An unarmed, 20-year-old Woodland Hills man shot and killed by Long Beach police this week after he jumped through the glass of second-story window was described by his family as a national debate student soon to start classes at California State University, Long Beach.
Feras Morad was set to study political science and business economics at Cal State Long Beach, according to his Facebook page that was confirmed to NBC4 by his uncle.
Long Beach police confirmed his identity Saturday morning.
"He wasn't supposed to be shot, even if he did something, if he was under the influence, he should not have been shot, he does not harm anyone," said Morad's father said, Amr Morad, who was mourning the loss of his only son.
Morad was killed by an officer on Wednesday about 7:30 p.m. after police said he jumped through the glass of a second-story window following a "physical altercation with his friends," according to the Long Beach Police Department.
Morad was allegedly acting violent and as if he were intoxicated, "continued to behave irrationally" and walked toward the officer who arrived to help get him medical aid, police said.
"He appeared to have a large cut on his body and was covered with blood," police said.
The officer believed Morad "was now a threat and going to assault him," so the officer used "verbal commands, an electronic control device, an impact weapon, and physical force" on Morad, but was unsuccessful in restraining him, police said.
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Morad then allegedly told the officer he was "going to attack him," and the officer shot Morad, police said. He died at a hospital.
Police confirmed on Saturday afternoon that Morad was not armed at the time.
Ghada Morad, 16, was the first family member to learn of her brother's death.
The family says when Morad didn't come home after going to Long Beach on Wednesday to meet with debate team friends, they became worried. They say they never received a call from the police, the hospital or the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.
"It's really unfair how I had to go figure it out myself through a Facebook message," Ghada Morad said.
Morad's friends told his cousin, Kareem, that Morad had taken "shrooms" for the first time and began acting erratically.
"I don't know why the press release says that they were fighting. From what the friends had told me, he was just having a bad reaction," the cousin said.
The Long Beach Police Department denied an NBC4 request for an interview.
The Long Beach Press-Telegram reported that Morad had a 3.9 GPA at Moorpark College. He graduated from El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills in 2013, according to the official LAUSD Tumblr blog.
Morad competed in state and national debates, and brought his school to the National Speech and Debate Championship Tournament for only the second time in its history, according to the LAUSD blog.
He was accepted into UCLA and UC Berkeley but chose Cal State to save money, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported.
A Facebook page called "Justice For Feras Morad" says he was "was unarmed and in desperate need of medical attention," and uses the hashtag #Justice4Feras. His family started a crowdfunding page to help pay for a memorial and funeral.
A Headtalker campaign page was created to spread the word about Morad's shooting.
