WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Family and friends of a man killed by police on Sunday are demanding the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) release body camera footage of the shooting.
On Sunday morning, MPD officers responded to a report of a car that hit and caused minor damage to a building. The driver of the car, Justin Robinson, 26, was found unresponsive next to a weapon in the car.
MPD said Robinson started moving and officers told him to drop his gun. Officials allege Robinson reached for an officer’s service weapon. That’s when two officers shot him.
In protest, family and friends shut down Alabama Avenue outside of the District 7 police headquarters on Monday.
“They didn’t have to do that, you overdone it. You could’ve tased him, you could’ve restrained him,” said one man who identified himself as Cray. “You shot him 17 times for nothing. And you’re all telling us we have to wait 5 days for the footage? No.”
Police have not confirmed how many shots were fired. A spokesperson for MPD said that will be confirmed when the body camera footage is released.
Under District law, police have up to five days to release body camera footage after an officer gets involved in a shooting.
“A young man was shot yesterday the family and community are demanding answers. They’re demanding the body camera footage be released. I know the law is up to five days, but we’ve had cases where they’ve released it ahead of time,” said councilmember Trayon White, who attended the protest.
He added that Robinson did a lot for his community.
“We know this young man spent a lot of time doing a lot of good in the community despite what the narrative is,” White said.
According to the Office of the Attorney General, Robinson worked as a violence interrupter for the Cure the Streets Program.
“He just helped stop a violent incident last week. He had a lot of pull with a lot of young men in the community. He was a viable voice to stopping violence in the community. He’s not perfect, nobody is perfect,” White continued.
Cray called the loss “devastating.”
“Him and his brother can go anywhere and be an influence. You don’t have any other dudes that can be influencing the whole city and you decide to kill him? You shot him 17 times for sleeping in his car,” Cray said.
According to MPD, the officers involved in the shooting are on administrative leave, per District policy.
Internal Affairs will investigate the shooting, as will the United States Attorney’s Office.
