PHOENIX - Six months after 19-year-old Jacob Harris was shot and killed by Phoenix police following an armed robbery, 12 News has obtained video of the robbery and video from the police chopper showing the subsequent shooting.
On Thursday, Jan. 10, a Phoenix officer assigned to a Special Assignments Unit was surveilling subjects and a vehicle that was believed to be involved in a string of armed robberies, according to the police reports.
That officer noted in his report that he watched as four people, who would later be identified as Jacob Harris, Jeremiah Triplett, Sariah Busani and an unidentified 14-year-old boy, sat in a car at a Food City in Avondale near Dysart Road and Van Buren Street.
The car was facing a Whataburger restaurant about 100 yards away.
Once the restaurant locked its doors, the three men exited the car and two of them jumped through a drive thru window before unlocking a door and letting in the third, according to the police report.
The police report says once inside, guns were put to the heads of Whataburger employees as a robbery took place. The three males ran out of the Whataburger and back to the Honda Passport allegedly driven by Busani.
Police video from one of the surveillance officers showing the robbery in progress has been obtained by 12 News.
A police chase ensued on Camelback Road. Officers eventually brought the Honda to a stop near 93rd Avenue and Camelback.
The police report, written by an officer who arrived at the scene after the vehicle was stopped, says, "I heard what sounded like gun shots and I saw flashes consistent with gun fire, ARWEN deployments, and/or diversionary devices. My first impression was that someone from the Honda Passport was shooting at us (the police)."
The police report says the officer learned one of the men, later identified as Harris, in the rear passenger side of the vehicle exited and fled.
The officer says in his report he learned Harris fled while pointing a gun at officers.
"I learned that one of the B/M [black male] occupants, seated in the rear passenger side seat had fled from the vehicle, pointing a handgun in the direction of officers as he ran southeast bound. That person was shot at by
SAU [special assignments unit] officers and was laying in the dirt, just off Camelback Road."
According to police reports, Harris was shot at least twice in the back.
12 News also obtained footage from the police chopper, which shows the Honda Passport being stopped by police. A person (Harris) can be seen exiting the car, running away from the police and shots are fired and he falls to the ground.
Phoenix police said they could not answer any questions about the case due to ongoing litigation.
We spoke to Jacob Harris' father today, who did not want to watch the videos obtained from Phoenix police.
Community advocate Katt McKinney took issue with the fact that officers did not intervene while the robbery was in progress at the Whataburger.
“I don’t think that they should ever watch a crime go down like that," McKinney said. "I mean they’re here to protect and serve. They didn’t do anything to protect those people in there."
During a press conference Wednesday, Harris' father, Roland Harris, said he wants the body camera footage released and demands justice for his son.
"If you're not going to release the body cam footage then obviously you know it's telling a story that you didn't want to be told," Roland Harris said. "It's telling the story that Jacob was actually murdered and not just shot. He wasn't just some armed suspect that you fear for your life from."
Roland Harris said he is speaking out again now because it is time for justice and spoke of the other pending cases going on with the Phoenix police department including the use-of-force case with Dravon Ames and Iesha Harper and a new claim alleging Phoenix officers unlawfully assaulted a woman during a body cavity search.
“It’s ridiculous that I haven’t been able to mourn my son,” Roland Harris said. “Because I can’t be weak right now because I’ve got to fight the City of Phoenix.”
The three other suspects involved in the armed robbery are still facing charges and may go to trial later this year.