The family of rapper Willie McCoy says police in Vallejo, Calif., “executed” the 20-year-old man and they are filing a wrongful death claim, various news organizations are reporting.
Police shot McCoy 25 times on Feb. 9 as they approached a vehicle in which he’d fallen asleep outside of a Taco Bell, family members allege. As six officers approached, they thought McCoy was reaching for a gun, CNN reported.
“You all executed my brother Willie,” Simone Richard, McCoy’s sister, told reporters this past week. “You all didn’t give him a chance to put his hands up.”
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The family’s wrongful death claim was filed Thursday, CNN reported. Such an action is considered a precursor to a lawsuit.
The claim alleges that the officers—some who were not in uniform—made up a “six person firing squad” and shot the Northern California rapper in the “head, ear, neck, chest, arms, shoulders, hands, and back,” MSN reports.
“From our point of view … we think that something is rotten within the Vallejo Police Department,” MSN quoted lawyer John Burris as saying. “There is a sense that within this department itself there is a lack of appreciation, a lack of concern, a lack of caring for life.”
Burris is no stranger to this sort of legal action. He says his office has been involved in 14 such cases involving the Vallejo Police Department over the last seven years, according to MSN.
Police have said they reported to Taco Bell in response to a call from employees who said there was a man “slumped over in the driver’s seat.” Police said McCoy “was unresponsive and had a handgun on his lap.”
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Police said McCoy “began to suddenly move and looked at the uniformed patrol officers.” Police said they ordered McCoy to put his hands up and he “did not comply and instead, he quickly moved his hands down for the firearm.”
The statement from the police said, “Fearing for their safety, six officers fired their duty weapons at the driver.”
The wrongful death claim is under review, city manager Joanna Altman said in a statement, according to MSN.
“Any loss of life is a tragedy,” the news organization reported Vallejo Police Chief Andrew Bidou said in a statement.
Police claimed the loaded .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun in McCoy’s lap had been reported stolen in Oregon, according to MSN.
The family in its legal action said McCoy’s driver’s side window had been replaced with plastic and that police only had to reach through to unlock the door or reach McCoy.
Burris is demanding that police release body camera footage, to which the police agency has replied that the video will be released “in the coming weeks,” MSN reported.