Family of Georgia man shot by police wants video released

SAVANNAH — Relatives of a Georgia man fatally shot by police in January have called for police to release body camera video of the shooting, saying they’re confident the footage shows he was unarmed.

Officers shot 20-yearold Ricky Boyd outside his Savannah home Jan. 23 while trying to arrest him on a murder warrant. Boyd’s grandmother and younger siblings witnessed the shooting. Boyd was black. Authorities have not released the names or races of the officers.

A Savannah police officer was also wounded by gunshots outside Boyd’s home and Police Chief Mark Revenew at first said Boyd was armed and had “initiated gunfire toward officers.” The day after the shootings, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Boyd was holding a BB pistol. The bureau has not said who shot the injured officer.

More than two months later, Boyd’s family insists he had no type of gun in his hands when police shot him on the front porch.

Mattie Wallace, Boyd’s grandmother, said she and her younger grandchildren were standing outside the house where more than 10 officers surrounded the front yard when Boyd came out of the door. She said she heard an officer yell: “He’s got a gun!”

“And I hollered, ‘Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! He doesn’t have a gun!’” Wallace said in an interview Thursday. “Then all I heard was shooting.”