A video depicting the Saturday scene when Chattanooga police shot and killed an armed black man surfaced on social media Sunday, prompting speculation about how, or whether, the incident fits into the wider national conversation about officer-involved shootings of black people.
Javario Eagle, 24, was shot and killed by police at Emma Wheeler Homes in the middle of the day Saturday. Police said he had a knife and a handgun. Eagle was with his 4-year-old daughter, whom authorities said was endangered during the ordeal.
The child's mother, Ariana Williams, on Sunday called the incident police brutality. She said Eagle loved his daughter and she does not believe he would have put the child in danger.
Javario EagleBut the four-minute video posted to Facebook Sunday morning features a person who calls herself Eagle's cousin yelling hysterically at Eagle from across the street to "drop the gun!" as police stake out the scene, a square of grass with brick triplex apartments on three sides.
From behind the camera, another voice says, "They just wanted to talk to him," as the cousin screams at Eagle to put the gun down and go inside before he gets shot.
The video provides little insight into the actual moment of the shooting.
Police were called to the scene because a man was "exhibiting unusual behavior" and making "unusual statements," Police Chief Fred Fletcher said Saturday. Officers were told an armed man was in one of the apartments and witnesses told police they heard shots from inside.
Fletcher said Eagle came in and out of the home several times, and that on the final time he came out with the little girl. He was carrying a gun and a knife.
Fletcher said the officers attempted to coax the girl away from Eagle and an officer left cover to grab the girl once she moved away from her father.
At that point, Fletcher said, Eagle "aggressively moved toward" the officer and the child and that multiple officers began to shoot.
The Hamilton County Sheriff 's Office is investigating the shooting and the police department is cooperating fully, both agencies said. A sheriff's office spokesman said Sunday no information will be released until the investigation is concluded and added that any comments would come from CPD or the district attorney's office.
A spokeswoman from District Attorney Neal Pinkston's off ice said there was nothing new to report Sunday and that it will be a couple of weeks before there is a report from the sheriff 's office.
On Sunday, Williams had her daughter with her as she spoke to a reporter.
"I really do think this is another example of police brutality," Williams said, though she was not present at the shooting. She said she had dropped the child off with Eagle on her way to work.
Williams said Eagle was not mentally ill and he was fine when she'd spoken to him earlier.
Hamilton County Sheriff's office investigators work the scene of a Chattanooga Police officer-involved shooting at Emma Wheeler Homes on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher said that multiple officers shot and killed Javario S. Eagle, 24, after he endangered the lives of a child and officers while armed with a handgun outside of an apartment at 5113 Woodland View Circle.Two neighbors who witnessed the shooting, including one who recorded video of the aftermath, said Sunday that Eagle received a phone call shortly before the incident that seemed to set him off.
A woman who lives in the same triplex as Eagle speculated some people would point to Saturday's shooting as an example of police brutality and use it to further the Black Lives Matter movement.
She said she wasn't sure this incident fit that narrative, though.
The video posted to Facebook by "Lilnookie Rollins Smartt" on Sunday had garnered 50,000 views by 8:50 p.m. and had been shared more than 2,000 times. It had drawn more than 200 comments, and people were pulling up news about Chattanooga police shootings in 2009 and 2014 on the Times Free Press website.
The video was also uploaded to YouTube on Sunday night.
Eagle was a rapper and Williams said he liked to watch movies and play video games. She said he collected swords as a hobby.
In one of his songs, "How U Play It," Eagle raps about the streets, money and guns.
Footage from local news coverage of violence and shootings plays in the music video posted to his YouTube page.
"Life ain't a game, but you got to know how to play," a part of the song says. "It's chess, not checkers, make a [expletive] play.
"Make the wrong move and you might end up dead."
CAUTION: Video may be graphic in nature.