Police officers did not have their body cameras turned on during the fatal shooting of Illinois teen Marcellis Stinnette, his family's attorneys said Wednesday after viewing police video of the incident. Stinnette, 19, was killed by police on October 20 in a shooting that also left his girlfriend hospitalized with injuries.
"The event was not captured on video. Body-worn cameras that were available for this very purpose, for what we desire and seek, accountability, transparency, the truth, were not turned on until after the shooting occurred," Attorney Antonio Romanucci said in a news conference Wednesday.
The officer who killed Stinnette was fired from the department for not activating his body camera at the time of the shooting, Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham said in a statement Wednesday, as the city released six videos from the shooting.
Romanucci also said the officer turned his body camera on immediately after the shooting and said, "You tried to run me over." The attorneys claimed the comment was an "intentional" effort to create a false narrative.
Police have said an officer was "investigating an occupied vehicle" when the couple fled the scene on October 20. Later, a second officer spotted and approached their vehicle, which they said began moving in reverse toward him. The officer said he fired his semi-automatic pistol out of fear for his safety.
Stinnette was located in the passenger seat and was hit several times by bullets. He died of his wounds at a local hospital. Tafara Williams, who was in the driver seat, was also struck and is still in the hospital being treated for her wounds.
After viewing the footage, attorneys disputed that the officer feared for his safety. "I don't see any basis at all for this officer to have pulled out his gun and shot as many times as he did in this car, wounding Tafara and killing Marcellis," Romanucci said.
The city released footage from the night of the arrest Wednesday. Two videos showed footage from the shooting officer's dash and body camera. His squad car was facing in the wrong direction and did not capture footage of the shooting.
The site of a prayer vigil held for Marcellis Stinnette on October 27, 2020, in Waukegan, Illinois.
Kamil Krzaczynski / Getty
Cunningham said the families of Stinnette and Williams were shown the videos before they were released publicly. "We are all hurting as a result of this incident and while I intend to allow justice to run its course and not compromise the integrity of the process, I must balance that with my commitment to the families and the community to always maintain transparency," said Cunningham in a statement. "I thank you for your trust, patience, and prayers."
The shooting is under investigation by Illinois State Police and the FBI. "You guys took away my only brother, from my mother," said Dhanellis Banks, Stinnette's older sister. "This is not fair. He was innocent. He was a passenger. This is not right."