The Gambia has demanded a “credible” investigation after the son of a diplomat was shot dead by US police.
Momodou Lamin Sisay, 39, was shot after a car chase in Georgia on Friday morning, according to the preliminary investigation by Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).
He was pronounced dead on the scene. The police said he had produced a gun.
The shooting comes amid widespread protests after a US police officer killed George Floyd last week.
What happened to Sisay?
Georgia investigators said that at approximately 03:49 in the morning, a police officer in Snellville, Georgia attempted to stop his vehicle but the vehicle did not stop, and a pursuit ensued.
“Officers approached the vehicle and gave verbal commands for the driver to show his hands. The driver did not comply… the driver pointed a handgun at the officers. Officers fired at the driver and pulled back to take cover behind their patrol vehicles,” investigators said.
A Swat team was called and “during the standoff, the driver pointed his weapon and fired at the SWAT officers. One GCPD SWAT officer fired his weapon”, they added.
Lare Sisay, the victim’s father who works at the United Nations, said the police did not do enough to peacefully resolve the situation, and also disputed that he had a gun, according to local media.
“We will do an independent autopsy and we want to get a private investigator to investigate the circumstances of his death and if necessary hire a lawyer to sue the Georgia state police. We’re not going to let it go,” The Point newspaper quotes him as saying.
On Tuesday The Gambia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked its embassy in Washington DC to “engage the relevant US authorities including the State Department to seek transparent, credible and objective investigation”.
Mr Sisay’s name has been used in social media posts this week supporting the campaign against US police brutality against black people.
Protests have been taking place across the US following the death of Mr Floyd, an African-American man, who died after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kept his knee on his neck for more than eight minutes.
Mr Chauvin has been sacked from the police force and charged with murder.
