Body Cam footage shows Michigan police officers opening fire on DeAnthony VanAtten in the East Lansing Parking Lot

“I can’t believe you shot me, man,” DeAnthony VanAtten, a young black man, can be heard saying in body-camera footage released by Michigan authorities on Thursday. In the video, VanAtten lies shackled on the ground in a parking lot. “You shot me twice, man.”

The 20-year-old, who survived an April 25 clash with police outside an East Lansing grocery store, was treated for at least one gunshot wound and released from a local hospital. . Then, local activists’ push for accountability culminated in a press conference on Thursday, where Sheriff Kim Johnson of East Lansing released seven videos of shootings both over the body and surveillance camera.

“We will be releasing video footage of the incident here today as part of our commitment to transparency,” Johnson said at the conference. “Building public trust means remaining present during these challenging times, engaging in tough conversations, and being as transparent as possible with our community members.”

Officers were initially summoned to respond to the Meijer grocery store after a 911 call was made to report an armed masked man entering the building, Ann Arbor News reported. . A dispatcher told police, “I had a caller who advised… He didn’t threaten anyone with [the firearm]just walked inside the store. ”

In the partially censored footage, VanAtten, whose face is covered, can be seen as an officer chases him through the parking lot. “You get biased!” shouted an officer.

“He has a gun! He has a gun! ‘ another call soon after, behind a car.

Footage released on Thursday indicates that about eight shots were subsequently fired from a variety of firearms, about three minutes after they arrived at the scene. Police have yet to provide an account of how many shots were fired in the incident, Johnson said Thursday that VanAtten was hit.

“I saw him on the floor,” VanAtten’s girlfriend, who was at the scene and can be heard screaming in the background of the video, told WOOD-TV, “and I was just screaming, saying they ‘don’t shoot anymore, don’t shoot anymore. ”” In the footage, she can then be seen holding a small child, and tells police at one point that VanAtten is unarmed.

In the footage, an officer, looking around the property, then pulls what appears to be a handgun from underneath a vehicle near where police say they believe VanAtten is parked. Johnson said on Thursday he did not know whether VanAtten was armed at the time police opened fire, nor if the 20-year-old fired any shots.

VanAtten was transferred to Lansing’s Sparrow hospital, where organizers accused him of “mistreatment”, according to Lansing State Magazine. His mother, Burnette VanAtten, has said she had to wait hours before receiving any updates on her son’s condition. Around 1:00 a.m. the next morning, in her words, VanAtten finally made contact, saying he “still has two bullets in him and a broken rib.”

After being released from the hospital, VanAtten was taken into custody and transferred to the Ingham County Jail on charges of violating a pardon. On Tuesday, activists gathered outside the prison to demand justice. (VanAtten has never been charged, and has since been released.)

Sean Holland, an organizer of the show, said: “He went into that store to buy corn and pasta to cook with. “He left his girlfriend and her eight-month-old baby in the car and said, ‘I’ll be right back,’ and somewhere between that conversation and walking into Meijer, go get those items and pay room, he never. made it home. “

The 20-year-old’s mother also stepped up to the microphone, saying her son was “frightened for his life”. The only thing he is guilty of, Burnette VanAtten added, according to Lansing State Magazine, is “shopping while Black.”

The group also called for transparency on the part of the police, stressing that the officers involved must be named and held accountable. “We need a real systemic transformation,” Holland said. “You cannot reform evil.”

Appearing before the Independent Police Oversight Committee last week, Lansing Sheriff Kim Johnson said the department would not release any information about the officers until the state police finished their investigation. . At that same meeting, the committee voted unanimously to release footage of the shooting within a week.

“This is a tragedy and we are fortunate that DeAnthony is still alive,” Holland said Tuesday. “He shouldn’t be alive, but he is alive. And again, the community needs to know that he still has two bullets left in him.”