Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Raleigh, N.C., late last night and into the morning after local police shot a suspect during a foot chase.
Protesters were reported outside Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown’s residence, as well as calls for her to come to the scene.
In a statement, police said they responded to a call Tuesday evening of a man with a gun in east Raleigh near a shopping center. When they arrived, they saw Javier Torres, 26, as the person who matched the description given by the 911 caller.
Police said Torres ran when he saw the officers and a foot chase ensued. Police said they repeatedly ordered Torres to stop and drop the gun. Torres was then shot once by an officer, and taken to a nearby hospital.
The extent of Torres’ injuries were not immediately known.
A handgun, as described by the 911 caller, was located at the scene, police said. No officers were injured.
WNCN-TV reported hours after the shooting a large police presence was still on scene. People continued to gather there early Wednesday and that large crowd later began a protest march through the streets, chanting, “Whose streets? Our streets!” and blocking roads in downtown Raleigh.
Community activist Kerwin Pittman, who said he spoke to witnesses after the shooting, offered a different version of events than police about whether the person shot was carrying a gun or how old he was.
“Witnesses say Javier Torres did not have a gun. They say he was carrying a pizza box,” Pittman told The Associated Press by phone early Wednesday morning.
There had been some witness accounts circulating on social media shortly after the shooting that said Torres looked to be about 16 and was unarmed.
“The city is fed up,” Pittman said. “We feel there is always something happening with the Raleigh Police Department. We feel like they are brutalizing us,” he added.
Just before 1 a.m. Wednesday the group took a U.S. flag from the governor’s mansion and burned it in the street as protesters held a photo of a man nearby.
News outlets report this shooting happened in the same shopping center where Soheil Antonio Mojarrad, 30, was fatally shot by police in April 2019. In that case the officer was wearing a body camera but it was not activated. According to an autopsy, Mojarrad was shot six times: twice in the chest, his left side, his right hip, his right thigh and his right buttock. The Wake County District attorney declined to pursue criminal charges against police.
Early Wednesday morning, Deck-Brown said a petition will be filed for the officer’s body camera in this latest shooting. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is also investigating.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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