Body camera footage shows a rookie San Francisco police officer drawing his service weapon while pursuing a carjacking suspect. Photo / San Francisco PD
Body camera footage shows a rookie San Francisco police officer drawing his service weapon while pursuing a carjacking suspect. Photo / San Francisco PD
A rookie San Francisco police officer fatally shot an unarmed carjacking suspect in the city's Bayview neighbourhood, as newly released body camera footage shows.
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott released the video and street surveillance footage on Thursday night, showing Keita "Icky" O'Neil, 42, jumping out of a stolen minivan and running by a patrol car, reports the Daily Mail.
The newly hired officer fires through the glass window and O'Neil falls to the ground.
CCTV footage captured police cars pursuing the van with O'Neil inside. Photo / San Francisco PD
Scott said the officer who fired the single fatal shot from the passenger seat of a patrol car was riding with a training officer, on his fourth day of duty.
Police did not release the officer's name and his race is not clear in the videos. O'Neil was African-American.
The 42-year-old, who died at a hospital from his wounds, was suspected of assaulting a female California Lottery employee and stealing a van that belongs to the agency.
Police chased the van and another SUV seen travelling with it to an area of public housing where O'Neil was shot around 10.30am on December 1, officials said.
Four men who were traveling in the SUV were arrested but have since been released and without charges, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Friday.
Four men who were traveling in the SUV were arrested but have since been released and without charges. Photo / San Francisco PD
Scott released the videos at a town hall meeting on Thursday at the True Hope Church where a crowd of about 100 people responded to the footage with gasps and anger, the Chronicle reported on Friday.
O'Neil's grieving father, Charlie Grayson, attended and listened to dozens of people voice their frustration with the department but he did not speak, the newspaper reported.
A friend of O'Neil's told Police Chief Scott that the 42-year-old's mother is dying of cancer, and now she will have to bury her son.
"They hate us! They hate us! They hate us!" shouted Gwen Woods, the mother of Mario Woods. He was a 26-year-old stabbing suspect police shot and killed in the same neighbourhood on December 2, 2015.
The police department released the videos because it wants to be transparent with the investigation, Scott said, while giving condolences to O'Neil's family and friends.
"We fully understand that any loss of life is tragic and many people will be deeply impacted by the loss of Mr O'Neil's life," he said.
