There was a police shooting in Washington, DC yesterday. An 18-year-old named Deon Kay was shot once and died from his injuries. Immediately, there were claims that police had “murdered” Kay by shooting him in the back. But today police released the body camera footage which showed that Kay did have a gun and was shot in the chest while running toward an officer, not in the back. Here’s the briefing video already cued up to the description of the incident. The video is graphic:

The whole incident happens very fast. I had to watch it a few times to get a sense of what was happening. The officer whose perspective we’re seeing was running after another suspect who’d gotten out of the car first. About the time he reached the position where that suspect’s car was parked, Deon Kay got out of the passenger side of the same vehicle. The officer shouts “Don’t move!” several times and as he turns back toward Kay, he raises his gun.

In a freeze-frame you can see that Kay did have a gun in his right hand just before the officer fired. By pausing and restarting, it appears to me the gun had actually left his hand a fraction of a second before the shot was fired. But obviously the officer wasn’t able to scrub through the incident in this way. He saw Kay running up on him with a gun in his right hand, his arm coming up, and he fired a shot. I’m not sure how he could possibly have known in that instant that Kay intended to throw the gun not fire it. Obviously if he’d guessed wrong the result could have been very serious for him.

So that’s what actually happened but long before any details were released, activists were accusing the police of murder:

It doesn't sound like the police were in any danger. @DCPoliceDept are refusing to say that the man they murdered had a gun or not. @ChiefNewsham why can't you be straight forward with the public? Tell us the truth. Stop protecting murderers. #BlackLivesMatter #DC

— Jason Charter (@JasonRCharter) September 2, 2020

This is the kid the race soldiers in Washington DC shot in the back and killed today..Deon Kay.

The only thing more cowardly than shooting someone in the back, is ppl in a society who collectively justify state sanctioned executioners shooting teens in the back#AntiBlackWar pic.twitter.com/DA5lubt28R

— Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸 (@tariqnasheed) September 3, 2020

Police did release some details in a statement last night, i.e. the fact that Kay had a gun when the shooting took place. They even released a picture:

DC Police say the 18-year-old man fatally shot by an officer tonight in SE DC had brandished a handgun during a foot pursuit and was shot by police. He’s been identified as Deon Kay of DC. A second suspect fled the scene. More here from @ashrafkhalil: https://t.co/Gq2xVwqix7 pic.twitter.com/gMaGflgI2u

— Mike Balsamo (@MikeBalsamo1) September 3, 2020

But as I mentioned, that’s not the story that was circulating on the street yesterday. Many people, who hadn’t seen the police video, were convinced that Kay had been shot in the back like Jacob Blake was in Kenosha or like some people claimed (falsely) that Mike Brown had been in Ferguson. Here’s one angry DC resident explaining what happened to a Deadspin reporter last night:

“I’m tired of that shyt because my tax money just paid for that young man to get murdered” #DeonKay

Outside Police Line #DCProtests pic.twitter.com/sZBOBvWmXe

— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) September 3, 2020

And here’s Kay’s aunt repeating the same story:

“The police officer killed my nephew. Shot him in the back”

She said his name is Deon Kay#MPDShooting #DCProtests pic.twitter.com/HxgU1iSO0I

— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) September 3, 2020

Chuck Modi was called out last night for helping to spread these unconfirmed (now shown to be false) claims:

https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/1301366554454560768

Modi’s response: The anger is real even if the details aren’t accurate.

If I chased likes/RTs, I’d stay on my couch & have 400K followers lifting other ppl’s videos, a staple of 6-figure Twitter. But I go on location to allow ppl never given a platform to express themselves.

Whatever details of video, his voice & anger is real & didn’t begin today https://t.co/JLrt1KMsOu

— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) September 3, 2020

Actually, no. People get angry, in large part, because of the details. When they hear stories about innocent unarmed teens being gunned down by racist police while they had their hands up in surrender, they understandably get angry. That was the initial take on the Mike Brown shooting and it was false but the anger generated by that story was very real and remains with us to this day.

There was an anti-police protest at the precinct last night and it seems most people had heard this (false) version of the shooting:

People expressing themselves to police at 7th precinct in DC after police reportedly shoot 18 yo #DeonKay in the back #DCProtests pic.twitter.com/njPg6N063G

— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) September 3, 2020

Here’s the same relative interviewed above demanding to know why police shot her nephew in the back:

“He don’t care. He don’t care”

Aunt of #DeonKay confronts Lt. Bagshaw about her nephew#DCProtests outside 7th Precinct pic.twitter.com/wUL3MSRB14

— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) September 3, 2020

I’m actually sympathetic to what she’s saying about how the family is hurting but the officer is right that the thing to do is wait to see what the body camera shows before jumping to conclusions.

Later last night, around 1 am, a group of people turned up for a protest outside Mayor Bowser’s house.

"Why the fuck did I vote for you?" one of the late night activists yelled into the home of @MayorBowser. Bowser – a Democrat – is largely seen by BLM activists as an enemy who sides with police.

"Do you hear this neighbors? Do y'all know who you live next to?" pic.twitter.com/P5mIT5NW9E

— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) September 3, 2020

Protesters pointed a strobe light at a cop's galoshes, who pointed his strobe back at them.

The activists used an umbrella as cover in what basically ended up being a game of flash light tag with the cop. pic.twitter.com/kuqps2q6Cp

— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) September 3, 2020

As in Portland, when they can’t get to their target, they turn on the target’s neighbors:

One neighbor was more sympathetic.

Speaking from his second floor window at 2am, he said "I didn't even know, that is horrible" about the shooting.

"We're sorry to wake you up-"

"No, we're not sorry for waking you up, we thank you for waking up and talking to us." pic.twitter.com/rOJcioOtj3

— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) September 3, 2020

Inspector Robert Glover: "Jason, go home."

"Glover, fuck off."

"Go home."

"I don't know who Jason is."

"Ok, alright Mr. Charter, have a nice night," Inspector Glover said, apparently ID'ing an activist as @JasonRCharter. "Go home." pic.twitter.com/V22auzmt3b

— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) September 3, 2020

Protesters continued challenging the police.

"You touch me, you go to jail," said a cop.

"Why don't you fuck off?" said an activist.

"That's not nice," said cop.

Dialogue continued.

Activist: "Relax, chill out."

Cop: "Oh I'm very chill."

"Are you?"

"I am."

Walks away. pic.twitter.com/AkHL30ouSg

— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) September 3, 2020

Anyway, now that the video has been released, you’ll be shocked to learn that no one has changed their opinion.

BREAKING: Body camera footage just released from yesterday's fatal shooting of 18yo Deon Kay in DC. The officer could have used "less-lethal tactics" but chose to SHOOT him instead… Even after he threw his gun on the ground. We need police reform NOW. #JusticeForDeonKay pic.twitter.com/4QR4htb82Q

— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) September 3, 2020

Deon Kay’s death is a terrible outcome, obviously for him and his family but also for his community, which was given false information about what happened. There’s no getting around the fact that what he did here was incredibly reckless. I don’t see how you can fault the officer for thinking a kid running at him and raising his arm with a gun in his hand might be about to shoot him.