PHOENIX — The family of a man shot and killed by Phoenix police outside a convenience store last November has filed a lawsuit against the agency, claiming the shooting could have been avoided.
Leontae Kirk's family is seeking unspecified damages, though their initial notice of claim to the city asked for $25 million.
Kirk was shot and killed outside a convenience store near 37th Avenue and McDowell Road. Phoenix police said he had threatened a man with a gun earlier that day. Police said that man called 911.
Police said Kirk then went down the street to the convenience store. When he came out, a man on a motorcycle pointed a gun at him. Surveillance video provided by Phoenix police shows Kirk pulling his own gun.
The two men point guns at each other across the parking lot as Kirk backs away. He eventually swings his gun around to others in the parking lot.
By this time, Phoenix police said the department's helicopter was overhead and an officer reported that shots had been fired. Police later said neither man fired their gun.
Officers arrived on the ground and shot Kirk. Video provided by Phoenix police from surveillance cameras and body cameras does not clearly show what Kirk was doing, but his family's lawyers claim he had his hands up and had thrown his gun away.
Police found the gun underneath a car.
“This should have never happened," Kirk's brother Kashane Kirk said. "I can say, 'Enough is enough,' but I know it will just fall on deaf ears."
The family's attorney said during a press conference Wednesday that officers did not chase after the man on the motorcycle with the gun, whom he identified only as "Humberto."
"They didn't go after Humberto," attorney Sean Woods said. "They went after Leontae and the only reason I can think is because he was black.”
Phoenix police provided the following statement to 12News in response to the lawsuit:
"This matter involves pending litigation. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office reviewed the officer’s involvement in this matter and declined criminal prosecution. This matter remains the subject of an ongoing administrative investigation."
The City of Phoenix has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit in U.S. District Court.
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