By Aviva Shen on
October 8, 2013 at 10:29 am
A 911 call for medical assistance ended in the fatal shooting
of Georgia resident Jack Lamar Roberson Friday. Roberson was acting
erratically after possibly overdosing on his diabetes medication,
leading his fiancé to call for paramedics and an ambulance. Instead,
Roberson’s family charges that police showed up and killed the
43-year-old in front of his mother, fiancé, and 8-year-old daughter.
Waycross Police said they were responding to reports of a man trying
to commit suicide and that he had become combative. Police Chief Tony
Tanner said Roberson lunged at officers with weapons and refused to drop
them.
Roberson’s fiancé, Alcia Herron, disputes the police story, comparing the scene to a “silent movie.”
“He didn’t have nothing in his hands at any time or period at all
before they came, any time while they were here, anything. They just
came in and shot him,” Herron told First Coast News.
“He didn’t say nothing, the police didn’t say nothing, anything, it was
like a silent movie. You couldn’t hear anything, all you could hear
were the gun shots go off and I seen them going into his body and he
just fell down.”
Roberson’s mother, Diane, lamented,
“I saw my son go down with his hands up in the air, Lord Jesus, he had
nothing in his in hands, we don’t even own a decent kitchen knife and
they shot my baby down.”
An autopsy was performed Monday, but results have not yet been
released. If Roberson did indeed overdose on his diabetes medication, he
may well have been experiencing the tell-tale symptoms of intense anxiety and a general sense of confusion.
The two officers involved have been placed on administrative leave.
SOURCE: THINK PROGRESS