Deon Kay, the teenager who was shot and killed Wednesday by police in Washington, is shown in body cam footage carrying a handgun as he and another suspect flee from officers.
Video released Thursday by Washington police chief Peter Newsham and Mayor Muriel Bowser shows an officer arriving on the scene after being dispatched on a report of a “man with a gun.”
Two of the four suspects in the car flee on foot, and the officer gives chase. As he begins to chase the lead suspect, he turns back to his right and sees Kay running with a handgun and shoots the teen in the chest. The incident takes about six seconds from the time the officer shuts his door and begins moving toward the suspects’ vehicle.
The officer was identified as Alexander Alvarez. Newsham said police quickly released the video, four days sooner than required by law, to clear up “misinformation” about the shooting. “Misinformation can lead to a lot of disturbances,” he said.
The shooting sparked a fresh round of Black Lives Matter protests in the nation’s capital, including clashes with police outside Washington’s 7th district station. Some protesters alleged that Kay was unarmed, while one said, “Burn this motherf**ker down.”
A video on Kay’s Instagram account appeared to show him and another young black male, whose face was covered with a balaclava, brandishing guns while listening to music in the front seat of a car. Newsham said police saw a livestream video of Kay, a known gang member, with a gun and recognized him from past brushes with law enforcement.
Police said Kay tossed his gun 98 feet away just before being shot. The gun was recovered in a grassy area nearby. Two other men in the car were arrested, and a second gun was recovered by police, but the other suspect who fled was not apprehended.
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