Chaos erupted in a neighbourhood in Memphis, Tennessee after US Marshals shot and killed a young black man.
Brandon Webber, 20, was getting into his car when US marshals approached and attempted to take him into custody. Webber was wanted on several felony warrants.
When the marshals tried to make their arrest, “he reportedly rammed his vehicle into the officers’ vehicles multiple times before exiting with a weapon,” says the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
At that point, “The officers fired, striking and killing the individual.”
No officers were injured in the altercation that ultimately lead to Webber’s death, however, as community members came out demanding answers and accountability, some members of the police force were hurt.
As residents gathered in the street near where the shooting occurred, police responding by forming a human wall and ordering people off the streets. As tensions escalated, police turned to riot shields and tear gas to manage the crowd, who were throwing rocks and bricks at the officers.
Six officers were wounded, multiple police cars were vandalised, and two journalists were hurt in the riots. Three were arrested.
There is no body camera footage of the shooting, as federal agents aren’t required to use body cams, Dave Oney, a spokesperson for US Marshals Service told CNN.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigations and the US Marshals Service will conduct an internal review of the fatal altercation. The US Marshals Service not release the names of marshals involved in shooting until the investigation is completed, as per department policy.
Shelby County Commissioner and mayoral candidate Tami Sawyer took to Twitter to share her concerns on the matter.
“I was in Frayser tonight because Brandon Webber was shot 16-20 times in his family’s front yard on the same day as the Pulse nightclub shooting anniversary and on the same day that the DA chose not to charge another police officer for murdering a civilian.”
Ms Sawyer continued: “Don’t judge Frayser without asking a community how it feels to mourn their youth over and over again.”
“What do people do with their pain and trauma when it gets to be too much, when a city has ignored them, when their loss is too great and they can no longer yell at the sky?”
