Sacramento police shoot Stephon Clark 20 times in his own backyard, falsely claim he had a crowbar in his hand
Sacramento police shot 22 year old Stephon Clark 20 times as he stood in his own backyard and they later claimed he had a crowbar in his hand. Sgt. Vance Chandler told the media that “twenty rounds were fired” and that “each officer fired ten rounds.” Neither officer knew precisely how many of those rounds struck Clark.
Officers were responding to a call which described a six foot one man wearing a hoodie and dark pants breaking into vehicles, and the caller said that this individual was breaking glass and was hiding in a backyard. A helicopter unit circling overhead found a man in a backyard and directed the officers on the call in Clark’s direction, and deputies informed officers that he had a crowbar on his person.
Police say Clark fled upon seeing the officers approach and they told him to show his hands, and that he was extending an object in front of them that they took to be a gun before shooting him multiple times. The officers then began to enact life saving measures, but it was too late.
After investigating, however, the only thing on his person was a cell phone. Clark was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting. Now the officers say that there was something found near a nearby residence’s sliding door that may have been a “toolbar,” but Clark’s family says that there isn’t even a sliding door at that residence.
The officers involved in the shooting have been placed on paid administrative leave as the police investigation of the shooting continues.