On Wednesday, the Vallejo Police Department unveiled shocking videos, photos, and documents in the 2019 shooting death of Willie McCoy, an unarmed black man who was murdered by police after falling asleep in his vehicle at a Taco Bell.
The incident unfolded on February 9th, 2019, after Vallejo police responded to a 911 call from a Taco Bell employee stating that an unresponsive person was stopped in the drive-thru and not moving, even after people tried knocking on his windows. Upon their arrival, officers aggressively surrounded the vehicle with their guns drawn since 20-year-old McCoy had a firearm on his lap, as seen on body-cam footage.
The cops initially attempted to enter the car to retrieve the gun and drag McCoy from the vehicle. However, when they discovered the doors to be locked, they proceeded to box the car in with their cruisers. The encounter quickly turned deadly as McCoy began to stir around inside of the vehicle, appearing to scratch his shoulder and lean forward. Officers commanded the aspiring rapper to keep his hands visible but began to fire their weapons only seconds after the command. 55 shots were fired into the vehicle within 4 seconds, 38 of which hit McCoy.
After firing the rounds at the car, which shattered the windows and windshield, the officers demanded that McCoy show his hands because he was apparently still moving inside. When he didn’t respond, the officers dragged his bloodied, lifeless body from the vehicle to handcuff him and render first aid. The police department said that the young man reached for his weapon.
Vallejo has seen 18 fatal police shootings over the past decade. Officers have even been accused of celebrating those murders with barbecues and a visual cue — bending a tip of their badge — according to Open Vallejo, a news outlet. The Vallejo Police Department claims that it is investigating allegations of the sickening celebratory rituals.
According to internal documents revealed Wednesday, over a year after McCoy’s murder, Vallejo Police Chief Shawny Williams recommended firing one of the officers involved, Ryan McMahon. McMahon told Taco Bell employees to stay inside the building when he claims to have heard gunfire and ran toward McCoy’s vehicle. He fired one shot at the windshield, as claimed McCoy was also shooting. He said that he feared for his life and the lives of his fellow officers. However, his actions endangered other officers, since he had run with his weapon “out and extended” while another officer was in his “cone of fire.”
At this time, McMahon is still employed with the department but has been placed on paid administrative leave. The other officers involved in the incident were Bryan Glick, Anthony Romero-Cano, Collin Eaton, Jordon Patzer, and Mark Thompson.
In a report released in June, the expert hired last year to review the incident, who happens to be a retired police officer, concluded that the use of deadly force was reasonable. McMahon was also listed as “exonerated” of unreasonable force in an internal investigation report from January.
However, just Last week, the Solano County District Attorney’s Office announced that a special prosecutor had been hired to further investigate the excessive forced that was used.
McCoy’s family sued the city of Vallejo last year.
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