A black man in Sacramento, California and another in Houston, Texas are the latest victims of police shootings in the States.
Both men were armed, police say.
Police in Houston say the shooting took place in the early morning hours on Saturday, July 9, when two police officers on a routine patrol encountered 38-year-old Alva Braziel.
He was in the middle of the street, holding a revolver and acting erratically, police spokesperson Jodi Silva said.
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He appeared to be waving the gun around, and when police asked him to put the weapon down Braziel allegedly brought the gun to waist level, pointing it at the officers, she said.
He was then shot multiple times.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is asking the U.S. Justice Department to review the shooting
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Turner also said Monday that since “tensions are running high,” he recommends all available video be released as soon as possible. He said video from a gas station shows that just before police arrive on Saturday, Braziel appears to fire two shots in the air and then raise his arms and turn in a circle.
Silva identified the officers by their first initials and last names, standard procedure for the department. They are L. Luis, a 13-year veteran of the force and E. Macias, a 10-year veteran.
In Sacramento, police say a black man in his 50s or 60s was waving a knife over his head and showing “very threatening, erratic behaviour.”
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Police spokesman Sgt. Bryce Heinlein said the when police arrived the unnamed man threw an object at their vehicle and was seen reaching for his waistband as if he was trying to retrieve a weapon.
It also said the man later raised a knife over his head while charging one officer who locked himself in his patrol car to escape injury.
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Two more officers arrived and eventually shot the man when he turned toward them with the knife, Heinlein said. A news release said officers fired “multiple” shots.
Officers later found a folding knife but no gun, Heinlein said,
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The names of the officers involved in the shooting were not immediately released. Both officers have been with the force for more than two decades, one for 25 years of years and the other for 22 years.
Both the shootings come amid high tensions nationwide over recent police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana, and the slaying of five Dallas police officers during a Black Lives Matter rally last week.
Tuesday, President Barack Obama will be in Dallas to talk to the families of the victims of the Dallas shooting, which he’s denounced as a “vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement” by a “demented” individual.
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