WEST HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut State Police have released police body camera footage of the fatal shooting of a teenager following a reported carjacking and high speed chase.
The video released Friday night shows officers approach the stolen car after it stopped near an Interstate 95 exit ramp on Jan. 15.
One trooper smashes the passenger side window while other troopers are heard shouting.
Then a trooper, who has been identified by police as Brian North, fires several shots at 19-year-old Mubarak Soulemane, of New Haven, as he sat in the driver’s seat.
North has been placed on administrative duty while the shooting is investigated by the New London state’s attorney office.
New Haven-area pastors and Connecticut chapters of the NAACP and American Civil Liberties Union have called on federal prosecutors to investigate the shooting.
Soulemane’s family said he was a community college student who had mental health problems. State court records show he had two pending criminal cases.
Police say troopers used a stun gun on Soulemane, but it was ineffective. They say North opened fire because Soulemane displayed a knife.
Police say the chase started after Soulemane tried to steal a cellphone and carjacked a vehicle in Norwalk. He struck three vehicles, including two state police cruisers, during the chase, officials say.
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