A Newport News police officer shot and killed Kawanza Jamal Beaty, 23, early Saturday morning.
The shooting happened in the area of 18th Street and Peterson Place around 2:00 a.m. as police were responding to reports of a man armed with a shotgun.
As the officers approached Beaty, he ran and was chased by the officers, according to Newport News Police Public Information Officer Lou Thurston.
At some point Beaty pointed a shotgun at police and one officer fired, striking him. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Friends of Beaty say the incident seems out of character.
"I really think that they need to look into this because he's not a bad person, the stories I'm hearing, it doesn't make sense," says Dwayne Sykes.
A sawed-off shotgun was recovered at the scene. Police have now released a photo of the shotgun. They say the shotgun was reported stolen in Hampton.
There will be two separate investigations of the shooting, a criminal investigation by the Department’s Homicide Unit and an internal investigation by Internal Affairs. Police say all three officers were not wearing body cameras, and there was no dashboard camera.
Chief Richard Myers says they are still not at 100% in deploying the cameras.
"It'd be great to stand before you today and say that one of the officers on scene had a body camera but that's simply not the case," he says. "We're not aware of any video at this point."
The three officers have been placed on administrative leave with pay. Chief Myers says one officer is a detective who was working an off-duty uniformed security assignment, one is a K9 officer and the third is a patrol sergeant.
Monday, Beaty's family, friends and civil rights groups spoke at a Newport News Church, demanding transparency from the police department.
