A touching new video shows the moment a Michigan cop shoots 19-year-old Briana Sykes at a Juneteenth parade and then breaks down in tears as he drops to his knees in the middle of the street. The incident took place around 2:14pm on Saturday, when the unidentified officer was working traffic during the city's Juneteenth Celebration Parade.
Sykes drove up to the cop, who was on traffic duty during the Flint parade on Saturday, and fired at the officer, according to Fox affiliate WJBK-TV. After taking the fire, the officer returned fire, striking Sykes, following which she is wounded. She later succumbed to her injuries in hospital.
Touching Video
The video shot by a witness from a nearby car shows the unnamed officer yelling for Sykes to drop the weapon before he fires into the car. Sykes was driving the car and moving toward the officer and then they are seen engaged in a conversation.
It's not clear what led up to the initial exchange between the officer and Sykes. The video then shows the officer demanding to see the suspect's hands. Several gunshots can then be heard and the cop can then be seen firing several shots into the car, which begins to roll away as the witness claims a gunshot hit her own door.
One of the shots hits Sykes and police soon reach the scene and try to revive Sykes but to no avail. The video then shows the officer sobbing as he falls to the ground in anguish. Sykes was immediately transported to a hospital but couldn't be revived. She was pronounced some time later.
"I kind of feel like him dropping, it was the devastation of the whole situation," one eyewitness told the station. "I feel like the police was doing his job. He had a life to protect. Not only his, but we had a parade full of kids."
Investigation On
It is not known why the unnamed officer broke down after shooting Sykes. The video also shows another cop coming to support the on-duty officer, but he does not stop crying and lies on the ground, regretting what happened.
While the policeman was on the ground sobbing, his colleagues took charge of the situation and try to revive the young woman. Michigan State Police are investigating the officer-involved shooting but said witnesses and other cops at the scene confirmed that Sykes fired first and refused commands.
Even Sykes' said that she does not blame the officer — and in fact, feels bad for him, according to a Daily Mail report. "I do feel horrible for the officer who did it and I'm not upset at him or anyone else," Nala McCracklin told the outlet. "As well as the bystanders. Nobody deserves to see or experience that."
"She wasn't a bad person, nor violent," she said about her sister. Interestingly, Sykes' boyfriend too was killed in a shooting three days before she died in a similar incident.
That said, the officer has been placed on administrative leave after the shooting, Michigan State Police Lt. Kim Vetter told mlive.com.
The fatal incident took place on Saturday on Saginaw Street during the Champions Parade, which took place on the date of the new Juneteenth federal holiday.
