GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Two contrasting videos of a deadly officer-involved shooting in Grand Rapids have emerged, showing different perspectives of the incident that killed 26-year-old Da-Quain Johnson on Wednesday.
Grand Rapids police released three body and dash camera clips Thursday afternoon, hours before community activists shared their own video footage during a press conference. The shooting occurred in an apartment complex parking lot near Eastern Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Street.
Police said the incident began after officers received a report of a potentially armed man on a bicycle. When officers attempted to make contact, the man fled, leading to a pursuit that ended in the deadly encounter.
Chief Eric Winstrom said officers deployed a police canine to subdue Johnson in a non-lethal manner, but a struggle continued. In the police footage, an officer can be heard saying "he's got a gun" before shots are fired.
Johnson was taken to a hospital and declared dead Thursday morning. Police recovered a handgun from the scene. The involved officers are on administrative leave per department protocol, and Michigan State Police is investigating.
The video released by activists shows Johnson on the ground with the K-9 and officers above him during the struggle. Community members say this footage reveals what actually happened.
"We need accountability, full accountability, not only for the officers, but for their leadership, because their leadership is who spoke to this community and told this community a false narrative of what took place," said Richard Griffin, a community consultant. "What are you seeing in that video? What I'm seeing is young man being executed by a police officer, that's what I see."
Johnson's mother, who was present for the vigil and during the news conference when the cell phone video was shared, expressed her anguish and demand for justice.
"I saw somebody laying on their stomach with a dog on their back and two police officers behind them, and then I watched them shoot my son four times," she said.
She said she hasn't been able to see her son and that police didn't share their video with her first.
"I do pray that the two men that stood over my son's back look me in my eye and tell me why the **** they shot my son," Johnson's mother said.
"I want justice for Daquan Trey Johnson, okay, and I'm gonna get justice because this — we can't let this ride, that's right. If we let this ride, y'all might as well just get rid of your whole court system, period," she said.
Before the video release, community members held a march and vigil at the shooting site, chanting and voicing support for Johnson and his family.
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