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Video: Pima deputy shoots & kills 17-year-old Sudanese boy as he stabs fellow deputy
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Video: Pima deputy shoots & kills 17-year-old Sudanese boy as he stabs fellow deputy

'Video debrief' released by authorities includes fatal shooting, 911 call recordings

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Law enforcement investigators released video showing the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Sudanese boy, who was killed as he attacked a Pima County sheriff's deputy with a pair of scissors during an incident three weeks ago.

Officials said that Zakareya Ibrahim was shot and killed after he approached a patrol vehicle driven Deputy Eduardo Toral and stabbed the deputy multiple times in the face and shoulder, severely injuring his spinal cord.

As Ibrahim attacked Toral, Deputy Taylor Dunn fired 10 shots in two salvos, killing the 17-year-old.

On Friday, the Pima Regional Critical Incident Team released a "video debrief" of the bloody incident, which included segments of 911 calls, and surveillance video captured from a nearby home that shows one angle of the March 12 incident.

Officials said that the grainy video is only one available. In September, the Pima County Board of Supervisors approved a 10-year contract worth $26.5 million to get body-worn cameras for deputies, however, neither Toral or Dunn were apparently issued cameras.

The incident began around 6:30 p.m. when Ibrahim called 911 and made "several threats," repeatedly telling a dispatcher that he wanted to kill people and that he was armed with a pair of scissors.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department Communications Center dispatched the deputies to the 3900 block of S. Rocky Peak Ct., a neighborhood in Tucson Estates near South Kinney Road and West Ajo Highway, where they encountered an "unidentified male," later identified as Ibrahim.

As Toral attempted to get out his patrol SUV, the video shows the boy raising his right arm as he closes the distance. Then, he passes behind Toral's vehicle. Around 10 seconds after Toral pulled to a stop in the street, the first shots ring out.

In the debrief, officials cautioned that the video was "not meant to draw conclusions about whether the deputy's acts were consistent" with Pima County Sheriff's Department policies and the law. "That cannot be done until all the facts are known, and the investigation is complete."

The release of the video and 911 recordings is part of a larger effort to add "transparency" to major incidents by law enforcement officials in Pima County. In early March, officials announced the formation of the Pima County Regional Critical Incident Team, which tasks around 60 investigators pulled from the nine police departments in the county to review major incidents and untimely deaths.

Tucson Police Department officers were tapped to review Ibrahim's death, while PCSD said they will conduct a "separate, but parallel, administrative investigation to examine" Toral's actions.

'I want you to feel my pain'

In the audio segments from 911 calls included in the video, Ibrahim sounds confused, and repeatedly slurs his words. The 911 dispatcher asks him, "You're calling the Sheriff's Department, you know that right?"

He responds, "Yes sir. What do you need?"

The dispatcher asks him if he has an emergency and he responds, "I want to kill all you bitch ass n*******," using a racial slur.

"You want to kill who?" the dispatcher asks. "Everybody," Ibrahim responds.

Later he tells her, "You got me all the way fucked up, I want you to feel my pain. You feel me?"

The dispatcher asks him more questions, including whether he's alone, and Ibrahim later responds by telling her: "I've cried too much, too much...."

She presses, trying to get Ibrahim to explain, but he avoids her questions, telling her "you won't understand, you won't get it." Later, she asks if he has any weapons, and Ibrahim responds only "You should come find out."

"Are you like, threatening to harm someone?" she asks.

"No," Ibrahim said. "It's a promise," he warns. "All I got is scissors," he tells her, and he refers to the movie series "John Wick," telling her that he will kill people with scissors.

Officials said that they tried to garner more information about Ibrahim, and were able to speak to the boy's father, who was "unaware of the many 911 calls" his son made.

'What is that?'

Toral, who has been with PCSD for one year, was first at the scene, and as he drove up Ibrahim threw a rock at his marked patrol SUV.

In the video, Toral stops his vehicle in the road, and Ibrahim walks toward the vehicle. "Hey, let me see your hands," Toral yells at Ibrahim. Ibrahim quickly closes the short distance, as Toral yells "What is that?"

One of the deputies, either Toral or Dunn, yells "Get away now!" By this point, neither Toral nor Ibrahim can be seen from the surveillance camera. Then, there is the first salvo of shots.

The video does not show Ibrahim attack the deputy, as the SUV blocks the view from the surveillance camera, but as more shots ring out, Dunn—a three-year veteran of PCSD—runs into view from the left side.

As Dunn closes, both Toral and Ibrahim fall to the asphalt. In the video, Ibrahim is on top and his arm is raised with the pair of culinary scissors clutched in his right hand. He stabs at Toral once more, then falls back as Dunn fires his second salvo of six shots.

With Ibrahim collapsed on the ground, Dunn immediately checks on his partner, and calls for help on his radio.

Additional deputies responded the scene, and rendered medical aid to both Ibrahim and Toral, officials said following the incident. Ibrahim died at scene, and Toral was taken to a nearby hospital, and treated for his injuries.

Social media posts indicated that Ibrahim and his parents, with whom he lived, were refugees from Sudan. Following Ibrahim's death, the Islamic Center of Tucson asked for community members to keep him and his family in their prayers.

Ibrahim was buried several days later during a ceremony on March 17, the Islamic Center posted on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said that Toral suffers from paralysis after the stabbing.

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pcsd, prcit, sudan, tpd, zakareya ibrahim

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