Crime

NAACP Calls For Investigation Into Delaware Police Shooting

The police shooting of a man in a wheelchair in Wilmington, Delaware, and a subsequent witness video caused the NAACP to call for an investigation.

NAACP Calls For Investigation Into Delaware Police Shooting
Getty Images / Scott Olson
SMS

The NAACP is demanding an independent investigation after a 28-year-old man in a wheelchair was killed by police officers in Wilmington, Delaware. 

Jeremy McDole died Wednesday after police responded to a 911 call saying he had shot himself. He was reportedly armed when police arrived at the scene, and he was shot after being told to put his hands up.

But the mother says McDole wasn't armed

"This is unjust. He was in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down. There's video showing that he didn't pull a weapon," Phyllis McDole said at a press conference.

The video she references appeared online shortly after McDole died, and shows the moment police confronted and eventually shot him.

Wilmington Mayor Dennis Williams has promised an investigation. (Video via WCAU)

But according to The News Journal, Delaware's NAACP President Richard Smith said police investigating police in the same city can't be trusted. He called for a separate, independent investigation. (Video via Equality Delaware)

The city's police chief says he believed the officers acted appropriately for the situation. All four have been placed on administrative leave since the shooting.