The mother of a man who was shot dead by Louisiana police Friday night said her son was intelligent, resentful and sought therapy for social anxiety. Her lawyers said they plan to prosecute over the death of Trayford Pellerin, who police said had a knife and tried to enter a convenience store.
The shooting was recorded on video, and the state American Civil Liberties Union condemned what it described as a “horrific and deadly incident of police violence against a Black person”. Both the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) called for an investigation.
Protesters gather Saturday. Officers in riot gear fired smoke blocks to disperse the crowd, said Trooper Derek Senegal. No tear gas was used, he said. At a news conference on Saturday, local officials said the protest began peacefully, but violence broke out with fireworks shooting at buildings and setting fires in the median of the road.
“Our intent will not be to simply restrict people to our city and endanger our citizens and our motorists and our neighborhoods,” Lafayette interim police officer Scott Morgan said, adding that arrests were made.
“We support the First Amendment right for people,” said Lafayette parish sheriff Mark Garber. “However, when it comes to property destruction, we will not set Lafayette on fire.”
On Friday night, Lafayette officers followed Pellerin, 31, on foot as he left a convenience store where he had made a disturbance with a knife, Louisiana State Police said. Stungewear failed to stop him, and officers shot Pellerin as he tried to enter another convenience store, still with the knife, according to a news release.
Pellerin was apprehended in groups and may have been scared by the officers, Michelle Pellerin told the Attorney. He had sought professional help earlier this year, she said.
“Instead of giving him a helping hand, they gave him bullets,” national civil rights lawyer Ben Crump told the paper. He and attorney Ronald Haley of Baton Rouge said they began their own investigation. Some witnesses said Pellerin was unarmed, Haley said.
The family believes Pellerin may have had a mental health crisis, Crump said.
Lafayette police asked state police to investigate – standard procedure in the state.
“Lafayette police shot Mr. Pellerin several times as he walked away from her,” Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the SPLC, said in a statement. “His murder requires an analysis of the excessive use of force by law. We fully support the call of movement leaders for a rapid and transparent investigation into the assassination of Mr Pellerin. ”
State member ACLU executive director Alanah Odoms Hebert said: “Once again, video footage has recorded a horrific and deadly incident of police violence against a Black person who was brutally murdered before our eyes.”
Captured on video, the assassination of George Floyd on May 25 under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer led to a worldwide crackdown on pact tactics and racial injustice.
“Trayford Pellerin should be alive today. Instead, a family mourns and a community mourns, ”said Odoms Hebert. “None of our communities are safe if the police can kill people with penalties or if routine meetings escalate into deadly gunfire.”
Rikasha Montgomery, 18, who took a video of the shooting, told the Advertiser that a man with what he saw was driving a knife along the highway while officers fired stun guns at him. Officers with rifles yelled at him to get to the ground. Montgomery said they were shocked when the man reached the door of a Shell gas station.
“When I heard the shooters, I could not hold my phone like I first filmed,” she said. ‘I feel scared about it. I’m traumatized. You are so used to hearing this, but I never thought I would experience it. ”
Crump, who represented Pellerin’s family, called the shooting reckless and his death tragic.
“The officers involved should be immediately dismissed for their heinous and fatal actions,” Crump said.
It was the third shooting by Lafayette police since mid-July. State police said a man was critically injured last month. Another man was shot dead during a burglary investigation earlier this month.
Haley told the attorney that he and Crump will seek reform and policy changes in the police department as damages.
“We also want policy changes so Ben and I are not in the living room with another family in Lafayette doing this,” Haley said.
