World News | Family of Man Killed by Police Amid Protests Demands Answers
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. The family of a popular barbecue chef killed in a clash with law enforcement said he was protecting his restaurant amid chaos caused when officers began pelting people with pepper balls.
Louisville (US), Jun 4 (AP) The family of a popular barbecue chef killed in a clash with law enforcement said he was protecting his restaurant amid chaos caused when officers began pelting people with pepper balls.
They questioned the account by police, which released surveillance video they said appeared to show David McAtee firing a gun from the door as officers shot the projectiles. But the video, the family's lawyer said, raises “more questions than it answers.”
Police and National Guard soldiers were trying to clear a crowd from a parking lot early Monday to enforce a curfew because of protests downtown, miles away. McAtee's family is left wondering how he, a well-known community figure who fed police for free from his barbecue stand, ended up a casualty of the unrest.
“He's like the heart of this block,” said Marvin McAtee, his business partner and nephew, who considered him a brother. He said McAtee was kind-hearted and calm, and would never set out to hurt police.
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“He always felt like he had to show respect to get it.” The city was under curfew after days of protests demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was killed in her home in Louisville in March.
The 26-year-old EMT was shot eight times by narcotics detectives who knocked down her front door while attempting to enforce a search warrant. No drugs were found in the home. The demonstrations also erupted over the death of a black man in Minneapolis — George Floyd — in an encounter with police.
Marvin McAtee said that around midnight on Monday, eight family members were milling around the restaurant on the main floor of the small, gray building set off from the busy intersection by a fenced lot. They had a room in the basement set up so he could stay the nights.
They did not believe they were violating the 9 p.m. curfew because he considered it his home. David was tending to the grill outside when law enforcement rolled up.
A large crowd had gathered across the street, Marvin McAtee said. When law enforcement started firing pepper balls at them, some fled toward the barbecue stand. David McAtee's niece was standing at the door, and was hit on the arm with one of the projectiles.
The scene was quick and confusing, Marvin said. He said David had a gun in a holster at his side, and he never saw him draw it and never heard him fire it. But if it did, Marvin said, he would have been firing at the people “bum rushing” his restaurant, but not at officers, who he considered his friends.
The videos show McAtee raising his arm past his doorway, but his hand is blocked from camera view. After he's struck by a bullet, he stumbles back inside, drops a gun and falls to the ground.
Video from a different camera posted outside the building shows a beverage can on a table outside the door exploding and falling to the ground just before smoke emerges from inside the building, a possible indication that McAtee was fired upon first.
Guard soldiers and Louisville police fired about 18 shots, J. Michael Brown, secretary of Gov. Andy Beshear's executive Cabinet, has said. McAtee died of a gunshot wound to the chest, the coroner's office said.
Louisville's interim police chief, Robert Schroeder, said Tuesday that the reason McAtee fired remains an unresolved question. He was asked Wednesday if the video showed McAtee shooting at police.
“That is something we don't know,” he said. “It appears he was shooting a firearm. We do not know if he was targeting police. We do not know what he was shooting at. That is something that the investigation will have to reveal.”
Attorney Steve Romines, representing McAtee's mother, Odessa Riley, said Wednesday that she wants “the truth” of what led to her son's death. In a statement, Romines downplayed the video and questioned police motives for releasing it. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)