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Video Surfaces On Facebook Of Fatal Shooting By BART Police Officer

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) – BART police have not yet formally made public the video showing an officer-involved shooting that happened near the West Oakland BART station in January. But the video emerged Tuesday on Facebook for everyone to see.

It is the body camera video worn by a BART police officer as he shot Saleem Tindle to death on January 3rd.

The officer runs across the street, yelling at two men who were involved in a fistfight, to get their hands up.

Within seconds, he opens fire.

In the video, you can hear the officer yell out: "Raise your hands!"

A dark object appears to fly into the air. The video is not clear enough to identify the object.

Saleem Tindle's brother, professional boxer Karim Mayfield said, "Police said my brother had a gun, which was not true. I've never known my brother to have a gun."

Mayfield posted the video to Facebook Tuesday.

He says a family member shot the video with a cell phone off a screen as police were showing it to the family. He believes the officer didn't give Saleem Tindle enough time to react to his commands.

"The officer, he did say it, but he gave them no time to even comply to what he was saying," Mayfield said. "He certainly shot quickly. He certainly didn't give them any time."

John Burris, attorney for Saleem Tindle's family --  which is suing BART -- says he would like to see more of the video made public.

KPIX5 police expert and former Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan would like to see more context. But at first glance, Jordan believes the officer's actions were justified.

"I don't know that that gives a really clear picture of a person being shot in the back," Jordan said. "Initially, he was shot in the front and as he fell to the ground, he began to move and then the officer was continuing to fire because the threat was still present at the time because he was armed."

BART police told the family it would release the full body cam video to the public once the investigation is complete.

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