Philadelphia police release body cam footage, 911 calls from fatal shooting

PHILADELPHIA – While more than 150 people gathered at City Hall Wednesday evening to protest last week's police killing of Walter Wallace Jr., the city's police department released the body camera footage and named the two officers involved in the 27-year-old Black man's death.

The video, released nine days after the incident, confirmed details already known by video captured from the scene. Wallace was walking at police officers with a knife in his hand when they fired more than a dozen rounds at him. 

The officers are Thomas Munz, 26, and Sean Matarazzo, 25. Matarazzo has been with the department since 2018 and Munz has been with the department since 2017, the department said.

The video, which is more than four minutes long, paints a more complete picture of what happened in the 50 seconds from when officers made contact with Wallace until they shot him on the 6100 block of Locust Street in the city's Cobbs Creek section.

The video also includes the emergency calls from the incident. While police had responded to the residences multiple times that day, Oct. 26, and days prior, the sequence of events that led to Wallace's fatal shooting starts with a 3:42 p.m. phone call from a woman who says she is a neighbor. She says there is fighting going on next door.

Eighteen seconds after that call was made, another woman, who said she was Wallace's sister, said her brother was hitting her mother and father. She also asked for medical assistance for the parents.

A 911 call is then made at 3:43 p.m. by a man who says "my mom needs help." He says nothing else, and what sounds like a tumultuous scene can be heard in the background.

A police transmission recording at 3:45 p.m. urges responding officers to "use caution... This is an ongoing domestic issue going on."

Two officers respond to the scene at 3:47. Wallace can be seen through a screen door at the residence. He can be heard saying "come up the stairs."

Wallace then exits the residence with a knife in his hand as the two officers retreat backward in opposite directions. They command Wallace to drop the knife about a dozen times.

Warning: The video below includes graphic images.

During a press conference last week, Shaka Johnson, a lawyer representing the family, said after watching the video that he heard an officer say "shoot him" before shots are fired.

Police released the body camera footage from both officers, and "shoot him" can be heard during the second video moments before the officers fire on Wallace, who does not appear to make any aggressive motions toward the officers other than walking toward them with the weapon.

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Johnson last week said the family was not pressing for the District Attorney's office to file charges against the officers because the officers were not properly trained to deal with medical crises and did not have less-lethal options available.

During the video, Wallace does not appear to have any response to the shouts from officers and family members on the street. Johnson last week said Wallace appeared to be in "a cloud or stupor" as officers were commanding him to drop the knife as family members screamed.

[Story continues below the photo gallery, which is from a Saturday protest.]

After the shots are fired and Wallace drops to the ground, a chaotic scene unfolds on the street. Wallace's mother, sobbing, says "you killed my son" as she swings a fist at an officer.

One of the officers then moves his patrol vehicle closer to the scene. Police said they took Wallace to a local hospital.

In the second of the two videos, one officers tells another responding officer that Wallace was "chasing" them.

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The shooting ignited two days of violent unrest, causing city officials to install curfews and request aid from neighboring jurisdictions. The National Guard was mobilized and remains in the city as Philadelphia has become a focus of the nation as ballots continue to be counted from Tuesday's presidential election.

Wednesday evening, the Philly Black Radical Collective, a group of organizations fighting for the abolishment of traditional police and advocating against police violence, held a peaceful demonstration that started at City Hall. The group was joined by a neighboring Socialist Alternative rally that drew hundreds to demand the counting of every vote.

More than 500 people marched from City Hall east on Market Street. When they got to the area near the Liberty Bell and Constitution Center, the groups split. The Wallace protestors made their way to the building where Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney lives in Old City before dispersing.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told reporters Wednesday this is the first body camera footage release of a police shooting in the department’s history.

Contact Jeff Neiburg at jneiburg@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeff_Neiburg.