A shocking viral video shows an Oklahoma police officer firing his gun 11 times at an alleged shoplifter. The clip — published by TMZ — was taken at a Walmart parking lot in Del City on Sunday. The man firing the gun is reportedly an officer at a nearby college police department.
The harrowing video begins with a police officer struggling with a person trying to get into his car and drive away. The customer was reportedly leaving with a home BBQ set he did not pay for. Eventually, he broke free from the cop and drove off, but as he did so the officer fired at him eleven times. Miraculously, the alleged shoplifter was not killed, and no one else was hit by the gunfire.
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CW: POLICE SHOOTING. Today an off duty Langston police officer shot a man suspected of shoplifting at a Midwest City walmart as he drove away from him. Cops in Oklahoma are out of control and kill more people per year than they do in 47 other states. #DefundPolice NOW. #BLM pic.twitter.com/zoRgRaLSpw
— Oklahoma City DSA 🌹 (@okcdsausa) July 5, 2020
The officer in the video reportedly works for the Langston University Police Department — an on-campus security force meant to protect students at the school. It is not clear why he was armed and wearing his uniform while shopping at Walmart. The school is cooperating with the Del City Police Department in their investigation of this incident.
The alleged shoplifter was rushed to a nearby hospital and is reportedly in stable condition. It is not clear how many times he was hit, if at all. The Del City Police say that the man had a receipt proving that he did pay for some items, but the university police officer did not think he paid for the home BBQ.
The shooting sparked fresh outrage at police in general on social media this weekend, with many people relating this shooting to the Black Lives Matter movement. According to some accounts, the man who was shot at was Black, and was under suspicion because he declined to show his receipt to Walmart security on the way out of the store.
“The officer needs to be behind bars, no reason for 11 shots to be fired,” one person tweeted. Another added: “This is *explicitly* the kind of things cops are not allowed to do! The Supreme Court ruled it illegal for a cop to shoot someone who is trying to escape unless there is an immediate, plausible [threat].”
This shooting is the latest in the ongoing wave of protests across the U.S. and calls for extreme reform to policing. The Black Lives Matter movement continues to organize rallies and marches in major cities everywhere, including many over the weekend with particular significance relating to the Fourth of July.
