VALLEJO, Calif. — Twenty-year-old Willie McCoy was shot and killed by Vallejo police on Feb. 9, 2019.
One year to the day, his family and friends met in the location where he was killed, formerly a Taco Bell parking lot, to remember the man they all knew and to push for reform at the Vallejo Police Department.
"Today is the one-year anniversary of when Willie lost his life right there, and so we are going to acknowledge Willie and what happened one year ago today," McCoy's brother Kori McCoy said. “You have a history in the city of Vallejo a history going back two decades of them playing judge, jury, and executioner on the street."
At the time of his death, Willie was sleeping in his car, which was parking in a Taco Bell parking lot on Admiral Callaghan Lane, which is now a Starbucks. Police officers were responding to a call about a Silver Mercedes parked in the drive-thru lane with a man slumped over in the driver's seat. Upon arrival, officers found McCoy passed out in the locked car with a handgun on his lap and the transmission in drive. The two officers who arrived on the scene first did not attempt to wake McCoy and waited for back-up while making sure that no one else tried to walk towards the car.
Police were placing another patrol car behind Willie's car when he began to move. Officers told him to keep his hands where they could see them several times. That's when officers say Willie reached for the gun on his lap and, fearing for their own safety, the six officers began shooting at him. The shooting lasted approximately four seconds, and all six officers unloaded 55 rounds. In a report from Blake Consulting & Training about the incident, the number of shots fired was deemed "reasonable."
The officers called for medical help and began trying to save McCoy's life, but he died in the parking lot. The handgun, a loaded .40 caliber semi-automatic, was reportedly stolen from Oregon.
Civil Rights Attorney John Burris is representing Willie's family, as well as several others, who say they or their loved ones were victims of excessive force by police.
“None of the officers have been charged on criminal prosecution," Burris said. "We had a meeting recently with the District Attorney’s office of Solano County, seeking to get prosecution in the case of Ronnell Foster. The DA told us they are not going to prosecute, that they felt the officers conduct was justified."
According to a story from the Mercury News, Vallejo police shot and killed Foster after trying to stop him for a "minor traffic infraction." In a press release released on Jan. 31, 2020, Krishna A. Abrams, Solano County District Attorney, said the officer in the Foster case was "justified in using deadly force on February 13, 2018."
Burris added that this vigil is not just another rally of a silenced community, but a call for action to the Vallejo Police Department, and if they won’t address the life-or-death issues, then families like McCoy’s will take legal action.
“What we are really doing right now, we have three lawsuits pending, we have a number of other lawsuits pending, and many of the people here are here to support the activities that we've been involved in because they feel the impact of the brutality and the misconduct of Vallejo PD officers,” Burris said.
ABC10 reached out to Vallejo PD to ask where the department stands in its investigation of the officers who shot McCoy. Vallejo PD did not immediately respond to ABC10's questions.
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