A video purports to show a Miami Gardens, Fla., officer shooting and killing a mentally ill man armed with a broomstick, and it comes a day after a South Carolina police officer was charged with murder for shooting a man in the back, which was also captured on camera.
The Miami Gardens officer, identified as Eddo Trimino, fires five rounds at the man, 25-year-old Lavall Hall, according to the Miami Herald.
The video was captured via a patrol car dashboard camera. The video shows much of the situation unfold, but it doesn’t show Hall, leaving many unanswered questions.
The family of Hall told the Herald he didn’t need to die.
“I was outraged, furious, devastated and very emotional. They killed him, murdered him,” said Melissa Edwards, who is the mother of Hall’s 8-year-old daughter.
Police union representatives, however, said the video actually shows the officer acted correctly. They said because he had to retreat backward, it means he was fearing for his life.
“You’re trained to shoot at the center body mass. So it’s going to be a bit of a lower trajectory of the gun,” said Trimino’s attorney, Andrew Axelrad, per the Herald. “He’s not shooting at eye level, that’s in the movies. The video justifies the officer’s actions. You can see his fear.”
