DISTURBING

Louisiana Police Shoot Black Man 11 Times as He Walked Away From Them

Police chased Trayford Pellerin for half a mile as he walked from a gas station parking lot. They say he had a knife. They shot him as he attempted to enter another gas station.

On Friday night, police officers in Lafayette, Louisiana shot a Black man 11 times as he walked away from them, the Daily Advertiser reports. The man, identified as 31-year-old, Trayford Pellerin died in the hospital. It was unclear which of the half-dozen officers involved in the encounter fired their guns, though interim Police Chief Scott Morgan confirmed to the Advertiser that at least one did. All of the officers involved have been placed on leave with pay pending the results of an investigation by state police.

Officers initially responded Friday night to “a disturbance involving a person armed with a knife at the Circle K gas station,” Louisiana State Police spokesman Trooper Derek Senegal said. They found Pellerin in the parking lot, but he fled as they tried to apprehend him, Senegal said. Officers then pursued Pellerin as he walked roughly half a mile to a nearby Shell gas station. Rickasha Montgomery, who recorded the incident in a video that subsequently went viral, said he was shot as he attempted to enter. “When I heard the gunshots, I couldn’t hold my phone like I was first filming,” she said. “I feel kind of scared about it. I’m traumatized. You’re so used to hearing about this, but I never thought I would experience it.”