The D.C. police officers who fatally shot a violence interrupter this month fired more than 10 shots at him, body-camera video released by police shows.
After Robinson stirred and rolled down his window, the video shows, an officer aims his gun through the window at him. After Robinson appears to reach toward the officer’s gun, police say, two officers fired more than 10 bullets at Robinson. He was later pronounced dead at the scene.
The release of the footage came after Robinson’s family asked for the video to be made public. Initially, the family’s attorney said, the family had hesitated over concerns about the potential for police redactions.
“They would rather the public see what happened to Mr. Robinson,” attorney Brandon Burrell said Monday.
The decision opened up the release of video that Robinson’s next of kin had a right to withhold under D.C. law, which otherwise directs officials to publish body-camera footage of fatal police shootings within five business days.
D.C. police fatally shot Robinson, 26, shortly after 5:30 a.m. on Sept. 1 after they found him in a car that had crashed into a McDonald’s restaurant in the 2500 block of Marion Barry Avenue SE, authorities said.
City officials have identified the officers who fired their weapons at Robinson as Vasco Mateus and Bryan Gilchrist. They have not responded to interview requests and remain on paid administrative leave in keeping with department policy while the U.S. attorney’s office for D.C. investigates the shooting and decides whether to bring criminal charges against them.
The footage released Monday, which came from the body cameras of Gilchrist and Mateus, shows at least seven police officers responding to the scene. Officers decided to box Robinson’s car in with two police cars, which parked both in front of and behind the car.
Officers can be heard in the footage discussing what they should do next. One suggested that he reach in through an open back window and unlock the door, so officers could grab Robinson’s gun. Some officers discussed using a ballistic shield as they approached the car.
Then, while the officers on scene were still talking through their plan, Robinson stirred, according to police officials.
“I got movement,” one officer is heard saying on the footage. Officers approached the car and yelled loudly at Robinson to keep his hands off his gun. As they got closer, several officers screamed at Robinson to put his hands up.
Robinson then rolled his window partially down, the video shows. An officer whom police officials identified as Gilchrist pointed his gun toward Robinson through the open window, and Robinson reached his hand out toward the officer’s weapon.
“I’ll shoot you in your [expletive] face,” Gilchrist said. He fired 10 shots at Robinson, and Mateus fired one additional shot, officials said.
A different vantage point of video published by police also showed a gun dropping onto Robinson’s lap as shots are fired. It is difficult to tell where it came from in the video footage, but police officials identified that gun as Robinson’s.
D.C. Police Chief Pamela A. Smith declined to comment on whether the officers at the scene followed protocol, saying that would be part of the investigation into the shooting.
“Any loss of life is a tragic outcome for the family and our community,” Smith said at a news conference Monday night. “We will continue to be transparent as we investigate this incident, as long as it does not compromise the investigation.”
Police officials also said the department will continue to look at the way it trains officers to respond to unresponsive people in cars with guns. A D.C. police officer was sentenced last month to five years in prison for fatally shooting An’Twan Gilmore, 27, another armed man who was unresponsive and roused from sleep in his car.
At a vigil Friday night at the McDonald’s where Robinson died, his family and other supporters shared their own summary of the body-camera footage, which city officials invited them to view last week.
In the body-camera footage, Robinson appeared to be wearing a jacket associated with his Cure the Streets job.
Robinson’s sister, joined by activist Nee Nee Taylor with Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, said at the vigil that they were disturbed by what they saw and thought that police could have de-escalated the situation without firing their weapons.
“They opened fire on him, shooting him 10 times,” Taylor told the crowd, which responded with a chorus of “Release it!”
“Not once did they try to wake him up,” Taylor added. “Not once did they give him the opportunity to remove himself from that vehicle.”
