The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox.
There was outrage and disruption at a community meeting in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Thursday night as residents of the city called for justice in the fatal police shooting of a UMass Boston student.
Twenty-year-old Sayed Faisal, a Bangladeshi American college student, was shot and killed by police on Jan. 4 while advancing on officers with what police described as a kukri and after a less-than-lethal “sponge round” failed to stop him, authorities said.
A kukri is a short sword with an angled blade that originated in South Asia.
Cambridge mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, city manager Yi-An Huang, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan and Cambridge police commissioner Christine Elow were among the officials in attendance, facing a large, emotional crowd, demanding transparency about the fatal encounter.
Police said Faisal lunged at police with a large knife, though surveillance video and witnesses suggest that the 20-year-old was running from officers trying to hurt himself.
Investigators have released few specific details of the confrontation and authorities have not released the name of the officer who opened fire.
The officer, who is on paid administrative leave, is a seven-year department veteran who has never been the subject of a citizen’s complaint, police spokesperson Jeremy Warnick said Monday.
According to the preliminary investigation, police received a 911 call last Wednesday afternoon from a resident who reported seeing a man jumping out of an apartment window with a machete, which he appeared to be using to cut himself.
Officers and paramedics found the man, identified as Faisal, bleeding in an alley.
Faisal saw the police, who requested that he drop the weapon, and ran for several blocks.
He then reportedly moved toward the police while still holding the weapon, even when they fired a less-than-lethal round at him. He continued to advance, and one officer fired a gun, striking Faisal, who later died at a hospital, authorities said.
Authorities said that officers did try to use sponge bullets before fatally shooting him.
During the four-hour meeting, city leaders and investigators explained the investigative process, but it did little to calm frustrations in the community.
Faisal, who was known as Prince by his family, was an only child who was never violent and had never been involved with law enforcement before, his parents said in a statement released by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The Cambridge city council has scheduled a special meeting from 3 to 5 p.m. on Jan. 18 to discuss protocols, processes and training of city police.
Hearst Television participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.