Walter Wallace Jr.’s young son speaks on shooting: ‘White, racist cops got my own dad’
The elementary school-aged Zamir Wallace noted that his father 'always taught me how to be a man.'
A young son of Walter Wallace, Jr., the latest victim of a police killing, spoke to reporters last night.
The elementary school-aged boy, Zamir Wallace, noted that his father would always take him places, and “he always taught me how to be a man.”
“And,” he added after a pause, “these white, racist cops got my own dad because …” The boy paused again, emotionally, then declared, “And Black lives still matter.”
The heart-wrenching video was posted to Twitter by Philadelphia news station Fox 29.
Read More: Walter Wallace Jr.’s mother says she pleaded for son’s life: ‘Don’t shoot my son’
One user replied, “Our kids our (sic) being ruined. There’s a whole generation who are watching lynchings on a weekly basis.”
“The problem was not this man or how his mental illness made him act out. The problem is when the cops arrived they saw a PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED and not A HUMAN LIFE TO BE SAVED,” another replied.
Wallace Jr. was a 27-year-old father of nine who had just gotten married this month, according to NBC 10 Philadelphia. His pregnant wife, Dominique, is reportedly scheduled to have her labor induced today. A GoFundMe account benefiting her had reached over $130,000 as of Wednesday morning, far surpassing its goal of $5,000.
Read More: Philadelphia police responded to Walter Wallace Jr.’s home three times before he was shot
Wallace Jr.’s shooting has sparked days of unrest in Philadelphia. Nearly 100 people have been arrested on a variety of charges. While some protests have been peaceful, others have turned violent, and there have been incidents of looting, which the young man’s family has angrily condemned.
“Everybody out there that’s looting, they’re thieves. They’re opportunists,” said Anthony Fitzhugh, Wallace Jr.’s cousin. “And they’re stealing because they have the opportunity to go and steal. Do not put my cousin’s name on that. Not one of his family members are out there participating in any of it. Not one.”
Wallace Jr. was in a mental health crisis when officers responded to a call allegedly reporting a man attacking an elderly woman. That woman turned out to be Catherine Wallace, Wallace Jr.’s mother. Both she and his father, Walter Wallace Sr., witnessed his shooting.
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Reports vary, but most assert that Wallace Jr. was shot at least a dozen times.
“At what point do you draw the line and say, ‘Okay, I’m going over the limits. This no longer falls into my job description. This is murder,'” Fitzhugh said. “You’re just shooting now. You’re acting like you’re shooting at two, three, four different targets. It’s one target, and both officers are shooting like they’re in a war or something.”
“They’re never going to be the same again,” Fitzhugh said of his aunt and uncle. “They actually sat and watched their son literally get murdered.”
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