Florida authorities released dashcam video Tuesday of a police-involved shooting that killed two black teens after outraged family and community members demanded answers from authorities over the shooting.
Brevard County Sheriff’s deputies Jafet Santiago-Miranda and Carson Hendren were investigating a possible stolen vehicle in the Cocoa area when they encountered 16-year-old Angelo Crooms and 18-year-old Sincere Pierce on the road Friday morning, Sheriff Wayne Ivey said.
Dashcam video shows two police cruisers following the teens, who pull into a driveway of a home.
Santiago-Miranda immediately gets out of his patrol car and repeatedly tells them to, “Stop the vehicle!” The deputy approaches the car as it begins to drive away and then shoots multiple times into the driver’s side, video shows.
Cynthia Green, Pierce’s aunt, told Florida Today she was frustrated with the sheriff department’s response and believed the teens’ death was a result of mistaken identity.
Green said Pierce was picked up by his friends around 10:30 a.m. Friday, and when they turned the corner, the deputies pulled up behind them, according to WESH2.
“I said, ‘No, don’t shoot them. Please don’t shoot them. My baby is in that car, he just got in here,’” she told the outlet. “He hadn’t been in there but two minutes. Not even a good hot minute.”
The community is planning to hold a rally in Cocoa on Wednesday to seek justice for the teens. Over 100 people are expected to attend including family members and civil rights leaders.
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump — who has taken up high-profile police brutality cases over the years — announced Monday he’s representing the teens’ families.
“These parents are heartbroken as any parent would be,” he said in a statement. “They deserve full transparency and speedy answers about who is responsible for the deaths and the circumstances surrounding their shootings.”
Santiago-Miranda and Hendren have been placed on paid administrative leave.