On Wednesday the Phoenix Police Department released body camera footage of two officers shooting a gun-wielding and apparently suicidal Black man in the back. Brian Streeter, 35, was shot by Phoenix officers Austin Martin and Ryan O’Hayer on Nov. 13, as he walked away from the two.
Martin and O’Hayer, who are white, were patrolling the area when they say they saw Streeter and his girlfriend having a fight in the street.
When officers approached, Streeter ran. He pulled a gun out of his waistband while retreating around the side of a building. Streeter pointed the gun at himself and in other directions as he continued to walk away from the officers with his back facing them.
“Stop! Stop,” one officers yelled as Streeter ran. “Hey, he’s got a gun!”
Martin and O’Hayer ordered Streeter to drop the gun as he continued to walk away from them.
“Bro, if you don’t stop right now we’re going to shoot you!” an officer said.
Both officers then fired multiple shots at Streeter while his back was turned as he continued to walk away. Streeter fell to the ground at the first shot, although the officers each fired more rounds.
“You shoot him two more times after he’s down; people need to know that,” Brian Streeter Sr told ABC15. He said his son struggles with mental health issues.
Streeter suffered injures to his legs and remains hospitalized.
Streeter’s girlfriend said she was not assaulted and was not injured.
Martin said in a police report that he was “afraid the male was going to either shoot him or officer O’Hayer, shoot at others driving by/put others in harm’s way.”
However, the elder Streeter challenged that narrative.
“This man has a gun to his own head,” Streeter Sr. said. “He never waved it at anyone, he never tried to shoot anyone, and you shoot him in his back.”
The shooting is under investigation by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office to determine if the officers acted within department policy
