Community meeting filled with emotion after Walter Wallace Jr.'s death
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Whether it was a question for city officials or just a comment on what happened to Walter Wallace Jr., it was said with passion during a community meeting on Tuesday night.
The venue for the community meeting was the Church of Christian Compassion, and, at times, the emotions boiled over in the wake of the police shooting death.
Police say Wallace Jr., 27, refused to drop a knife. He was shot multiple times and died on Monday.
"Unless you address the racism, the history of policing, slave catching, overseer officer, nothing is going to change until you address racism," said one resident.
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"I'm telling the community and the police and elected officials and everybody that's looting, it must stop," another person said.
"We got to hold each other accountable, stop supporting your homies that are doing the stuff they doing," added a resident.
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw promised a full and comprehensive investigation into Wallace Jr.'s death and the officers involved.
Another resident at the meeting said, "They murdered this man in the street. Let the laws take care of it, but fire them like anyone of us would have been."
Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Frank Vanore said during a Tuesday afternoon press briefing that each officer fired seven rounds, but it's not yet known at this time how many bullets struck Wallace Jr.
Both officers were wearing body cameras and were taken off street duty pending the investigation. Authorities say the officers did not have tasers.
Members of Wallace's family also attended the community meeting, including his mother, who left the meeting in tears after a video was played showing a similar incident of a white man coming after a police officer with a knife.
The intent was to show how differently the man was treated compared to her son who walked towards police with a knife.
"Officers have the right to due process, it just happened," Outlaw told Action News following the meeting. "I know it seems like it's been an eternity."
The commissioner says she knows people are clearly frustrated but she's listening.
