation Unit will be part of the investigation of this police shooting.

“The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office takes its obligation to try to be fair and to seek evenhanded justice seriously,” Krasner said. “The DAO Special Investigation Unit responded to today’s fatal shooting of a civilian by police shortly after it occurred, and has been on scene with other DAO personnel since that time investigating, as we do jointly with the PPD Officer-Involved Shooting Investigation Unit, in shootings and fatalities by other means involving police.”

Later on Monday night, angry citizens took to the streets of Philly to protest. We’ll keep you posted on any updates.

Want updates directly in your text inbox? Hit us up at 917-722-8057 or  click here to join!