Fort Worth Police recently released officer body cam footage showing the shooting of 18-year-old Amari Malone. The video release comes less than a day after police shot the man, an attempt to cool a community that quickly became enraged at the news of the young man’s shooting.
Amari Malone Family Demands Justice
The Fort Worth community became enraged following Malone’s shooting, with family calling for investigations into police activity. “A young black kid getting his act together,” said Juvi Malone, the suspect’s brother, on why police didn’t need to shoot him. “Eventually, stuff like this has got to stop … It’s just like an ongoing thing, like over and over and over. They keep pulling young people from out of the community. We want justice,” reported star-telegram.com.
“The crime that needs to be investigated right now is the the murder of an 18-year-old in Fort Worth,” said civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who agreed to represent the family, reported star-telegram.com.
However, Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus quickly released body cam footage that shows Malone ignore officer requests and flee. Then he pulled a gun and aimed it at police.
“We were seeing posts that this individual was unarmed, that he had been shot multiple time in the back, that his involvement in the murder scene was that he had just been a witness to that,” Krauss said, reported star-telegram.com. “We just wanted to clear up some of this stuff.”
Footage clearly shows Malone run from officers. Additionally, the suspect clearly has a gun in his hands as well. And after running for a few yards, Malone makes a distinct effort to reach back, aiming the gun at officers.
That’s when officers opened up on Malone, with four officers firing. Malone sustained at least one gunshot wound and later died at a local hospital. Officers initially approached Malone as a person of interest in a previous murder, according to star-telegram.com.
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