Protests erupt in Philadelphia after black man shot dead by police
Video report by ITV News Washington Correspondent Robert Moore
The fatal police shooting of a black man in Philadelphia, after officers yelled at him to drop his knife, has sparked a wave of protests
The 27-year-old, identified as Walter Wallace, was shot just before 4pm in Cobbs Creek, a predominantly black neighbourhood, as officers responded to a report of a person with a weapon, police spokesperson Tanya Little said.
Officers ordered Wallace to drop the knife, but he instead “advanced towards” them. Both officers then fired “several times,” Little said.
Wallace was hit in the shoulder and chest. One of the officers then put him in a police vehicle and drove him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later, Little said.
Wallace’s father, Walter Wallace Sr., told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his son was also a father, was on medication and struggled with mental health issues.
“Why didn’t they use a taser?” he asked.
Video of the fatal confrontation recorded by a bystander and posted on social media shows officers pointing their guns at Wallace as he walks in the street and around a car.
He walks toward the officers as they back away from him in the street, guns still aimed at him. They yell at him to put his knife down.
Both then fire several shots and Wallace collapses in the street. A woman runs up to him screaming. Several bystanders then approach him.
It is unclear in the video if he had a knife. Witnesses said he was holding one.
Sergeant Eric Gripp of the Philadelphia Police Department speaks from the scene
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets against the shooting later on Monday and into early Tuesday as clashes with police turning violent at times, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Video showed many yelling at officers and crying.
Police cars and dumpsters were set on fire as police struggled to contain the crowds.
More than a dozen officers, many with batons in hand, formed a line as they ran down 52nd Street chasing protesters away from the main thoroughfare. The crowd then largely dispersed.
No officers or bystanders were injured, Little said. The names of the officers who fired the shots were not immediately disclosed. Both were wearing body cameras and were taken off street duty pending the investigation.
Some people spoke with city Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, who arrived at the scene a short time after the shooting occurred.
“I heard and felt the anger of the community,” Outlaw said in a statement, adding that the video “raises many questions” and that “those questions will be fully addressed by the investigation.”
The races of the police officers weren’t immediately confirmed. The Inquirer reported that dozens of protesters gathered at a nearby park and chanted “Black lives matter.”