Raleigh police shooting: City erupts overnight as protesters converge on chief’s and governor’s homes

‘One of them has a gun…’

Deck-Brown wasn’t sure if the officer who opened fire asked Torres to stop, she said, but her department is petitioning a court to release the officers’ body camera footage, which will provide that information and other details. It was not clear if Torres brandished his weapon or pointed it at police.

The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting, per protocol.

Demonstrators told local reporters Torres wasn’t armed, that he was carrying only a pizza box. The same story made its way across social media, but Deck-Brown said the claims weren’t true.

“You will see that the individual does have a pizza box, but he also has a gun — and that’s what the original call that went out said,” she explained.

The handgun described by the 911 caller was found at the scene, police said in a statement.

In the first 911 call, a man reports there are several black and Hispanic men in front of a restaurant “talking trash,” and one of them, who he describes as a Hispanic man with tattoos, has a gun in the waist of his blue jeans.

“One of them has a gun strapped on him,” he said. “He’s flashing it around.”

The man calls back minutes later to update the armed man’s location and then about an hour later to report another man threatened him, saying, “I know your family. It’s done. It’s a wrap. You’re done.”

The caller pleads with the dispatcher, “Ma’am, I need some help.”

Protests at chief’s home, governor’s mansion

Dozens of protesters later showed up there, along with several policemen who stood guard in front of the chief’s home and in neighbors’ driveways, the station reported.

As they marched toward the state Capitol, a woman with a megaphone led demonstrators in call-and-response, shouting, “Whose streets? Our streets” and “Say his name! Javier!” the footage shows.

At the Capitol, the demonstrators blocked Salisbury Street as police looked on, WNCN reported. A few blocks away, around 1 a.m., protesters took the American flag from the governor’s mansion and later burned it in the street, the station reported.

Rolanda Byrd — whose son, Akiel Denkins, was killed by a Raleigh police officer in a 2016 incident the Wake County District Attorney’s Office ruled was self-defense — was among the protesters. She wanted to see Deck-Brown in the streets with the protesters, she told WNCN.

“She needs to be out here to support her black community right now tonight, just like i am — a mother that’s lost her child to the same violence. We want justice,” she told the station.

Chief: Go ahead and protest, but peacefully

Along with protesters invoking Denkins’ name in protests, they also invoked Soheil Mojarrad, who a Raleigh officer killed last year at the same shopping center where Torres was shot Tuesday. The Wake County prosecutor cleared the officer in the case.

Deck-Brown expressed frustration with the media, who she accused of helping to spur the destructive protests by recklessly spreading false information. She did not elaborate. Though the department provided CNN with the 911 calls, two spokeswomen did not return calls or emails seeking additional details, specifically whether Torres was charged and if any protesters were arrested.

“It’s also important that individuals who have a desire to voice their concerns, there is a method by which they can do that without damaging other people’s property, without harming other folk in the process,” the chief said. “That’s not who we are, and those aspects — damaging property, hurting others — is not protected under (the) First Amendment.

Raleigh police support the public’s right to protest, but peacefully, Deck-Brown said. She was upset to see protesters outside her home, she said.

“If I’d stand here and say anything differently, I wouldn’t be true to myself or to you. I understand the frustration but what happened last night was wrong on a lot of levels,” she said. “As chief of police, I can clearly understand the frustration, but that frustration impacts all of us in this community. Aren’t we all tired of this? I am.”