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What You Need To Know About Walter Wallace JR Protests In Philly

What You Need To Know About Walter Wallace JR Protests In Philly

Hot97 Staff
10/27/2020 12:00 AM EDT
Walter Wallace Jr. was fatally shot by Philadelphia police Monday afternoon in West Philadelphia. Police was called on the 27-year-old after he was said to supposedly have a knife. Philadelphia’s mayor, Jim Kenney, concluded that there are “difficult questions that must be answered”, after watching the video of the fatal shooting that circulated social media. The video, recorded by a bystander in his parked car, shows the young man being pulled away from the situation by his mother as she pleads with the officers.https://twitter.com/marclamonthill/status/1320889480342097920https://www.instagram.com/p/CG2SZhXhLSg/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_linkhttps://twitter.com/EllieRushing/status/1320870913584304130?s=20 The police officers fired almost a dozen shots at the mentally ill man and later claimed that he posed a threat because he failed to drop the knife as he had been ordered to do so and he made an advance towards the officers. Walter Wallace Sr. spoke to reporters of The Inquirer and said that Walter Jr. had struggled for some time with mental health issues and was actively on medication. City council member, Jamie Gauthier, made a statement regarding the conduct of the officers and said she wanted the police to immediately release the body camera footage of the incident so that the public could receive “an unvarnished accounting of what took place”.https://twitter.com/juanagallardo1/status/1321116656828141570?s=20Just hours after the fatal shooting, protests and unrest broke out in the streets of West Philadelphia. A video posted to twitter showed police officers using their batons on a large group of protesters in an attempt to push them back, which sparked a national outrage.https://twitter.com/xxxtarynxx/status/1320925136573313025?s=20https://twitter.com/shanermurph/status/1320873985073172480?s=20https://twitter.com/EllieRushing/status/1320864223254241288?s=20The ensuing protests in Philadelphia add to the widespread demonstrations that have been seen across the country since the death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May of this year.Rest in Peace, Walter.