Updated: 9.42 pm
POLICE OFFICERS IN the city of Wilmington, Delaware have shot dead an armed man in a wheelchair, after responding to calls about a possible self-inflicted gunshot.
The fatal shooting, which was recorded by a bystander, took place yesterday afternoon.
The man has been identified as 28-year-old Jeremy “Bam” McDole, according to Robert Bovell, who knows the family.
Bovell and McDole’s uncle, Eugene Smith, were among a crowd of around two-dozen people who gathered today at the scene of the shooting.
“It was an execution. That’s what it was. I don’t care if he was black, white, whatever,” Smith said.
McDole is black. The race of all the officers involved was not immediately released, although in a short video of the incident, all those visible appear to be white.
However, Wilmington Police Chief Bobby Cummings said today that officers approached McDole and asked him to put the weapon down.
He said McDole removed the gun from his waist, and officers “engaged him.” He says a .38-caliber gun was found by McDole’s side.
Cummings added that the officers are on administrative duty, and assured McDole’s family there would be a thorough and proper investigation.
McDole’s cousin, Alexis Anthony, who lives close by the scene of the shooting, at the intersection of Scott and Tulip Streets, told the Delaware News Journal he had been in a wheelchair since being shot and paralysed at the age of 18.
The Delaware Department of Justice’s Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust is investigating and will determine whether the officers acted within the law.
The agency investigates all police shootings that result in injury or death.
Contains reporting by the Associated Press.
Correction: A previous version of this article mistakenly named the deceased as Jeremy McDowell, using information from the Associated Press. His name was Jeremy McDole.
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