Sacramento police fatally shot unarmed Stephon Clark on Sunday night within seconds of encountering him next to his grandparents’ home, video released Wednesday by the department shows, reports the Sacramento Bee. About six minutes after the shooting, after backup arrives, an officer can be heard telling another officer, “hey mute.” Sound then cuts out as officers turn off their microphones. Video continues and the officers can be seen speaking to each other and to at least one civilian on scene for about two more minutes before the video ends. Sacramento police spokesman Sgt. Vance Chandler said, “There are a variety of reasons why officers have the opportunity to mute their body worn cameras.”
Clark’s aunt, Saquoia Durham, said after viewing the videos that the fatality could have been avoided. “As soon as they did the command, they started shooting. They said ‘put your hands up, gun’ and then they just let loose on my nephew,” said Durham. “They didn’t give him a chance to put his hands up or anything, and then when they shot him down, they knew they messed up,” she said. The release by police Wednesday included two audio and three video recordings of the fatal shooting of Clark by two officers in Meadowview, a working class neighborhood that has historically had uneasy relations with law enforcement. The videos include body camera footage from the two officers involved in the shooting, each of whom fired 10 shots at Clark.