Yesterday afternoon, protesters gathered near a shopping center in suburban El Cajon near San Diego after 30-year-old officer Alfred Olango shot an unarmed black man for behaving ‘erratically’. Police said the man raised an object in the shooting position, and they responded with deadly force under the assumption that he had a gun. No gun or weapon was found, and the victim died while being treated at a local hospital.
A Facebook live video from the scene featured a woman who identified herself as the victim’s sister explaining that her brother was mentally ill and had been walking in and out of traffic when she called the police to help deescalate his behavior. She can later be heard yelling, “I called you to help me but you killed my brother. Why couldn’t you guys tase him? Why, why, why, why?”
A witness at the scene reported that the victim had his hands up when the police fired multiple rounds, a report that has been disputed by the El Cajon police. Police later said no weapon was found and they had tried to subdue him with a stun gun. The department involved is not equipped with body cameras so at this time, though they say they do have video of the encounter filmed on a cell phone by a witness, they have not released it. Police did however release a photo. El Cajon police promised full transparency in their investigation.
