The Dallas Morning News has obtained a Dallas Police Department video showing a senior corporal pursuing and then shooting an unarmed carjacking suspect.
The video matches witness accounts of the December 9 shooting, which wounded 19-year-old Kelvion Walker, and cost Senior Cpl Amy Wilburn her job, after an internal investigation conducted by the Dallas Police Department found she had violated their deadly force policy.
Shortly before 2p.m. on December 9, two young men stole a man’s Cheverolet Malibu after holding him at gunpoint, at a gas station on Burton Road. One of the men shot back at the victim as they fled inside the vehicle. After the car was spotted parked by a plainclothes officer in Pleasant Grove, a chase ensued. The driver of the car fled the vehicle, but the car was left in gear and continued to move. Wilburn approached the car with her gun holstered. A police statement explains that Wilburn’s manner of approach was her first mistake, saying she “rushed the vehicle and did not maintain distance without taking the time a reasonable officer would approaching a vehicle with armed suspects…A reasonable officer in fear for their safety would not have approached the vehicle in this manner.
Wilburn’s attorney Robert Rogers defended her actions, arguing that, having seen the driver flee, Wilburn assumed the vehicle was now unoccupied and was attempting to keep it from striking a building:
“She got to the car and clearly is surprised that there was someone in the car. This is a suspect in a vehicle that’s tied to some violent carjackings.”
He argues that that understandable surprise is what prompted her to use force.
An independent witness at the scene claims Walker had both hands raised when he was shot. Walker is pursuing a civil suit against Wilburn. Watch the video above.