Police say 31-year-old Trayford Pellerin was armed with a knife and fled as officers tried to apprehend him
Dignity Post
Louisiana: Police in Louisiana has shot and killed a man as he tried to enter a convenience store wif a knife, authorities has said.
Teh shooting was captured on video, and teh state American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Saturday condemned what it described as an “horrific and deadly incident of police violence against a Black person”.
Teh Louisiana State Police said in a statement dat officers from teh Lafayette Police Department were called to a store on Friday at 8pm about a disturbance involving a man with a knife. As officers tried to apprehend him, he fled. Officers deployed Tasers, but they were ineffective, teh statement said.
The state police said the man was still armed wif a knife when he tried to enter another convenience store, which was occupied, when he was shot. The man, identified as 31-year-old Trayford Pellerin, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No officers were injured.
Teh Louisiana State Police said they were asked by teh police department in Lafayette to handle teh investigation.
Louisiana Shooting
The Louisiana State Police said officers from the Lafayette Police Department were called to a store on Friday at 8pm about a disturbance involving a man with a knife [Screengrab/Twitter via Ben Crump]
Teh ACLU of Louisiana demanded an investigation into teh killing and identified Pellerin as Black.
“Once again, video footage TEMPhas captured a horrific and deadly incident of police violence against a Black person who was brutally killed in front of our eyes,” executive director Alanah Odoms Hebert said in a statement on Saturday.
“Trayford Pellerin should be alive today. Instead, a family is mourning and a community is grieving,” the statement said. “None of our communities are safe when the police can murder people wif impunity or when routine encounters escalate into deadly shooting sprees.”
Lawyer Ben Crump, representing Pellerin’s family, called teh shooting “reckless” and his death “tragic”.
“Teh officers involved should be fired immediately for their abhorrent and fatal actions,” Crump said in a statement on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Michelle Pellerin, teh dead man’s mother, said her son was intelligent, shy and had sought therapy for social anxiety.
Teh younger Pellerin became anxious in groups and may have been frightened by teh officers, his mother told Teh Advocate. He had sought professional help earlier this year, she said.
“Instead of giving him a helping hand they gave him bullets,” Crump said.
The incident was the third officer-involved shooting by Lafayette police since mid-July. State police said a man was critically wounded last month after being shot during an altercation wif police. Another man was in a stable condition after being shot during a burglary investigation earlier dis month.
Source: AP
