Pennsylvania Teen Had Hands Up When Police Shot and Killed Him, New Video Shows

February 4, 2021

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with a statement from Pennsylvania State Police.

The family of a 19-year-old man who was experiencing mental health issues is demanding answers after new video evidence of his fatal shooting by Pennsylvania police emerged.

New evidence: Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents George Floyd’s family, shared a viral video on his Twitter account on Wednesday.

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Christian was fatally shot by police officers responding to a call of a distraught man on the bridge at the Route 33 southbound overpass over I-80 in Hamilton Township in Pennsylvania on Dec. 30, Pennlive reported.
Following his death at a hospital, authorities released a statement saying Christian was in possession of a firearm. He complied after officers ordered him to drop the weapon, but allegedly became uncooperative. They stated he retrieved the gun from the ground and pointed it in the officers’ direction, causing them to fire at him.

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However, the newly surfaced video shows Christian with his hands raised when officers started to open fire at him.
“He needed help,” Christian’s mother, Fe Hall, said via WNEP. “He was looking for help, but instead of getting help, he was killed by those who were supposed to help him.”
“He was having a crisis. There is a suggestion that he was contemplating suicide. He was crying out for help,” Crump said. “Christian Hall needed a helping hand, but yet he got bullets while he had his hands up.”

Demand for justice: Christian’s family and their attorneys are asking the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office to investigate the case.

Devon Jacob, an attorney of the family, demands a “completely independent look” at Christian’s murder.
“These troopers, while they are state police, the fact is they work with local police and local prosecutors to prosecute their cases,” he said. “It is simply impossible to have an independent investigation when you’re investigating people that you work with every day. This needs to go to Attorney General Josh Shapiro.”
Officers involved in the shooting recently returned to work, and state police and the Monroe County district attorney’s office are still investigating the case.
Meanwhile, the district attorney’s office released a statement, which reads in part: “No one from Mr. Hall’s legal team has reached out to us at all. We weren’t told that the attorneys were going to conduct a press conference today. We have not been asked to provide any information relative to this matter. We are still awaiting certain reports and results before we make any final decision.”
Though the attorney general’s office says they have not been requested to look into the case, Pennsylvania law states the office does not have jurisdiction to look into the matter unless they receive a referral from the district attorney’s office.

Pennsylvania State Police told NextShark that the officers involved were recently placed back on full duty.

“We are not releasing the names of the Troopers involved,” police said.

The incident is currently being reviewed by the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.

Featured Image via @AttorneyCrump

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