Officer Involved Shooting Sparks Protests In Raleigh

Source: @victoriasaidit / Victoria- Raleigh

Thursday Raleigh officers responded to a 911 call of a man with a gun. The caller says.”He’s flashing it around,”… “Not sure he’s using the gun, but he’s flashing.”

In a later 911 call, a person said a man had threatened the caller at a restaurant and had said, “It’s done — it’s a wrap. You’re done.”

Officers responded to the scene around 6:40 p.m. and found a man, identified as 26-year-old Javier Torres, matching the description from the 911 caller.

When confronted Police said Torres, who was holding a pizza box, ran and a chase ensued.

Protesters believe Torres was shot while he was unarmed, but police aren’t corroborating that. Raleigh police chief Cassandra Deck-Brown spoke on the shooting and subsequent protests Wednesday morning and said the officer’s body-worn camera was activated and the department will petition for the footage to be released.

Deck-Brown says the footage, along with the released 911 calls, will show that Torres was armed.

“The 911 call, it’s in reference to an individual with a gun,” Deck-Brown said of the call. “You will see the individual does have a pizza box, but he does have a gun.”

RPD said the officer who fired was wearing a body camera that captured the shooting. Other officers present were wearing cameras as well.

According to a release from the department, 26-year-old Javier Torres was shot by police Tuesday around 6:45 p.m. on N. Rogers Lane near the Edgewater Place shopping center. Torres was taken to WakeMed. His condition was not released.

This incident grew huge attention on social media and sparked protests downtown in the early morning hours. A large crowd of protestors and onlookers gathered at the scene, at the governor’s mansion and downtown Raleigh following the shooting and took to Deck Brown’s east Raleigh home.

Witnesses said Torres was only carrying a pizza and that he was headed home to a nearby mobile home park just across Rogers Lane.