(CNN) — Phoenix police officers shot and killed a man inside a parked car on July 4 in an incident recorded in a video by passers-by, prompting new protests in Arizona city.
The video shows police threatening to shoot the man before firing a volley of bullets at the vehicle. Police said the man was armed with a gun, but his sister denies it.
The Phoenix Police Department released a video of a camera on the body of an officer who arrived on the scene after the shooting on Monday afternoon. The video showed the agent using the camera to reach 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 released no information on how he died.
Police finally asked the protesters to disperse and they complied, and no arrests were reported, according to KPHO / KTVK.
“As we continue to see, they are not listening to us, so we are going to be here every day and we are going to use all the disruptive and non-violent demonstration tactics we have to make sure we are heard loud and clear,” said protester Jacob Raiford. to the station.
Protesters on Encanto Boulevard in Phoenix.
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In a Facebook post, City Council member Carlos García identified the man who was killed as James “Jay” García. (The two do not appear to be related.) According to public records, James Garcia was 28 years old.
Carlos García criticized the use of force by the police in the incident and questioned his description of the events.
“We are not surprised that despite all the scrutiny from the Phoenix community, the Police Department continues to respond violently to calls. But we must all continue to ask for transparency and responsibility, “he wrote in Facebook.
“The department also issued a premature statement omitting facts about the case. We cannot allow dishonest narratives to be constructed by violent departments. We will continue to call for independent investigations into shootings involving police. ”
Phoenix police are under scrutiny following the release Saturday of a video in which police shoot a man to death inside a parked car.
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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 release from the police on Monday afternoon.
When the police arrived, the caller told officers that 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 in the driveway.
“The police spoke to the man for approximately 10 minutes and asked him to leave his car in order to secure the place. He refused and eventually rolled down the windows and pulled out a gun, ”police said in the statement.
“The police ordered the man to drop the gun, but he refused,” the statement said. “The man repeatedly told officers to shoot him and raised the gun at officers. It was then that two policemen fired their weapons. “
A video of the incident, posted on social media by family members of James García, shows at least four officers surrounding the car. A police officer can be heard threatening to shoot the person in the driver’s seat if he does not stop moving. Seconds later, another officer can be seen swinging an object on the passenger side of the car.
About 10 shots can be heard in the video immediately after the sound of glass breaking. Garcia was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.
The passer-by video does not show most of the 10-minute interaction between the police and Garcia.
The video of the camera on the body published by the police on Monday shows the policeman running towards the car where the man was shot while other officers surround him, some with weapons drawn. He said the agent arrived immediately after the shooting.
Two other officers are still pointing their weapons at the man in the driver’s seat, who appears to be slumped. The video released by the department blurs his body.
The policeman using the camera says, “Let me put on gloves” and he is seen putting on gloves. He asks where the gun is and they tell him it’s on the man’s lap.
The video shows the officer reaching the car through the broken driver’s side window and pulling out a black pistol. Then he yells, “The gun is safe.”
James García’s sister Jacqueline Fernández said in another publication of Facebook that his brother was “unarmed sleeping in the car” when the police shot him.
Fernández and another family member did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Phoenix Police Department said it will not post camera-recorded video of the bodies of officers directly involved in the shooting until all interviews with witnesses and police have been completed, so as not to compromise their investigation.