Black man police killed over his 'shooting stance' was holding a vape pen
UPDATE: Oct. 2, 2016, 6:27 p.m. AEDT On Friday, the El Cajon Police Department released footage showing the death of Alfred Okwera Olango at the hands of officers. The clip contains cell phone and surveillance video.
Warning: The video contains footage some viewer may find disturbing.
Police shot and killed Alfred Okwera Olango in a San Diego suburb Tuesday, after they said he reached into his pocket, grabbed an object, and assumed a "shooting stance."
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On Wednesday evening, they revealed what that object was: "a vape smoking device."
Olango, 38, was a Ugandan refugee.
The aftermath of the incident was captured in a Facebook Live video that showed a distraught woman who said she was Olango's sister. The woman, dressed in hospital scrubs, said in the clip that she called police for help three times.
"Why couldn't you guys tase him? Why, why, why, why? I told you he was sick," she cried.
It took police more than an hour to respond to her request because of other calls, Lt. Rob Ransweiler of the El Cajon Police Department said, and Olango was shot about one minute later.
According to a police statement released Tuesday, law enforcement was called about a man who was "not acting like himself" and walking in traffic. Police asked him to remove his hand from his pocket, and one officer pulled out his gun when the man did not comply. The other began to arm a taser.
Olango drew an object from his pocket, revealed Wednesday by police to be a silver vape, and assumed what police called a "shooting stance." He was then shot and died from his injuries.
According to the statement, the vape had an "all silver cylinder" measuring 1 inch in diameter and 3 inches long "that was pointed toward the officer."
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Family members said Olango had mental health issues, according to reports.
Given his mental state, questions have been raised as to why officers were not accompanied by a Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PERT). In the statement, the police department said it had a PERT clinician with a police officer at the time, but they were on another call and not available.
The shooting has provoked protests in El Cajon, which is around 15 miles northeast of San Diego. Demonstrators yelled "no justice, no peace," and "black lives matter" as they marched.
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El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells has promised a full investigation, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"The most important thing to take away from this meeting today is a tragedy occurred in El Cajon yesterday," Wells said Wednesday at a press conference. "Nobody wants to see the loss of a life."
El Cajon police do not currently carry body cameras, police said. Video of the incident was collected from a witness who recorded it on their cellphone, but it's not clear if and when this will become available.
Police have released only one photo still of the incident, and Olango's family has demanded the whole video be made public.
"They're cherry-picking part of the video ... This is exactly what police have said is unfair when only portions of video are released against them," Olango family attorney Dan Gilleon said.
The shooting of Olango comes soon after the deaths of Keith Lamont Scott in North Carolina and Terence Crutcher in Oklahoma at the hands of police.
"I saw a man who was distraught, a man who was acting out like he was in great pain. I saw him get gunned down and killed. If it was my son, I would be devastated," Wells said when asked how he would feel if it was his child who had been shot.
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The Associated Press contributed reporting.
Topics Black Lives Matter
Ariel Bogle was an associate editor with Mashable in Australia covering technology. Previously, Ariel was associate editor at Future Tense in Washington DC, an editorial initiative between Slate and New America.
