Fort Worth PD releases additional video of June 9 shooting of armed suspect

Fort Worth police released the body cam video and dash cam video from seven officers who responded to the deadly shooting of an armed man earlier this month.

The police department released 68 minutes of body camera video on Tuesday showing the June 9th shooting of JaQuavion Slaton and the moments leading up to it.

The videos show several officers searching the vicinity for Slaton. They were walking by the white truck several times until officers realize he was inside the cab. Three of the officers fired shots.

Police say Slanton was a fugitive police who was armed with a handgun and had just run from police during a traffic stop. They say they had him under surveillance and were trying to arrest him on a warrant out of Tyler for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Police say the shot Slanton fired with his gun was a self-inflicted shot to his temple.

Fort Worth Activist Pastor Kyev Tatum saw the extended footage for the first time. He says the seven officers who surrounded Slaton did not give him enough distance to de-escalate the situation.

“Why do you hit the hood? Why do you hit the window? Why do you break the window?” Tatum said. “That creates more tension.”

FOX 4 watched each video and counted 12 to 13 seconds from the time police gave the first command to the moment the first shot was fired. Tatum says police acted too quickly.

Calm the situation down,” he said. “And say ‘You are surrounded. Throw your hands up and come out of the vehicle.”

But Manny Ramirez, president of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association, says Slaton’s overt action 12 to 14 seconds after police gave commands ended the window of de-escalation or opportunity to de-escalate.

“Is that enough time to, in your brain, formulate a plan and say we should step back? Is that enough time before the suspect presented his weapon?” Ramirez said. “And that point, that’s whenever they were forced to take action.”

In the moments after the shooting, an officer yells to cease fire. About 25 seconds later, one officer noticed Slaton wasn’t moving, but some of their weapons stay drawn towards the vehicle for the next few minutes.

“Your adrenaline is going to be very, very high,” Ramirez said. “At the end of the day, these officers are having to analyze… having to figure out if the threat is neutralized. If that suspect is going to raise that gun again. I mean they don’t know that, and it takes time to figure that out.”

No officers involved have been disciplined by the department or criminally charged, but Tatum claims they should be held responsible for Slaton’s death.

“We want every one of their names,” he said.

Ramirez says he hopes that releasing the extended body camera videos gives the community the complete picture they were hoping for.

“I think the Fort Worth Police Department, for transparency’s sake, I think they’ve been more transparent in this case than they’ve been in history,” he said.

Slaton died of multiple gunshot wounds. The three officers who fired their weapons are on administrative leave.