El Cajon, Calif., police released two short videos of the shooting death of Alfred Olango, on Friday, “for the sake of the well-being of the community,” USA Today reports. One of the videos shows the unarmed black man backing away from a police officer before he was fatally shot Tuesday night.
El Cajon Police Chief Jeff Davis said during a news conference Friday that he decided to release the video in conjunction with San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells. The city had been rocked by protests—some of which turned violent—since Olango’s death on Tuesday.
“This was done in the spirit of community calm and peace,” Davis said. He named Officers Richard Gonsalves and Josh McDaniel in the conference and noted that they were both 21-year veterans of the force. He acknowledged that Gonsalves fired his weapon and McDaniel used a Taser. Davis also noted that he thought it prudent to release the videos “because the aggression of some of the protesters was escalating to the point where it was necessary.”
Both videos are short. One is surveillance video from a restaurant next to the shooting scene; the other is cellphone video shot by a restaurant employee from virtually the same angle.
In the first video Olango, 38, is seen backing away from Gonzalves and then moving to the side before the video goes black. In the second video, Olango is seen backing away from Gonzalves before four gunshots are heard and a woman is heard screaming.
The Associated Press provided a detailed breakdown of the shooting and noted that Olango raised his hands in front of him to chest level (what officers on Wednesday termed a “shooting stance”) and that Gonsalves then shot him four times in quick succession, after about 40 seconds. Olango collapsed to the ground.
Right before the fatal shots were fired, Olango’s sister, who had called police three times because her brother was in mental distress, entered the frame. A woman, most likely the sister, was heard saying, “Officer, don't shoot him!”
Those words are eerily reminiscent of those said by Keith Lamont Scott’s wife, Rakeyia Scott, in Charlotte, N.C., who can be heard on video screaming for officers not to shoot her husband—to no avail.
Read more at USA Today and the Associated Press.