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Footage Shows Raleigh Police Shooting Armed Suspect

Dashcam footage showing officers' initial confrontation of Javier Torres. Footage was edited by the Raleigh Police Department to highlight Torres weapon.
Dashcam footage showing officers' initial confrontation of Javier Torres. Footage was edited by the Raleigh Police Department to highlight Torres weapon.
Dashcam footage showing officers' initial confrontation of Javier Torres. Footage was edited by the Raleigh Police Department to highlight Torres weapon.
Credit Credit: Raleigh Police Department
Dashcam footage showing officers' initial confrontation of Javier Torres. Footage was edited by the Raleigh Police Department to highlight Torres weapon.

The Raleigh Police Department released body camera footage on Wednesday evening of an officer’s non-fatal shooting of Javier Torres. A judge authorized the release of the body and dash camera footage of the incident earlier on Wednesday. Host Anita Rao speaks with WUNC politics reporter Rusty Jacobs about the non-fatal shooting of Javier Torres by an officer and police accountability processes.

On Tuesday, someone called 911 on Torres, 26, and a group of other men, leading to a confrontation and pursuit of Torres. He was shot in the abdomen, and the officers in pursuit were the first medical responders, calling for an ambulance immediately. Torres was taken to WakeMed hospital in Raleigh, where police charged him with resisting arrest, “going armed to the terror of the public” and removing the serial number from a gun.

Amid false rumors on social media about the details of the shooting, protesters convened in downtown Raleigh late Tuesday and early Wednesday. The State Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation into the officer’s use of force as part of their standard protocol for officer-involved shootings. Host Anita Rao speaks with WUNC politics reporter Rusty Jacobs about the details of the shooting and the public distrust of police accountability processes.

 

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Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
Rusty Jacobs is a politics reporter for WUNC. Rusty previously worked at WUNC as a reporter and substitute host from 2001 until 2007 and now returns after a nine-year absence during which he went to law school at Carolina and then worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Wake County.
Grant Holub-Moorman is a producer for The State of Things, WUNC's daily, live talk show that features the issues, personalities and places of North Carolina.