Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Philadelphia to protest against the shooting by police of Walter Wallace, a 27-year-old black man who officers said had a knife.
Late on Monday and into Tuesday, interactions between protesters and police turned violent at times, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Video showed many yelling at officers and crying.
Cars and dumpsters were set on fire as police struggled to contain the crowds. More than a dozen officers, many with batons in hand, formed a line as they ran down 52nd Street chasing protesters away. The crowd largely dispersed.
The shooting occurred before 4pm as officers responded to a report of a person with a weapon, a police spokeswoman, Tanya Little, said. Officers were called to the Cobbs Creek neighborhood and encountered the man, later identified as Walter Wallace, who was holding a knife, Little said. Officers ordered Wallace to drop the knife, but he instead “advanced towards” them.
Both officers then fired “several times”, Little said. Wallace was hit in the shoulder and chest. One of the officers then put him in a police vehicle and drove him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later, Little said.
Video of the fatal confrontation recorded by a bystander and posted on social media showed officers pointing their guns at Wallace as he walked in the street and around a car. He walked toward the officers as they backed away from him in the street, guns still aimed at him. They yelled at him to put his knife down.
Both then fired several shots and Wallace collapsed. A woman ran up to him screaming. Several bystanders then approached him.
It is unclear in the video if he had a knife. Witnesses said he was holding one.
No officers or bystanders were injured, Little said. The names of the officers who fired the shots were not immediately disclosed. Both were wearing body cameras and were taken off street duty pending the investigation.
Some people spoke with the city police commissioner, Danielle Outlaw, who arrived at the scene a short time after the shooting occurred.
“I heard and felt the anger of the community,” Outlaw said, adding that the video “raises many questions” and that “those questions will be fully addressed by the investigation”.
Wallace’s father, Walter Wallace Sr, told the Philadelphia Inquirer his son was also a father, was on medication and struggled with mental health issues.
“Why didn’t they use a Taser?” he asked.
The races of the police officers were not immediately confirmed. The shooting occurred in a predominantly black neighborhood in west Philadelphia.
