DEKALB COUNTY, GEORGIA (10 JULY 2021) Read the full article Family calls for justice after police fatally shot Matthew Zadok Williams
Matthew Zadok Williams was fatally shot by DeKalb County Police in April 2021.
The DeKalb County chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference led a justice rally alongside Matthew Zadok Williams’s family and supporters.
Williams, 35, died in April after police said he lunged at officers with a knife. His family is demanding that Sgt. Devon Perry, who announced his name on body camera footage and who the family believes fired the fatal shots, be terminated immediately from the DeKalb County Police Department.
“We have had the displeasure of looking at over 10 hours of body cam footage, and nothing in that footage showed that Sergeant Perry should have shot into my brother’s home, nothing,” Williams’s sister Hahnah said.
Officers asked Williams to drop the knife 47 times. Police said Williams lunged at officers, prompting one shot. Moments later, Williams retreated inside his home. At one point, the door cracked open, one officer said they were there to help Williams and three gunshots were fired.
Family attorney Mawuli Davis said. “This fight and each fight is important for us to maintain and keep shedding a bright light for what these families are going through and why the community needs to support this, because it could be your family tomorrow.”
