Family speaks out after 6 California cops murder 20 year old Willie McCoy in Taco Bell parking lot
After six California police officers murdered 20 year old Willie McCoy, a Black local rapper, on Saturday at a Taco Bell fast-food restaurant, McCoy’s family is demanding answers.
Vallejo police officers responded to a 911 call from a Taco Bell staffer after the staffer notices an unidentified person sitting in a Mercedes car in the parking lot.
In a statement, the Vallejo Police Department stated, “Officers gave the driver several commands to put his hands up. The driver did not comply and instead he quickly moved his hands downward for the firearm. Fearing for their safety, six officers fired their duty weapons at the driver.”
David Harrison, McCoy’s cousin, told the San Francisco Chronicle, “It’s a really big loss, really, really unexpected. There’s a lot of grieving going on, trying to make sense of this thing.”
In a video posted to Facebook, Harrison said, “You can’t just keep killing us in the street like this. My cousin was asleep in the car and they shot him 20 times.”
Harrison also told the Root that McCoy “was always talking about being able to escape in his music because a lot of experience living in the Bay Area is police brutality and racial profiling. It’s tragic that Willie didn’t escape it himself.”
Family & friends mourn the loss of Willie McCoy, a rapper shot & killed by @CityofVallejo police in @tacobell drive-thru. Relatives say he was passed out & should have been given a chance to react; cops say he was reached for loaded gun that was stolen in Oregon. 4,5,6,7p @KTVU pic.twitter.com/v6olZ5Xyvt
— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) February 11, 2019
McCoy’s family has since hired attorney John Burris, who also represents the family of Joshua Pawlik, who was killed by Oakland police.