A new case of a young black man who died
after being shot by a police officer
led to protests this Thursday in Washington DC demanding the dismissal of the head of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Authorities today released body camera video of an officer who once shot 18-year-old Deon Kay in Southeast Washington on Wednesday afternoon when he tried to run when he saw police officers.
The man carried a weapon.
Another subject escaped from the scene.
"During the chase,
one of the suspects brandished a firearm
. In response, an officer fired his weapon once, wounding the suspect," police described in a statement.
Medical services officials came to the scene and took Kay to a hospital, where the young man later died.
The police recovered a weapon from the scene, which in the video is seen to be in Kay's hands at the time of being confronted by the police.
[From Stoned Black Teenager Eugene Williams to George Floyd: A Century of Rebellion Against Racist Violence in America]
Kay is
the first fatality by a police shooting since the reforms
imposed on the department
went into effect
after repeated acts of police brutality this year.
One of them, signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser, obliges the Police Department to release the body camera recordings within five days of the incident.
The department must also release the names of the officers involved.
The victim's family has the right to see the images first and request that they be kept private.
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The local organization of the Black Lives Matter group immediately called for a demonstration in front of the headquarters of the Seventh District of the Metropolitan Police.
"DC police murdered a black man today," was the call on social media.
Dozens of protesters arrived at the scene and confronted police who used bicycles to contain the group, according to The Associated Press.
[A massive march in Washington DC condemns police violence and calls for a vote against Trump]
Kay's death follows a series of cases of other black people who were victims of police brutality, such as George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake, which has sparked protests across the country and calls for radical police reform.