A man was shot on Facebook Live by police in Vineland, New Jersey, on July 14. The shooting was recorded by multiple witnesses. The actual shooting was recorded by Facebook user Ryonna Maven and can be viewed here. The video contains extremely graphic violence and language. In the moments after the gunfire can be heard, Mariee says that a police dog began chewing on the man’s face.
The moments before the shooting were captured in the video above. The clip shows a man walking back and forth in front of the police, who have their weapons drawn. Speaking to the Press of Atlantic City, Ryonna Maven said, “Usually, nowadays, the cops get away with things, and that’s not right… If he had a gun, it would have been different. He didn’t have no gun… Seeing somebody about to get shot, that’s scary. But people need to see.” Maven referred to the man as being Hispanic and being between 28 and 29 years old. Maven says in the video that she believed the man had been shot dead.
The aftermath of the shooting was captured here:
Witnesses can be heard yelling at the police, saying the victim was only armed with a water bottle. Officers can be heard saying that the man said he was armed with a bomb.
Vineland and Millville as well as State Police are on the scene of the #shooting is Vineland. @ThePressofAC
The Daily Journal reports that the incident is being investigated by the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office. At the time of writing, the office has not made an official statement on the shooting. The Journal reports that the shooting took place near Wood Street and the Boulevard, one block from the Vineland Police Department HQ. In 2017, the Daily Journal reported a study that showed 79 percent of all of the fatal officer-involved shootings in New Jersey involved a person who had attacked officers.
Cumberland County investigators are at a shooting scene in Vineland. Multiple witnesses say police had confronted a man who was swaying in a yard. They say an officer shot the man, who was then taken to hospital. @NBCPhiladelphia
Activist and journalist Shaun King has tweeted about the incident saying that the man had been killed in the shooting. A woman, Cyndi Rodriguez, who lives close to where the shooting took place told the Press of Atlantic City that she saw the man pacing around near her home and yelling about how he was not going to turn himself in. Rodriguez said, “The thing is, the cops kept saying, ‘Don’t get close,’ Next thing you know, he came toward the cops and the cops started shooting him.”
The last police shooting involving the Vineland Police Department was when Richard Bard, 31, was shot dead by officers. That shooting was deemed legally justified by prosecutors.
