PHILADELPHIA — The family of Walter Wallace Jr. is not calling for the Philadelphia police officers who fatally shot him to be charged with murder, family attorney Shaka Johnson told reporters on Thursday.
“And here’s why, here’s why: they were improperly trained and did not have the proper equipment by which to effectuate their job,” Johnson said.
The comments came after the family watched body camera footage of the moments leading up to Wallace’s death, which Johnson said shows him in an “obvious mental health crisis.”
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“I saw a person in obvious mental health crisis. My auditory senses heard people shouting, ‘He’s mental, he’s mental,'” said Johnson.
The footage, which is about 30-40 seconds long, shows Wallace emerging from a house with a knife as family members shout about his mental condition, he said.
Johnson also claims the video shows Wallace was incapacitated after the first shot.
