Five Oklahoma City officers were charged Wednesday with first-degree homicide after fatally shooting a teen robbery suspect last year.
Stavian Rodriguez, 15, died last November after being shot 13 times, according to The Oklahoman. Police said they did not follow the officers’ orders to reach the ground and instead reached into the back pocket.
Body camera footage released Wednesday shows Rodriguez dropping his pistol and a large magazine he was carrying. After throwing the gun, officers told him to get to the ground, but Rodriguez stood up and reached into his back pocket.
The district attorney’s investigator said in affidavits that the police sergeant. Sarah Carli was the first to shoot, but she did so with “a less lethal 40mm round,” according to The Oklahoman
The other officers “unnecessarily fired lethal rounds at Stavian Rodriguez, hitting him numerous times and causing fatal injuries,” the investigator said. “Stavian Rodriguez had no weapons other than the firearm, which he fired before being shot. A cell phone was retrieved from the left back pocket he had in his hand at the time he was shot.”
Carli was not charged, but officers Bethany Sears, Jared Barton, Corey Adams, Jonathan Skuta and Brad Pemberton were charged.
No one should be executed for making “stealthy moves.” Our systems are broken and need to be re-imagined and rebuilt, ”Ward 6 councilor JoBeth Hamon said after the shooting.
The five officers fired more than a dozen shots at Rodriguez. He later died at the hospital.
“When an armed robbery suspect disobeyed police orders, five officers perceived the same threat and fired their weapons simultaneously. The loss of life is always a tragedy and we know these officers did not take up arms. OPC OKC stands by These officers and maintain that they acted in accordance with the law, “the Oklahoma City Fraternal Police Order said Wednesday.