The family of a 23-year-old man fatally shot by a city police officer demanded Friday that the police provide more information about the shooting.
Police have refused to provide the police report or other information about the Dec. 4 shooting of Coby Brown Fells Point, family members said.
“We want to know why it happened, how it happenedand if it had to happen,” said Thomas K. Smith, Brown?s stepfather.
“We really want to see the police report and learn if there was anything that could be done to prevent it.”
The Uhuru movement, a black activist organization, joined Brown at a news conference at the site of the shooting to call for more information.
“We want to know why the officer that shot Colby was the third on the scene,” said Nnamandi Lumumba, a member of Uhuru Movement.
“If the other officer had the situation under control, why did the third officer on the scene shoot Coby?”
The shooting occurred after an evening armed robbery of point Burger King on Eastern Avenue.
Officers responding on foot chased Brown after he was spotted in the vicinity and identified as a suspect, police said.
“The third officer was in a car, the other two officers on foot,” said Sterling Clifford, spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department. “The third officer was able to catch up with the suspect faster.”
Clifford said the officer had no choice but to shoot Brown because the suspect pointed a gun at him.
“It?s simple: If you point a gun at an officer, you give him no other options,” Clifford said.
Police saidBrown had the money stolen from the Burger King.
Lumumba said the number of police shootings this year ? 32, including 13 fatalities ? raises questions about the use of force. Last year, police shot 15 suspects, killing five.
“If you are black in this town, you are treated like suspect,” Lumumba said.
He demanded an investigation into the past relationship between Brown and the officer who shot him. “We heard they a past history of negative encounters,” he said, citing sources in the neighborhood where the shooting occurred.
Clifford said department policy prohibited releasing police reports until 30 days after the incident.
