Putney addresses concerns to Hispanic community in officer-involved shooting

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney met with the community over concerns about body camera footage of a deadly officer-involved shooting.

They talked about the difficulties of language barriers, not having many Hispanic officers and how the Police Departments decides when use of force is necessary.

Putney said communication is important in all solving these issues.

“So, we got to get to where we want to talk about these encounters, so then we can get to where we're more caring and connecting on a human level, and having positive outcomes.”

Putney said the Police Department's emersion program sent 20 officers to Mexico to experience the culture.

He said those officers then built relationships with children in the Charlotte community.

[RELATED: CMPD releases body cam footage from deadly officer-involved shooting]

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released the body camera footage from the deadly September officer-involved shooting in northeast Charlotte.

Activists call the videos "concerning" and said the videos clearly show Rueben Galindo put his hands in the air when officers directed him to follow their commands.

Several officers in the video can be seen approaching Galindo's northeast Charlotte apartment with guns drawn.

Earlier that night, police said Galindo called 911 and told the operator in Spanish that he had a gun. Officers have said they told Galindo to drop the gun, but he didn't.

Officer David Guerra arrived at the apartment in the video.

[PAST COVERAGE: 2 CMPD officers on leave following deadly officer-involved shooting]

From another body cam, Galindo could be seen stepping outside when Guerra yells several demands at Galindo, some in Spanish:

"Rueben, policia, manos, manos, manos, manos, Get down. Drop the gun. Do it now,” the officer said.

“Drop the gun."

Then, in the video, officers could be heard yelling, "Shots fired. Shots fired. Suspect down."

Activist Hector Vaca said he believes the video proves Galindo complied with the officer's demands.

"His hands were up in the air at least two seconds before they started firing, so that's one-two bang," Vaca said.

He wasn't a bad person,” Susy Zamorano Aleman, Galindo's life partner and the mother of his child, said. “They didn't have to kill him like that."

Zamorano Aleman said Gilando was trying to turn the gun over to police and had no intention of shooting or harming anyone.

She had no idea how or why Galindo had a gun.

"They took my life partner away,” Zamorano Aleman said. “The father of my child, and his right to live. He didn't deserve that."

She couldn’t go into specifics about that night because it's still an open investigation.

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