The family of Matthew Zadok Williams is looking for answers after they say police fatally shot him and “left him to die.” According to a report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Williams was shot in his condominium by DeKalb County police on April 12 after police say the 35-year-old threatened an officer with a knife.
Williams’ family hired a pathologist who concluded that Matthew could’ve been saved if medical attention had been rendered sooner.
Mawuli Davis, an attorney representing the Williams’ family, said more than an hour passed between officers shooting Matthew and a SWAT officer discovering his body. Davis said it’s unclear how long Matthew had been dead before his body was found, and raised questions as to why Matthew hadn’t received aid.
“They left him to die,” Davis said at a press conference last week, the newspaper reported.
DeKalb police officials released body camera footage over a week ago and say officers were called to Williams’ condo by a woman visiting the complex who said his unit was vacant.
“It was a deadly error to communicate that wasn’t his home,” Davis said. The footage reportedly shows Matthew chasing an officer with a knife, before a standoff takes place in which Matthew says he’s defending his property and was unwilling to surrender. The family, the outlet reported, acknowledged that the first shot fired outside of Williams’ home may have been in defense but that the “analysis cannot stop at that door,” Davis said.
Demonstrators chanted Williams’ name and other victims of police violence at a protest on Sunday (April 25).
The state Bureau of Investigation is conducting an investigation into the shooting. In the meantime, Williams’ family is demanding the release of the entire body cam footage of the incident.
County authorities cited the ongoing investigation as the reason why the other footage cannot be released.
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