Mario Woods Police Shooting Video: San Francisco Students Protest After New Fatal Footage Released

After video footage emerged Friday of the police killing of a black man in San Francisco, students in the city marched to City Hall to protest the shooting, holding signs reading, “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” and “Fight The Power,” local media reported. The video of Mario Woods being killed seems to go against the initial claims from police after the Dec. 2 shooting that the five officers shot Woods in self-defense.

In the video, the female who filmed the incident can be heard screaming “Just drop it!” as police surrounded the man, firearms drawn. Multiple gunshots can be heard in the video, taken from behind where police were standing. Police have previously said Woods, 26, had a knife at the time of the shooting, KNTV, in San Jose, California, reported.

Warning: The video and the language in the video below are extremely graphic in nature.

An attorney for Woods’ family said Friday he plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of the family over the killing. “Mario was used as target practice by reckless and malicious San Francisco police officers. The killing is an outrage and an affront to the African-American community,” attorney John Burris said in a statement to the San Francisco Examiner.

At a press conference Friday, Burris likened Woods’ death to those of Laquan McDonald and Ronald Johnson in Chicago, both African-American men who were fatally shot by police, KNTV reported. Burris said police shot Woods about 20 times.

Two previous videos of the shooting have been released, triggering anger in the predominantly African-American neighborhood of Bayview, where Woods was shot, and spurred calls for the resignation of San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr. Suhr said earlier this week officers should be equipped with Tasers, and if the officers had had the stun guns the shooting could have been prevented.

The five involved officers are reportedly on administrative leave, and their names are expected to be released within 10 days of the shooting, or by Saturday. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has called on the city’s police department to reform its use of force policy.