'PUT THE KNIFE DOWN!'
Cops release harrowing footage on the moment Walter Wallace Jr is gunned down by Philadelphia officers as he swung knife
BODYCAM footage just released by Philadelphia city officials captures the moment that police officers fired several rounds at Walter Wallace Jr until he dropped to the ground.
The death of Wallace, a 27-year-old black man, on Oct. 26 lead to protests and unrest in ’s largest city.
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In the video footage released on Wednesday, Wallace appears walking out of a home with a knife in his right hand.
Cops demand that he “put the knife down.”
As Wallace walks to the street, people are heard shouting to the cops that “he’s mental.”
Two officers position their guns to shoot as Wallace walks onto the street.
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A woman then runs from the house to Wallace and attempts to grab him but he breaks loose.
officers tell the woman to stand back and other people try to hold Wallace back as the cops keep insisting that he drop the knife.
Then an officer says, “shoot him,” and moments later, the two cops with their guns drawn gun him down.
A woman screams, “You killed my son!” Running to him and then hurling an object at the shooters.
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The video also shows the moment that people turn Wallace onto this back, revealing blood spewing from his chest.
Next to him lies the knife.
The footage, along with recordings of the initial 911 call, were released “in the spirit of transparency to show we’re not hiding anything,” police commissioner Danielle Outlaw told the on Wednesday.
Wallace’s family members said they called 911 because he was experiencing a mental health crisis and did not ask for police to respond.
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Among the newly released 911 recordings is one in which a woman is heard telling the dispatcher that her brother has a history of violence and is hitting her parents and that they need a medic.
Wallace’s family think the cops did not have the proper equipment or training and do not want the police officers to face murder charges, their lawyer Shaka Johnson said last week.
“When you come to a scene where somebody is in a mental crisis, and the only tool you have to deal with it is a gun… where are the proper tools for the job?” Johnson said.
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Among the newly released 911 recordings is one in which a woman is heard telling the dispatcher that her brother has a history of violence and is hitting her parents and that they need a medic.
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Wallace’s family think the cops did not have the proper equipment or training and do not want the police officers to face murder charges, their lawyer Shaka Johnson said last week.
“When you come to a scene where somebody is in a mental crisis, and the only tool you have to deal with it is a gun… where are the proper tools for the job?” Johnson said.
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