SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A rookie San Francisco police officer fatally shot an unarmed carjacking suspect in the city’s Bayview neighborhood, newly released body camera footage shows.
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott released body camera video and street surveillance footage Thursday night that shows Keita O’Neil, 42, jumping out of a stolen minivan and running by a patrol car as the officer fires through the glass window and O’Neil falls to the ground.
Scott said the officer who fired the single fatal shot from the passenger seat of a patrol car was riding with a training officer on his fourth day of duty. Police did not release the officer’s name and his race is not clear in the videos.
O’Neil, who was black, died at a hospital. He was suspected of assaulting a California Lottery employee and stealing a van that belongs to the agency. Police chased the van and another SUV seen traveling with it to an area of public housing where O’Neil was shot on Dec. 1, officials said.
Four men who were traveling in the SUV were arrested but have since been released and without charges, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.
Scott released the videos at a town hall meeting Thursday at a neighborhood church where the crowd responded to the footage with gasps and anger, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.
O’Neil’s grieving father, Charlie Grayson, attended and listened to dozens of people voice their frustration with the department but he did not speak, the newspaper reported.
“They hate us! They hate us! They hate us!” shouted Gwen Woods, the mother of Mario Woods. He was a 26-year-old stabbing suspect police shot and killed in the same neighborhood on Dec. 2, 2015.
The department released the videos because it wants to be transparent with the investigation, Scott said, while giving condolences to O’Neil’s family and friends.
“We fully understand that any loss of life is tragic and many people will be deeply impacted by the loss of Mr. O’Neil’s life,” he said.
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