The family of a teenage boy who was fatally shot by police in Ohio on Thanksgiving is speaking out after bodycam footage of the shooting has been released.
“I’m just really devastated,” Ashley Greene, the mother of 15-year-old Jazmir Tucker — who died on Nov. 28 — said, per WOIO-TV and New 5 Cleveland. “Jazmir was a great kid, very humorous. I just don’t know what to say.”
Another one of the teenager’s family members, identified as Miss Cotton, said that Tucker was “always laughing.” She added, “Everybody loved Jaz and Jaz loved everyone else.”
“He loved to do yard work. Our family is just devastated. We’re just hoping for, looking for prayers,” she continued.
The Akron Police Department in Ohio claim, per WOIO-TV, New 5 Cleveland and the Associated Press, that Tucker had been armed with a loaded gun when he was shot on Thanksgiving night.
Police said, per the outlets, that two of the department’s officers heard gunshots go off just after 11 p.m. local time, which prompted them to investigate.
After encountering Tucker, the officers ran after him, and one of the officers fired their weapon at the teen, who was then given first aid and transported to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Several days after the incident, the Akron Police Department released bodycam footage taken from the officer’s point of view. The footage, obtained by WJW-TV, shows one of the officers firing a rifle at the teenager.
The officers can then be seen continuing to give verbal commands to Tucker, including “put your hands up,” before the officer who shot the teen could also be heard on video saying that they fired because they saw the teen “reaching with his right hand.”
The teen was then handcuffed and searched, and officers discovered a gun with an extended clip in the pocket of his jacket.
Additional officers who responded to the scene then appeared to provide first aid to Tucker about seven minutes after he was shot, before EMS arrived.
The Akron Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Saturday, Dec. 7
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Akron Mayor Shammas Malik released a statement saying he was “left with many serious questions” after watching the bodycam video, including why the officer did not “activate their body cameras upon exiting their vehicle” and why the officers “used rifles instead of handguns.”
“In hindsight, the amount of time that expired between the shooting and the initiation of physical aid to Jazmir is deeply troubling to me,” Malik continued. “I want to be clear that any unreasonable delay in the rendering of aid by police officers is unacceptable and has no place in Akron.”
Police Chief Brian Harding also shared in a statement that he wanted to share his “condolences” with “the family and friends of Jazmir Tucker.”
“An incident like this is tragic for our officers, for our community, but most especially for the loved ones who lost someone. I know that no officer ever wants to use their weapon in the line of duty,” he said. “It is the most serious decision any officer can make and when that decision results in loss of life, it’s an outcome none of us wish to see.”
Harding added that an independent investigation is being conducted surrounding the incident.
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