DEADLY FORCE

Trevor Mullinax Says Cops Shot Him ‘Like Cowboys From a John Wayne Movie’

“Just because they are a law enforcement, they did not give them the right to do what they did.”

The survivor of a police shooting in South Carolina is alleging that cops descended on him “like cowboys from a John Wayne movie” and shot him nine times. According to a lawsuit filed Friday, Trevor Mullinax claims that officers used “deadly force, immediately, without attempting to deescalate the situation” when they opened fire on him in 2021 after being called to perform a wellness check. Bodycam footage obtained by NBC News shows the deputies opening fire on Mullinax, who said he was having a mental health crisis, from inside his pickup truck as his mother screams in horror from outside the vehicle. The York County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to NBC “it had not yet been served with the lawsuit and would not comment on the allegations until their lawyers reviewed the court papers.” The Sheriff’s Office also claimed Mullinax pulled a shotgun on the officers prior to the shooting—a claim that Mullinax vehemently denies in the complaint. “Just because they are a law enforcement, they did not give them the right to do what they did,” Tammy Beason, Mullinax’s mother said in a news conference Tuesday. “And, you know, I want to be able to believe in the law enforcement and to get back my belief that they’re not going to hurt you.”