Video shows Miami police shooting man repeatedly. He’s in critical condition, police say
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Miami police shoot Liberty City man having a mental health crisis
On March 7, a Miami police officer shot Donald Armstrong six times while he was on his mother’s Liberty City porch, having a mental health crisis. Police say he had a “pointed weapon” and approached them; advocates and family said otherwise.
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UPDATE: ‘Don’t kill my child’: Mom of man shot by Miami cops says she called 911 to protect him
At least one Miami police officer shot a man multiple times near Liberty City Thursday afternoon as a crowd watched and a video captured the scene before, during and after the shots were fired.
The shooting happened around 2:45 p.m. at Northwest 58th Street and Seventh Court in the Model City neighborhood of Miami.
Miami police responded to the scene after a 911 call shortly after 2 p.m., spokesperson Freddie Cruz said. The man, armed with a sharp object, was thought to be under the influence of “some sort of narcotic” due to his “very erratic” behavior.
The man is in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Cruz said.
“This individual failed to communicate with any of our verbal commands,” Cruz said. “...The individual still had that sharp object in his hand when our officers did make that determination to fire their firearms for their safety and everyone’s safety.”
The video footage, obtained by the Miami Herald, shows officers confronting a man at gunpoint who is standing on the front porch of a house. He is armed with either a knife or a screwdriver and standing with a child.
He yells at the officers, “Shoot! Shoot in the heart.”
The officers repeatedly told the man to move away from the child standing next to him. The officers then hit the man twice with stun guns, causing him to fall toward them with the object above his head in his left hand.
At that point, at least one of the officers opened fire, shooting him more than 10 times including when he was lying on the ground.
READ MORE: What happens to police after a shooting? Two Miami-area officers under investigation
One woman can be heard saying, “Oh my God, they just killed him.”
A man says, “They shot him. They shot him dead. They killed the man.”
Eyewitness account of shooting
Preston Baldwin IV, 27, was arriving home when he heard police sirens blaring. He immediately pulled out his phone.
“I go stand in my yard, and I see all these police lined up in front of this house,” Baldwin told the Herald. “I can see the police engaged the victim on his front porch and they shoot a taser at him twice.”
Baldwin captured the chaos that ensued in a minute-long video. A group of officers drew their guns and pointed their tasers at a man.
“I don’t know what the victim did for them to feel like they were in danger, but they opened fire,” he said. “Maybe six to eight officers fired…six to eight shots on this victim.”
Baldwin said he didn’t see the man holding a weapon.
“I didn’t see the guy as a dangerous person,” he said.
Miami Herald staff reporter C. Isaiah Smalls contributed to this story.
This story was originally published March 7, 2024 at 3:19 PM.
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