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.”
In the video, the officer appears to say, “Get on the [expletive] ground or you’re dead” before opening fire.
His mother, Catherine Daniels, apparently called the police because of her son’s mental health issues. She said Hall had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and she hoped police would take him to a medical facility, ABC News reported.
The family alleges that Hall was running away from officers when he was shot.
“In the video, you'll see Lavall runs away from the officers,” a family lawyer, Glen Goldberg, told ABC. “The officers had made up their minds that they were going to kill Lavall before this incident took place.”
Another attorney said: “The police officers were advised that they were dealing with someone with mental issues,”
They said police used “excessive force” after Hall ran away.
