CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — The family of a man slain by a Concord police officer released a statement on the incident Wednesday, describing what they called "systematic failures" and saying they will not rest until their questions are answered.
What You Need To Know
Brandon Comb was shot and killed by Concord police officer Timothy Larson in February
Comb's mother and attorneys privately viewed body camera footage of the shooting recently and say the officer and others have been dishonest about what happened
A civil rights attorney for the family said this is one of the worst police shooting videos he has ever seen
Body-camera footage shows a North Carolina police officer shoot an unarmed man five times after a chase, pause to call dispatch, and then shoot him again, attorneys for the dead man's mother said Tuesday.
Attorneys for Brandon Combs' mother, Virginia Tayara, said they were in “utter disbelief” after being shown the video of the February shooting last week, news outlets reported. The attorneys called on officials to release the footage to the public and charge the officer involved.
"This incident is about more than just one rogue officer. We’ve uncovered systematic failures at every level of justice going back months," Tayara said in a statement Wednesday, released through her attorneys.
"It’s bad enough that Officer Larson shot and killed Brandon Combs, an unarmed citizen that posed no threat to the former officer. He then lied about it to the Concord Police Department and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. The fact that the authorities knew it and did nothing is inexcusable. Concord police had initially described the shooting as resulting from a "physical confrontation" at a car dealership where Combs, a 29-year-old white man, was trying to steal a truck."
But Tayara's attorneys say the footage shows that no struggle ever occurred between Combs and Officer Timothy Larson before the officer opened fire. Instead, they said it shows a short foot chase that ended when Combs got into the driver’s seat of Larson’s police SUV.
They said the officers shot Combs five times, called dispatch and then shot him again. They did not specify how much time elapsed between the fifth and sixth shots. A spokesperson for the Concord Police Department didn't immediately return a phone call or respond to an email seeking comment on Tuesday.
“He murdered him. He shot him in cold blood. I just want the officer held accountable and I want the city of Concord to make some changes to the way they do business,” Tayara previously said.
Civil rights attorney Harry Daniels told The Charlotte Observer that it was one of the worst police-shooting videos he has ever seen and that Combs’ death hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves because police presented the shooting as an “open-and-shut case.”
“We didn’t know anything until we saw (the video). We watched it in utter disbelief,” Daniels said. “The most disturbing thing is not the unjustified use of deadly force, but that (Larson) paused and then used deadly force again. The first five shots were bad enough. The last shot was overkill, man. It was overkill. I can’t make sense of it.”
Daniels and the other attorneys representing Combs’ family called on Cabarrus County District Attorney Roxann Vaneekhoven to charge Larson with a crime or take the case before a grand jury for a possible indictment.
The State Bureau of Investigation, which investigated the shooting, sent findings to Vaneekhoven earlier this month, according to SBI spokesperson Anjanette Grube.
"How can officers watch that video and still claim that Brandon Combs was killed after a physical altercation? How can the Concord Police Department fire Larson for making false statements to investigators and not arrest him and charge him, at a minimum, with Obstruction of Justice? Why have they done nothing?
"These questions should keep us all awake at night and we won’t rest until we have answers," Tayara said in the statement released Wednesday.