Earlier this week, several bystanders released videos of a gruesome scene in San Francisco of eight officers unloading dozens of shots into a black man armed with a knife and killing him. Today, the man was identified as Mario Woods, and his mother came forward to speak on his death. According to ABC 7 News:
Woods' mother, Gwen Woods said, "He needed some help. He just needed some help."
Gwen grieved as she made arrangements for her son's funeral. She said he suffered from mental health issues, but was starting to overcome them.
"He fought past them. He was supposed to start UPS today. He got his uniform," Gwen said. [...]Gwen told ABC7 News, "They executed my child."
Among those that disagree police had to resort to lethal force is Gwen, who says police could have easily overpowered him.
Gwen said, "It was a better way of handling it than 25 bullets in my baby."
San Francisco officers found Woods after he had allegedly stabbed someone else. The eight officers surrounded him and commanded him to drop the knife in his possession. When he refused, they shot him with bean bags. At least two civilians recorded the scene on video. One video appears to show him acting erratically and dazed while moving along a wall to an open space. Police, claiming that Woods lunged toward them with the knife, then unloaded 25 lethal rounds into him, according to Gwen Woods.
