(Image source: CBS News)
BY BLAKE HANSON
You're watching multisource video news analysis from Newsy
Miami police shoot and kill a man roaming a neighborhood with a gun. But the man...was mentally disabled, and his gun...was just a toy. WFOR reports...
ANCHOR: “It happened before 6 p.m. in North Miami Beach, police say they were forced to fire because the man was terrorizing the neighborhood. But people who know the man, say he was mentally disabled and not known to be violent.”
VICTIM’S SISTER: “They murdered him in cold blood for a toy gun!”
Police say the victim is 56-year-old Ernest Vaselle. But while Family members can’t believe he’d ever be a threat.
REPORTER: “His name was Ernest Vaselle, who had autism, mental illness, but never would own a gun.”
KNOWS VICTIM: “He doesn’t have a gun”
KNOWS VICTIM: “He doesn’t even carry a knife.”
WPLG also talked to witnesses who say they feared for their lives.
REPORTER: “That’s not what witnesses believed, this case is far from over.”
RESIDENT: “It looks like we just got this close to losing our lives, that’s the way I saw it.”
If this all sounds familiar, you’re not crazy.
The New York Daily News reported on a similar incident last March.
“A cop responding to frantic 911 calls Monday shot and killed the son of a retired New York State lawman who witnesses said was waving an imitation pistol outside a Brooklyn school.”
Miami Police officers are sticking to their story -- claiming they had to play it safe. CBS News writes...
“Police maintain the toy gun appeared to be a real rifle. One officer is on administrative leave while police and the state attorney's office investigate this incident.”
'Like' Newsy on Facebook for updates in your news feed.
Get more multisource video news analysis from Newsy
Transcript by Newsy
