On Monday afternoon, police officers arrived at Walter Wallace Jr.'s West Philadelphia row home for a third time that day. Relatives said he was having "another one of his episodes."
In the past, when emotions ran high, Wallace, 27, an aspiring rapper and father of eight, could be pacified with the mention of his young children or a song he liked. But he grappled with mental illness, including bipolar disorder, and he had been going to therapy as recently as last week, said Anthony Fitzhugh, a cousin.
"Whenever I've been around and he was having an episode, I've always been able to say, 'Little cuz, little cuz, come on,'" Fitzhugh said. "It might take him a second, but if you know the things that will de-escalate, like he loves music, he loves his kids, when you start talking about these kinds of things ... sometimes it's easier to de-escalate whatever he may be going through."
The state of Wallace's mental health — and how familiar police were with his history — has sparked questions about officers' response at the scene and their use of lethal force in approaching him. His death, which comes after a series of high-profile cases of Black people dying at the hands of law enforcement, has also renewed the focus on a wider discussion about policing and mental health and how to best defuse unstable situations.
Family members said that they called 911 to request an ambulance and had hoped for Wallace to receive medical intervention but that police arrived first.
The encounter was partly captured on cellphone video, which shows Wallace getting shot multiple times in front of his mother and neighbors after officers appeared to tell him to put down a knife as he approached them. The two officers involved have not been publicly identified, and an internal investigation continues.
"I was telling PD to stop. 'Don't shoot my son, please don't shoot my son,'" Wallace's mother, Cathy Wallace, told reporters Tuesday night. "And they just shot him."
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said Wednesday that 911 calls and officer bodycam video will be released publicly after Wallace's family is first notified in the coming days.
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