CNN’s Omar Jimenez interviewed Reed’s family members after the body camera footage was released yesterday. Reed’s family says police should not have stopped him in the first place. As has been standard practice for CNN, they took the view of maybe the cops were just wrong, even though they did not shoot until Reed fired first.

“How did a traffic stop for not wearing a seatbelt end with 96 gunshots, an injured officer, and a dead 26-year-old? Some say it was because Dexter Reed fired at officers first, as the initial investigation shows. Some believe the stop never should've happened in the first place,” Jimenez wrote on X.

“The initial response from police here isn't so much what's in question. You get shot at, you shoot back.["]