An attorney for the family of 23-year-old Rob Adams who was shot and killed over the weekend by San Bernardino police said Wednesday that the shooting was not justified.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump spoke out about the weekend shooting at a news conference.
"It's the most cowardly type of murder to shoot a person in the back multiple times," he said. "We see young white men who are confirmed mass murders and you don't see police get out and just start shooting when it's a black person.
"Look at the video and acknowledge for yourself what this police officer did was wrong, wrong, wrong. There's no justification for it."
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Late Tuesday, San Bernardino Police Chief Darren Goodman released an edited video from the officers' body cameras. He says two officers were surveilling a parking lot outside an illegal gambling business after getting reports of a man with a weapon.
"The officers exited the vehicle and gave Adams verbal commands but he immediately ran toward two parked vehicles with the gun in his righthand," Goodman said. "Seeing that he had no outlet- they believe he had intended to use the vehicle as cover to shoot at them."
The chief says Adams was holding a gun in his right hand. It was loaded but never fired during the confrontation, police said.
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But Adams' mother believes her son was holding a cellphone. Because she says he was on the phone with her, talking about his new car when the shooting happened.
"And all I heard after that was gunshots," Tamika King said. "He never told me goodbye."
