Brevard County Sheriff's Office in Florida releases dashcam video of a fatal shooting of two black teenagers. Video / AP
Video released by a Florida sheriff's office shows two deputies pulling their weapons and one firing at a car as it drives at him in a shooting that killed two Black teenagers.
The Brevard County Sheriff's Office released the video on Tuesday after the teenagers' families and their attorney, famedcivil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, demanded more information about last Friday's events that led to the fatal shooting of AJ Crooms, 16, and Sincere Pierce, 18.
The sheriff's office said in a Facebook post that Deputies Jafet Santiago-Miranda and Carson Hendren were doing a follow-up investigation on what they thought was a stolen car. When they spotted the car, they followed it as it drove through a residential neighbourhood and then pulled into the driveway of a home.
Dashcam video shows the deputies, in two different squad cars, getting out of their vehicles as the car they are following starts backing out of the driveway. Santiago-Miranda says repeatedly: "Stop the vehicle."
The vehicle stops for a few seconds, backs up a bit and then drives in the direction of Santiago-Miranda as the deputy fires his weapon, according to the video.
The moment Deputy Jafet Santiago-Miranda fired his weapon. Photo / Brevard County Sheriff's Office
Santiago-Miranda "was then forced to fire his service weapon in an attempt to stop the deadly threat of the car from crashing into him," the sheriff's office Facebook post said.
As shots are fired, a woman can be heard screaming in the background.
Crump said on Wednesday in a tweet the video showed the teens were terrified and tried to drive around the deputies. Out of harm's way, Santiago-Miranda moved closer to the car to get a better shot, Crump said.
Crump has previously represented the families of Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Jacob Blake.
AJ Crooms (left) and Sincere Pierce. Photo / Supplied
Florida Today reported that the woman heard screaming was Cynthia Byrd Green, the aunt of Sincere Pierce, who said she had raised him from an infant.
Green told USA Today she believed it was a case of mistaken identity and claimed she pleaded with the officers not to shoot.
"I saw the whole thing from beginning to end. I pleaded with that deputy, 'please don't shoot my son'," Green said.
"I saw my son slump and I just knew ... I knew he was dead."
The deputies involved in the fatal shooting have been put on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Meanwhile, scores of protesters carrying signs that said "Who Do You Call When Police Murder?" and "Prosecute the Police," walked along a busy road in Cocoa on Wednesday evening, chanting "Justice for AJ. Justice for Spud," a nickname for Pierce.
