JN / Agencies
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Washington police released images of the arrest of Deon Kay, an 18-year-old black man shot dead by a police officer on Wednesday in a neighborhood in southeastern Washington DC in the United States on Thursday.
Deon Kay, 18, was shot in the chest as he fled the police in a neighborhood in southeastern Washington DC where he lived.
The images from the camera installed in a policeman’s uniform show him chasing a first suspect, when Deon Kay appears to appear from behind a vehicle with a gun in his hand and the agent fires a shot that hits the young man in the chest.
The police command identified the officer as Alexander Alvarez, who joined the police forces in 2018, and said he has been on administrative leave since the incident.
The policeman said he fired before Deon Kay dropped the gun, which was found about 30 meters from where he fell, police chief Peter Newsham said at a press conference, admitting that “it looks like a long distance to shoot a weapon”.
The teenager was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police arrested two suspects and recovered two firearms and a third suspect managed to escape, the official said.
Deon Kay was “a known member of a neighborhood gang” and had “numerous” criminal records.
On Wednesday night, several dozen protesters protested in front of the police station in the neighborhood where the incident occurred to demand justice over what they see as a new action by excessive use of force by the police.
“In the current climate, not just in Washington but across the country, disinformation can potentially lead to disruption in our city and that is the last thing we want,” said the police chief to justify the spread of the images.
This case comes after months of protests in the United States against police brutality towards the black minority, whose main symbol is George Floyd, an African American asphyxiated by the police in late May in Minneapolis.
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