A rally held on Wednesday continued the call for a transparent investigation into the police shooting of Victoria Lee, CBS News reports.
Fort Lee police officers shot and killed Lee on July 28. They had been responding to an early morning 911 call from Lee’s brother who said she was having a mental health crisis and had a knife.
Fort Lee police eventually released the body camera footage of the incident. In the footage, police can be seen talking to Lee through the door. After they break the door down, Lee comes into view holding something in her hand. An officer then fires a shot directly into her chest.
Lee’s family said she was holding a water jug when police barged in and shot her. On Wednesday, they attended a rally calling on law enforcement to improve their response to mental health crises. They wore red shirts that read “Don’t shoot the mentally ill!!”
“This rally is focusing on the death of Victoria Lee, so her death will not be in vain. We need to get something out of her death,” said Terence Park, chairman of the Human Rights Committee, per NorthJersey.com. “That is to implore the city government, state government, federal government to do something about mentally ill individuals to prevent any further disasters and tragic killing by lethal weapons.”
The Lee family is also calling for a transparent investigation into her death.
“The loss of a family member is sorrowful, but delaying that makes the remaining family members devastated,” Kyung Lee, Lee’s father said, per NorthJersey.com.
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From the beginning it was known to be the case of mental health issues. Instead of police officers, mental health professionals should have been sent.