After Shooting Death of #LeekMoss, Is it Time For Police to Stay Out of Mental Health Incidents?

A Harrisburg, Pennsylvania mother is grief-stricken after police shot her son Sunday, Aug. 7,  after a family dispute.

According to Penn Live, 20-year-old Earl “Shaleek” Pinckney  (also known as Leek Moss) was shot by Harrisburg Police because of a family argument prior to their arrival. His mother, Kim Thomas, is in disbelief. She tells Penn Live that her son was shot in the heart.

On Monday, Thomas said that her son and a few other relatives were arguing outside in front of their home Sunday.

Police did not answer their initial call for help. However, after the arguing stopped and started back a second time, officers came.

Pinckney went back to his room. Thomas, her daughter, and her niece were also in his room after the arguing had ceased. Thomas said that there was a light shining into the room and then a gunshot.

“We had a little fight, argument like families have arguments,” Thomas says in the interview. “They killed my son. They shot my son.”

The grieving mother says in the video that she never saw the cop who shot her son and that the family dispute was no big deal.

“They were arguing. They got a little rustling,” Thomas said. “I stopped it. I told everybody to get out of the house. I hold my son. I was talking to my son. I know how to control my son. He was calming down. Everything was getting fine.”

Police said that Thomas told them that Pinckney had a knife. However, she denies that in the interview with Penn Live.

In wake of his shooting, protests has sprung up over the city.

Now, the Dauphin County District Attorney’s office will be investigating the shooting. Pinckney is survived by his newborn son.

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