Family Of Sacramento Man Killed By Police Sue City, Claim His Gun Was Not Loaded

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A twelvemonth aft 38-year-old Augustine Morales was changeable and killed by Sacramento police—candles were inactive lit successful his representation astatine the country of the shooting.

“My member is nary longer with america due to the fact that helium was misidentified, I privation to marque that wide that helium was not the shooter,” explained Marysa Morales.

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Augustine’s mother, Roxanne Morales, is present suing the metropolis of Sacramento for wrongful death.

“I usage to spot and judge successful our judicial strategy and I nary longer spot successful our strategy oregon our unit anymore,” she said.

Sacramento constabulary accidental idiosyncratic fired a changeable wrong a North Sacramento warehouse past November during a boxing event. Security footage shows Augustine with a weapon successful his hand. Video past shows a sergeant moving and shooting Augustine.

“He wasn’t trying to endanger anybody, it was much of a self-defense,” explained Marysa.

“He had not pointed astatine anyone and, successful fact, the clip from his weapon was recovered 75 feet away,” said Adante Pointer, the lawyer representing the family.

He claims the weapon Morales was carrying had a mag safety, was unloaded and couldn’t person changeable anyone.

“Without the clip, the weapon does not function,” helium explained. “So helium was holding a weapon that is simply a weapon by sanction but was not a weapon by signifier successful the consciousness that helium could not occurrence immoderate bullets and successful information had the weapon if you volition down astatine his side, turned distant from the serviceman erstwhile the serviceman crept up from down him, changeable him aggregate times successful the backmost without giving him the decency of a informing oregon immoderate commands,” said Pointer.

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In the suit filed connected November 10, 4 days earlier the one-year day of the shooting, the family’s lawyer explains wherefore the weapon could not person been utilized arsenic a weapon.

“It is simply a factual impossibility that Mr. Morales fired the shots heard by Sgt. Jarvis,” the suit states. “Furthermore, nary of the ammunition casings astatine the country came from Mr. Morales’ firearm, and a gunshot reside trial taken connected Mr. Morales recovered that helium had not fired a weapon.”

CBS13 asked Sacramento lawyer Mark Reichel that, if it’s existent that Augustine’s weapon did not person the quality to beryllium fired, if it could person immoderate interaction connected the case.

“Unless they knew that it had a detached mag and couldn’t fire, unless they could spot that oregon knew that, that’s not the astir important thing,” helium said.

Mark believes what’s much important is however accelerated the sergeant decided to occurrence his weapon.

“It’s not knee-jerk, spot a gun, shoot. That’s not allowed,” helium explained. “This gets the justness strategy successful the hands of the assemblage and says look, determination were nary de-escalation tactics made. They showed up, definite they saw idiosyncratic with a weapon but determination are bully radical with guns arsenic well.”

With a suit present filed against the city, Augustine’s household hopes it volition bring them closure.

“It’s not going to bring my member back, a begetter back, a member back, a lad back. If we could instrumentality backmost that day, that is what we would want, but we can’t,” Marysa explained. “So, successful immoderate benignant of ineligible mode that we tin get immoderate benignant of accountability from our justness system, past we person to effort to bash something.”

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Sacramento constabulary person inactive not identified the shooter from that day. City officials were not instantly disposable for remark astatine the clip this communicative was published.