The Pittsburgh area woman who filmed the police shooting death of 17-year-old Antwon Rose said the officer “was taking target practice on this young man’s back.”
Rose was fatally shot by East Pittsburgh Officer Michael Rosfeld on Tuesday after fleeing a traffic stop. Shauny Mary, who recorded the encounter, said that the officer did not have a reason to shoot Rose.
“He was very harsh,” she told ABC News, referring to the officer. “He was screaming and he was very aggressive. I didn’t understand why.”
The 23-year-old Mary said she saw a passenger door “open up” and two people attempt to run away.
“The [officer’s] gun is pointed toward the vehicle and you see two kids flee from the car,” Mary told ABC News. “Then three shots.” She said her “heart stopped” when she heard the shots.
“My heart fell out of my chest,” she told ABC News. “What was that for? Why was that needed?”
Mary said the officer was distraught after the fatal shooting. She said “he had his hands over his head,” and it appeared he knew “he messed up … he looked frantic.”
Rosfeld worked for the University of Pittsburgh police until early this year, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He left the university police force about a month after prosecutors dropped a case against three men he’d filed charges against.
Rosfeld had responded to another officer’s call for assistance at a local bar, according to the criminal complaint that the officer filed. He said the other officer had three men up against a wall who smelled of alcohol and were “extremely belligerent.”
The three were charged with simple assault, defiant trespass, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. However, the district attorney withdrew all charges Dec. 21.
Timothy Riley, one of the three who was charged, said he was upset to see that Rosfeld was involved in this week’s fatal shooting.
“It makes me sick that he was able to still be a cop after how they treated us, and that poor kid had to lose his life because of their negligence,” he said.
Rosfeld has been placed on administrative leave.
With News Wire Services
