Vallejo Police have released footage of the killing of 20-year-old Willie McCoy, who was in his car at a Taco Bell before six officers shot into his vehicle.
The body cam footage supports claims made by McCoy’s family who said their loved one, who rapped as Willie Bo with group FBG, was not alert when shot.
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The footage can be seen below. The shooting begins 19:58 into the video.
Vallejo Police have claimed that the officers fired into McCoy’s vehicle due to fear for their own safety. The 30-minute body cam video shows officers calmly assessing the situation for minutes before opening fire.
According to the Guardian, Vallejo police slowed the footage down to caption the moment they believe McCoy reached for a gun officers claimed was on his lap. The British paper said the police failed to capture McCoy’s hand moving to a firearm, which could not be seen in the footage.
Witness video filmed from a distance in the parking lot confirms Vallejo police officers decided to shoot before giving commands.
McCoy’s older brother Marc told the Guardian that he didn’t believe the footage’s release would lead to justice.
“There’s a thousand videos on YouTube that show police misconduct, whether it’s beatings of citizens or killing them,” said the elder McCoy. “It gets dismissed … The Vallejo police saw the video, and they don’t think there’s anything wrong with it or that the officers did anything criminal.”
On February 9, Marc received a call from a cousin that Willie had been shot in a parking lot. Marc, believing that Willie may have been incorrectly identified by police, rushed to Vallejo from Oakland.
Willie’s death was confirmed before they arrived on the scene. When Marc arrived, Willie was lifeless on the ground in the Taco Bell parking lot, surrounded by officers.
David Harrison, Willie’s older cousin, told the Guardian that police “left him out there like an animal carcass. Like a dog that got run over by a car.”
McCoy family attorney John Burris said the family planned to file a civil rights suit against the officers and the police department.
At a press conference Friday, Marc McCoy blamed the police for his brother’s death.
“Willie was a sitting duck in that car,” he said. “He was asleep. Anybody can see that he was asleep.”
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