An unarmed Black man was shot and killed outside of his home in front of his family and footage of the incident has now been released.
Ring video
doorbell footage captures the final moments of Patrick Warren's life, when a
cop in Killeen, Texas, responded to the family's call Sunday, Jan 10.
In the video,
the officer rings the doorbell and is briefly allowed inside the home, but then
says he's going to walk back outside.
Attorney Lee
Merritt, who's working with the family of the deceased, says Warren told the
officer to leave.
Shortly
afterward, Warren is seen walking outside toward the cop while waving his arms
erratically. The officer tells him to stop and get on the ground, but Warren
refuses.
As his family
follows him outside, a Taser is deployed on Warren. Then, he gets up and
continues to move toward the officer off camera. The officer then shoots 3
times. A family member screams at the cop, "I told you don't use a
gun!"
Warren later
died at the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center.
Attorney Lee
Merritt said the family first called for a mental health resource officer on
Sat, Jan. 9, because Warren was having a mental health issue, the day before he
was shot.
The Killeen
Police Department sent a resource office on Saturday, who was able to speak
with Warren. Warren voluntarily agreed to go to the hospital with the officer
and returned home that Saturday night, according to Merritt.
On Sunday,
however, Lee said Warren continued to experience mental health issues. So the
family called and asked for a resource officer again. Instead of a resource
office, a police officer was sent to the scene. Merritt said the officer, later
identified as Reynaldo Contreras, was "hostile" and not equipped to
handle the situation.
"He was
not prepared to deal with the mental health crisis. He didn't have any clear
skillsets that could encounter the situation," Merritt said. "He
quickly escalated, almost the entire time, from the moment he entered the house
until the moment of the fatal shooting."
Warren was
shot and killed by Killeen Police Officer Reynaldo Contreras, a 5-year veteran
of the department, while responding to a call concerning a man having mental
health issues on Sunday, Jan 10.
Merritt says
the family "demands the immediate firing and arrest of the officer
responsible for his death."
The officer
is currently on administrative leave while the Texas Rangers investigate the
incident.
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