20 SHOTS

Bodycam Footage Shows Sacramento Police Shoot Unarmed Man

Fired 20 shots at Stephon Clark only to learn that what they thought was a gun was actually his cellphone.

Sacramento police on Wednesday released body-camera footage of two officers fatally shooting an unarmed black man in his grandparents’ backyard. Stephon Clark, 23, was killed Sunday night after police approached him while responding to a 911 call about a man breaking car windows in the area. Officers can be heard in the footage repeatedly saying they believed Clark was armed with a gun, and almost immediately after ordering him to put up his hands, one officer yelled, “Gun! Gun! Gun!” before police opened fire on him 20 times. Authorities acknowledged Wednesday that Clark had only a cellphone. Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn said both officers involved in the fatal shooting have been placed on paid leave pending an investigation. But Clark’s relatives and community activists want to know why the officers fired 20 times, and many have questioned whether Clark was given enough time to obey the officers’ commands.