A video of an officer shooting a man in a parked car sparked protests against the police department in Phoenix, Arizona.
The viral video shows four Phoenix police officers circled around a white vehicle on Saturday with a man inside. In the footage, which was filmed by a bystander, one officer can be seen with his gun drawn, yelling commands into the vehicle, including, “Hey, stop f—ing moving. I will f—ing shoot you.” Bystanders told the officer, “Don’t shoot him.”
After a moment passed, the officer fired several shots into the vehicle. What happened immediately before the officer fired the weapon is unclear as the bystander pointed the camera away from the situation just as the officer fired the weapon. The man inside the vehicle died as a result of the shooting. Police have not officially released the name of the man, but Phoenix City Councilman Carlos Garcia and several others have identified him as James Garcia.
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
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.
Fortune also said that the shooting was being investigated internally and that any witnesses who may have additional footage should notify the department.
“This is an ongoing investigation, and we would like to have anyone with information or video evidence to contact the Phoenix Police Department. These are complex investigations, and any additional information will be looked into,” she said.
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.”
Protests have been taking place across the nation against police brutality and racial injustice following the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died after an officer knelt on his neck for several minutes during an arrest in Minneapolis.
