On Friday, Jack Lamar Roberson was shot dead by police inside his own home after overdosing on his diabetes medication. His 8-year-old daughter was in the home at the time.
Now, the family of the Georgia man is claiming that the cops weren’t within their rights and instead of offering assistance, they killed Roberson without asking any questions. The case is dredging up the same sentiments as the killing of an unarmed Jonathan Ferrell, the young man who was shot to death by North Carolina police after he crashed his vehicle.
Roberson’s story began when his fianceé, Alicia Herron, called 911 because she noticed Roberson acting erratically after taking pills to control his blood sugar. But instead of sending paramedics, the dispatcher sent police officers to their home.
Officers with the Waycross Police Department said that upon entering the home, Roberson started toward them “aggressively armed with two items used as weapons.” But Herron disputes that claim, saying that the scene played out like a “silent movie.”
“They just came in and shot him. He didn’t say nothing, the police didn’t say nothing, anything, it was like a silent movie. You couldn’t hear anything, all you could hear were the gun shots go off and I seen them going into his body and he just fell down,” she said.
She and Roberson’s mother also said that he was not carrying a weapon, despite the police report.
“We had no weapons in this house whatsoever,” Roberson’s mother, Diane Roberson, said to the Florida Times Union. “My gentle lamb … He kissed me every morning, made me breakfast in bed, and they said he had two weapons.”
Herron denied he was armed too: “He didn’t have nothing in his hands at any time or period at all before they came, any time while they were here, anything,” she said to First Coast News.
Police say they responded to the call after receiving reports of an attempted suicide, not an overdose. While on the way, the report was updated to say that the man had become aggressive.
But his family, who witnessed the shooting, are adamant that Roberson didn’t threaten the officers. And police have yet to confirm what weapons Roberson was allegedly armed with, if any at all.
The investigation continues and the two officers involved have been placed on administrative leave.
SOURCE: Daily Mail | PHOTO CREDIT: Facebook
