Philadelphia Shooting – “I have watched the video of this tragic incident, and it presents difficult questions that must be answered,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said.
Police in Philadelphia shot and killed a black man, sparking protests in which at least 30 officers were injured, officials said.
Police said they were 27-year-old Walter Wallace Jr. after responding to a call about a man with a knife.
Responding agents ordered Wallace “multiple times” to drop the knife “multiple times”, and he stayed “towards them,” according to a statement. They then fired their guns “several times”, shooting him in the chest and shoulder, and he was pronounced dead in hospital just after 4:00 pm, the statement added.
Wallace recently married and had seven children and one on the way, according to a statement made by his cousin Carnell Hurley on behalf of his family. According to Hurley, the victim was shot in front of his mother and brother.
Hurley cooperated to exclaim in the statement that Wallace was “at least six yards” from the police and that they “fired a dozen shots.”
The violence in Philadelphia follows the deadly shooting of the black man with a knife by police. A video capturing the incident and posted to social media shows him walking past two police officers with their weapons drawn. The police seem to be yelling at Wallace to put down a knife, but no blade is visible in the video.
Wallace was shot in the shoulder and chest. One of the officers then placed him in a police car and drove him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after, Little said.
Hundreds of people took to the streets to protest the Monday through Tuesday shooting, in which interactions between protesters and police sometimes turned violent, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The video showed many screaming and crying at the agents.
The police officers’ races were not immediately confirmed. The shooting took place in a predominantly black neighbourhood in West Philadelphia. The Inquirer reported that dozens of protesters gathered in a nearby park and chanted “Black lives matter.”
It is unknown what happened before the recording began.
“I have watched the video of this tragic incident, and it presents difficult questions that must be answered,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement.
Wallace’s father, Walter Wallace Sr., told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his son had mental health problems and was taking medication.
“Why didn’t they use a Taser?” the paper quoted Wallace’s father as saying. “His mother was trying to defuse the situation.”
The Special Investigations Unit of the Philadelphia District Attorney and the Officer-Involved Shooting Investigation Unit involved by the officers of the Philadelphia Police Department are investigating Wallace’s shooting.
Monday evening, protesters gathered and marched across town. Subsequently, the shops were looted. The video posted on social media showed people throwing objects at police officers wearing helmets and shields.
Some police officers were injured after throwing stones and bricks at them, police said.
Police handcuffed a protester after he attacked a mob in West Philadelphia on Tuesday morning. After the shooting, a pickup truck struck a 56-year-old policeman who was hospitalized with a broken leg and other injuries, a police statement said.
Video on social media showed a line of cops wearing helmets as the truck turned a corner and hit the cop.
More than 20 people have been arrested for looting in various locations, police said in a separate statement obtained by NBC Philadelphia.
