Police Brutality: Phoenix Police Kill Man In Parked Car, Ignite New Protests

Officers of the Phoenix Police Department shot dead a man while he was inside his parked car Saturday (July 4), reigniting another wave of protest against police brutality in the state of Arizona.

Bystanders recorded the incident. A video of the shooting, posted on Facebook by City Council member Carlos Garcia, showed the police seemingly firing at will on the man's vehicle as onlookers were heard pleading to the cops to stop the shooting.

"It does not shock us that despite all the scrutiny from community Phoenix PD continues to respond violently to calls," Garcia wrote. "But, we must all continue to ask for transparency and accountability."

By Sunday (July 5) evening, protesters were outside the Phoenix PD station to condemn the incident, which is the 28th officer-involved shooting reported in the county this year.

On Monday (July 6), the department released the police body camera video to dispel speculations that the man they shot, identified as James Porter Garcia, didn't have a gun. According to CNN, the body camera video showed that Garcia, who was sitting in the front of his car, tried to pull out a weapon.

Part of the footage, however, was blurred but it showed one cop removing a handgun from the front side of the car. The police didn't release the body camera videos taken before and after the incident.

According to the police report, Phoenix PD received a 911 call about a man who was threatening to kill another man. The police arrived at the scene and saw a man inside a parked car in the driveway.

The officers asked the man to get out of the car but Garcia refused and waved his gun, the report said. An officer broke one of the windows of the car while two others rapidly fired at the vehicle because Garcia apparently refused to put down his gun.

"We are angry, we are frustrated, we are done with the police lying," Viri Hernandez with the advocacy group Poder in Action said via Fox Phoenix during a vigil organized at James Porter's home Monday. "We want every single video. The family demands every video, the full 911 call, the dispatching, everything."