Family calls for justice after DC man is shot by police

The family of 26-year-old D.C. violence interrupter Justin Robinson is calling for justice after he was shot and killed by police in Southeast D.C. earlier this month.

D.C. police say he was unconscious in a car that had crashed into the McDonald’s on Marion Barry Avenue SE.

Police just released the body camera footage Monday night.

For several minutes, officers can be seen trying to figure out what to do. D.C. police said Robinson was unresponsive in his car with a gun in his lap.

The video shows officers moving their cars to block him in, with one officer giving instructions to the others. They approach the car with guns drawn, one officer carrying a shield.

That’s when it appears Robinson starts to wake up.

“I don’t think there was any effort to de-escalate the situation,” said Brandon Burrell, the attorney for Robinson’s family.

He says the officer shouldn’t have put a gun through the window and believes that Robinson was only trying to move the gun out of his face.

“I think that would be a natural inclination for anyone who’s woken up out of their sleep, surrounded by multiple officers, firearms pointed at you,” Burrell said.

One former police officer says he believes Robinson was trying to take the gun but that the officers could have taken steps to avoid the situation.

“From my vantage point, the officers were justified in using force, but then the question on the back end will be, did they need to get that close from the onset of it?” said TJ Smith, a former Anne Arundel County police commander.

Smith says the officers could have approached it as a barricade and brought in negotiators to talk to Robinson.

“If you startle them with a weapon out, it’s tunnel vision kicking in where they’re not even looking at you as a police officer; they’re perceiving you as a threat,” he said.

Robinson worked as a violence interrupter in D.C. His family’s attorney says they believe the city is liable for his death.

“He definitely meant a lot to his family,” Burrell said. “They’re distraught about what happened. They’re preparing to bury their family member.”

Both officers who fired their guns are on routine paid administrative leave.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is now reviewing the matter to determine if charges should be filed.

The internal affairs division of D.C police will also conduct an investigation after the U.S. Attorney’s Office reports its findings.

The Robinson family’s attorney says they’d like to see what the autopsy report says, but they’ve been told it won’t be ready until December.