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A crowd of supporters turned out Saturday night to call for justice for Pamela Turner, a 44-year-old grandmother with mental health issues who was gunned downed by police this week.
Turner was fatally shot during a confrontation with Baytown Police officer Juan Delacruz at The Brixton Apartments complex at 1601 Garth on Monday.
More than a dozen people, led by Black Lives Matter organizer Kandice Webber, denounced Delacruz’s actions.
Ben Crump, a lawyer who is representing the family, called Turner’s death one of the worst police shootings he’d ever seen on video. He said they will be pushing for all possible avenues of legal justice, including a criminal murder charge on the officer.
“My sister was a human being who had rights, and on that evening, her rights were violated in every possible way,” her sister Tracy Frazier said earlier this week. “She did not deserve to be killed and murdered.”
Delacruz said he was serving an arrest warrant on the woman when they began to struggle, according to Baytown police. The two had “prior dealings,” Dorris said. The officer struck Turner with a Taser, after which she grabbed a hold of the weapon and used it against him, Dorris said. He fired five shots, all heard on a viral video taken by a bystander.
Delacruz remains on paid administrative leave, officials said.
The Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Terry Anderson will officiate Turner’s funeral on May 23 at Lilly Grove Missionary Baptist Church.