CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Body-camera footage released on Friday by a North Carolina police department shows a man had his arms raised to his side just before officers fatally shot him last month.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police released five videos from the incident, including two which show Rueben Galindo getting shot.
Officers can be heard yelling at Galindo, 29, to drop a gun they said he was holding in his left hand before shots were fired Sept. 6. A still image taken from one of the videos shows a red circle drawn around Galindo’s left hand, an indication by police that he had a weapon.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney told local media at the time that the man had called police and said he had a gun. Galindo refused commands to drop the gun, Putney said. The officers perceived a threat and fired, he said.
Days after the shooting, attorney George Laughrun told The Charlotte Observer that Galindo “pointed the gun directly” at Officer David Guerra before officers shot him outside his apartment building. Laughrun represents Guerra.
The new footage shows that Galindo’s arms were raised and did not appear to move in the three seconds that preceded the shooting.
In Guerra’s body camera footage, he is heard loudly saying “Rueben! Policia!” He then yells “manos,” the Spanish word for “hands” four times, getting less calm each time before switching to English and more desperately shouting “Put it down! Drop the gun! Drop the gun! Do it now! Drop the gun!” just before firing. After the shots were fired, people could be heard screaming while Guerra yelled at them to “Get inside! Get inside!”
Galindo’s wife, Azucena Zamoraro, also told the Observer that her husband had called 911 that night and asked for authorities to come get a gun he wanted to surrender. A friend told the newspaper that he wanted to give up the gun because he was nervous over a pending court date.
Guerra and Officer Courtney Suggs were placed on administrative leave, the standard procedure after a shooting.
It was nearly one year prior to that shooting that a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer shot and killed 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott, setting off two days of violent protest. Last January, the department said evidence and witness statements showed Josue Javier Diaz, 28, fired a .22-caliber revolver at an undercover detective, who returned fire and killed him.
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