PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Earlier this week, the City of Philadelphia released body camera footage from the two officers involved in the shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. It shows Wallace wielding a knife, as family members yelled at the officers that he was in a mental crisis.
It also shows two Philadelphia police officers shoot Wallace several times. His mother, Kathy Brant, ran toward him and wailed as his family and the entire neighborhood looked on.
Mayor Jim Kenney acknowledged the many failures to protect Black and brown residents over the generations. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner called the incident a “terrible tragedy,” and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw promised reform would come.
“Why is it that the lawmakers are immediately admitting that they failed?” asked Shaka Johnson, the lawyer for the Wallace family. “They did a lot of falling on the proverbial sword — why?”
Johnson said it’s because the city committed a serious injustice to his clients, the Wallace family, when it failed to implement recommendations by the Department of Justice in 2015.
Then Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey asked the DOJ to look into the department’s use of deadly force after a slew of police-involved shootings in 2013. The DOJ recommended police be issued tools that can provide less than lethal force — specifically, Tasers. It suggested all officers be Taser-trained and be required to carry them at all times.
“Walter Wallace is not here by the failure of police to implement recommendations of the Department of Justice,” said Johnson.
Johnson said the family wants the recommendations to be implemented, and they want the city to take responsibility and be held accountable for their loss. According to Johnson, Brant has been ill since the shooting and was taken to the hospital earlier this week.
As for the officers involved in the shooting — Thomas Munz and Sean Matarazzo — the family has said they do not want them charged with a crime. They leave that decision up to the District Attorney’s Office.
Johnson suggests they be fired.
“Those officers should not be wearing blue, behind a desk or otherwise,” he added.
“I know what this woman is feeling,” said Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, who was killed when a New York City police officer used an illegal chokehold on him in 2014.
She is part of a group called Mothers of the Movement — mothers of Black men and women unjustly killed by law enforcement. She believes the time for marching is over. She hopes to use her platform to bring a national spotlight to the Wallace case.
“It’s open season — this has to stop,” Carr said. “We have to go from demonstration to legislation.”
Other leaders, including Dr. Mark Kelly Tyler of POWER, an interfaith organization, were also in attendance on Friday. The group applauded the passage of ballot question No. 3, which will create a new Citizens Police Oversight Commission.
Tyler is also advocating for reallocating funds from police to mental health services.
“So that when families like the Wallace families have an issue, they don’t have to call 911,” he explained. “Let (police) worry about violent crime.”
Wallace will be laid to rest on Saturday. His viewing will take place at 9 a.m. at National Temple Baptist Church.