Phoenix police officers shot and killed a man inside a parked car July 4 in an incident captured on bystander video, sparking renewed protests in the Arizona city.
The video shows police threatening to shoot the man before firing a barrage of bullets into the vehicle. Police said the man was armed with a handgun, but his sister disputes that.
The Phoenix Police Department released video from a body-worn camera Monday afternoon from an officer who arrived on scene after the shooting. The video showed the officer wearing the camera reach into the car where the man was sitting and pull out a gun.
The Maricopa County medical examiner’s office has not released the man’s autopsy results and has not released information about the manner of his death.
The fatal shooting comes amid nationwide protests against police violence, and bystander video of the incident set off further protests in Phoenix on Sunday night outside a police station. The killing was the 28th officer-involved shooting in Maricopa County this year, according to CNN affiliate KPHO/KTVK.
Police eventually asked the protesters to disperse and they complied, and no arrests were reported, according to KPHO/KTVK.
“As we continue to see, they’re not hearing us, so we are going to be out here every day and we are going to utilize every disruptive, non-violent demonstration tactic that we have in order to make sure that they hear us loud and clear,” protester Jacob Raiford told the station.
Protesters walk along Encanto Boulevard on July 5 after Phoenix police shot and killed a man the previous day.
In a Facebook post, City Council member Carlos Garcia identified the man who was killed as James “Jay” Garcia. According to public records, James Garcia was 28.
Carlos Garcia criticized the police’s use of force in the incident and cast doubt on their description of events.
“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 on Facebook.
“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.”
Phoenix police are under scrutiny following the release of video from Saturday in which officers fatally shot a man inside a parked car.
Police said they received a 911 call on July 4 from a man who said he was stabbed in June and that the person responsible was back in the area threatening him, according to a statement from police Monday afternoon.
When police arrived, the caller told officers the man who stabbed him had a knife and another person had a gun. The man directed officers to a house where they found several people, including a man in a car on the driveway.
“Officers talked to the man for approximately 10 minutes, asking him to leave his car so they could secure the scene. He refused and eventually rolled up the windows and pulled out a gun,” police said in the statement.
“Officers ordered the man to drop the gun but he refused,” the statement read. “The man repeatedly told officers to shoot him and lifted the gun toward the officers. That’s when two officers fired their weapons.”
A video of the incident, posted to social media by relatives of James Garcia, shows at least four officers surrounding the car. One officer can be heard threatening to shoot the person in the driver’s seat if they don’t stop moving. Seconds later, another officer can be seen swinging an object into the passenger’s side of the car.
Around 10 shots can be heard on the video immediately after the sound of glass breaking. Garcia was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.
The bystander video does not show most of the 10-minute interaction between police and Garcia.
The body camera video released by police Monday shows the officer running toward the car where the man was shot as other officers stand around it, some with guns drawn. It said the officer arrived immediately after the shooting.
Two other officers are still pointing their weapons at the man in the driver’s seat, who appears slumped over. The video released by the department blurs his body.
The officer wearing the camera says, “Let me glove up,” and is seen putting on gloves. He asks where the gun is, and is told that it’s in the man’s lap.
The video shows the officer reach into the car through the shattered driver’s side window and lift out a black gun. He then shouts, “Gun is secure.”
James Garcia’s sister, Jacqueline Fernandez, said in a separate Facebook post that her brother was “unarmed sleeping in the car” when police shot him. Fernandez and another family member did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Phoenix Police Department said it is not releasing body-worn videos from the officers directly involved in the shooting until after all witness and officer interviews are completed, so as not to compromise its investigation.
Eric Levenson contributed to this report.
