Raleigh Police Raleigh police have released the body camera footage that shows Javier Torres being shot.
Body camera footage has been released from an officer-involved shooting in North Carolina on Tuesday night, which sparked protests. 26-year-old Javier Torres was shot by police around 6:45 p.m., local time, near a shopping plaza in Raleigh. Authorities were responding to a 911 call revealing concerns about an armed man making threats. Per ABC 11, police say Torres ran away when officers approached him; he was carrying a pizza box and a gun, and ignored repeated calls for him to drop the gun, police say.
Torres was shot once in the stomach, then taken to get medical treatment. He has been charged with altering/removing a gun serial number, going armed to the terror of the public, and resist, delay, and obstruct.
Raleigh police chief Cassandra Deck-Brown spoke at a press conference on Wednesday morning about the incident. She maintained that the body cam footage proved Torres was armed. “The 911 call … It’s in reference to an individual with a gun,” Deck-Brown said, per ABC7. “You will see the individual does have a pizza box, but he does have a gun.”
Deck-Brown also acknowledged the protests that had taken place the night before. “This is not who we are as a city,” she said. “But it’s also important that individuals who have a desire to voice their concerns, there is a method by which they can do that without damaging other people’s property, without harming other folks in the process. And we saw that last night…that’s not who we are.”
Here’s the body cam footage link. You can also watch it below.
In the video below Torres can be seen running towards an officer before the officer shot him once in the stomach. Viewers should be warned that the video is graphic.
Many who protested on Tuesday night say Torres was shot in the back for stealing a pizza box.
One user tweeted, “A Black teenage boy has lost his life after being shot in the back while running away from cops who suspected he stole a box of pizza. Killed over pizza… in the back, unarmed. I’ll never be dissentized to this kind of news and we shouldn’t. Raleigh I’m disappointed. ”
This is a developing post and will be updated.