Nearly a month after a man was killed outside the Atlanta Public Safety Annex in an officer-involved shooting, police said they will release surveillance footage of the incident.
The video is expected to be released Feb. 24 in the shooting death of Deaundre Phillips, Atlanta police spokeswoman Elizabeth Espy said. Phillips was killed Jan. 26 as he attempted to flee from officers outside the annex on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, authorities said.
It’s unclear what led to the shooting, but police said Phillips was sitting in his car outside the complex when two officers, in plain clothes, arrived to do administrative work. The officers got out of the car, “smelled an odor of marijuana and approached a vehicle from which it was apparently emanating,” Atlanta police said at the time of the incident.
Phillips got out of the car to talk to the officers, but lunged back in an attempt to flee, GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said at the time of the incident. One of the officers was halfway inside the passenger side of the car as it drove off, she said.
One of the officers, Yasim Adbulahad, was named late Wednesday night. Adbulahad is an 11-year veteran with Atlanta police and was assigned to the department’s Gun Reduction Task Force at the time of the shooting, Chief Erika Shields said. It was not released if he was inside Phillips’ car when the driver attempted to flee.
Shields said releasing the footage is an effort to maintain transparency surrounding the shooting.
“(Fulton County District Attorney Paul) Howard and I agreed to sit down within the next several weeks and develop a detailed protocol for these investigations, so that the Atlanta Police Department, the District Attorney’s Office, the GBI, the media, and most importantly the public will know exactly what to expect,” Shields said. “Howard and I both agree that members of the public should work with us to develop this protocol.”
Espy said officials have been interviewing witnesses and officers connected to the incident and that releasing the video could have potentially jeopardized the investigation.
“The credibility of statements made after the tape could be viewed may be questioned,” Espy said, adding that witness interviews are expected to be complete by the Feb. 24 date.
Phillips’ family and their attorney, Chris Stewart, have viewed the tape, police said. Stewart has alleged that police concocted a false narrative to frame his client.
He released this statement Thursday: “The family of Deaundre Phillips is relieved that the Atlanta Police Dept. has decided to release video that shows the last moments of his life. After watching this video for themselves, Deaundre's family feels even more strongly that justice will prevail in this case.”
Police had initially released information alleging that the Douglass High School graduate was in a gang and had a lengthy criminal record. No details were given about Phillips’ alleged gang involvement when asked by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month.
Stewart also told the AJC that his client’s criminal background included criminal trespass and obstruction of an officer charges dating back six years when he was in high school.
Fulton County Jail records show one other arrest for Phillips, in 2014, for speeding, driving without a license, cocaine possession and additional drug charges. It’s unclear how that case was disposed.
Stewart said at the time of the shooting that Phillips was with a friend who was picking up documents at the annex. The friend told investigators Phillips was asleep in the driver’s seat when he went inside, Miles said.
— Staff writers Christian Boone and Lauren Foreman contributed to this article.
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