Police in Chicago have released body camera footage which appears to show a man reaching for a gun moments before he was shot dead by an officer.
The shooting of hairdresser Harith Augustus at 5.30pm on Saturday led to violent demonstrations, with protesters throwing stones and bottles at officers and jumping on patrol cars.
In the police body-cam footage, Mr Augustus, 37, seems to have a gun and ammunition tucked into his trousers.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said yesterday that he had decided to release the video more quickly than after previous incidents “because the community needs some answers and they need it now”.
He said Mr Augustus’s family had agreed that the footage should be made public to prevent any more violence.
Mr Johnson added: “We’re not trying to hide anything, we’re not trying to fluff anything. The video speaks for itself. We can’t have another night like last night.”
The 30-second video, which has no sound, shows four officers approaching the hairdresser in a street on Chicago’s South Side. When they attempt to grab him, he tries to get away, backing into a police car. His shirt flies up, showing the gun and a spare clip of ammunition in his waistband.
Chicago police chief of patrol Fred Waller said: “It was some semi-automatic weapon… The police department gets no joy in these type of incidents. It’s not something that they plan to do. It’s just a tragic incident all the way around.”
After the shooting, crowds chanted “No justice, no peace” and “Murderers” before tensions boiled over, leading to clashes with baton-wielding police. Four arrests were made and several officers suffered minor injuries.
A protest rally held last night following the video’s release was much calmer with no further arrests.
It was not fully clear why officers initially approached Mr Augustus, although patrol chief Waller said officers had tried to question him over a “bulge around his waistband”.
Witnesses complained that Mr Augustus, who had a young daughter, had a licence to carry a concealed weapon. Police said he was not a known gang member and had no recent arrest history. Antione Howell, 42, said he worked with Mr Augustus at a nearby barber shop. “He cut my hair and got killed 10 minutes later. I’m hurt. I got to go on with my life, but I loved that man,” he told the Chicago Tribune.
Resident Allen Davis said: “Another black man killed by the police, something’s got to change. I’m sick of this.”
It was the third shooting involving police in Chicago in two weeks
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