The local Michigan police department responsible for fatally shooting an Owings Mills man who was weeks away from becoming a Michigan State University alumnus announced that the body camera footage of the moments leading to his death would be delayed.
Officials from the East Lansing Police Department originally announced that they would release body camera footage of what led to officers fatally shooting Isaiah Kirby, 21, on April 15. On Thursday, they announced that the footage would be released at a future date after meeting with Kirby’s family, who called what they saw “a highly edited, selectively compiled, and deeply one-sided presentation that raises more questions than answers.”
“When someone is killed by police, the truth cannot be filtered through edited clips, selective camera angles, or a narrative shaped after the fact,” Teresa A. Caine Bingman, the family’s attorney, said in a statement. “The presentation did not provide the complete sequence of events, full officer interactions, uninterrupted body camera footage, or the full context necessary for the public to independently evaluate what occurred.
Just after 6 p.m. on April 15, officers were responding to a theft at a business around Lake Lansing and Abbott roads in East Lansing, Michigan, officials said. That led them to a nearby nonfatal stabbing, for which police say Kirby was a suspect.
East Lansing Police Department officers fatally shot Kirby. Jeremiah Wilcox, a spokesperson for the Ingham County medical examiner’s office, said in an email that Kirby’s cause of death was gunshot wounds and the manner of death was a homicide.
Michigan State Police are investigating the shooting. Neither they nor East Lansing Police have shared the names of the involved officers or how many responded to the scene.
Nor have authorities shared how many rounds were fired at Kirby. His mother, Karen Kirby, said in a statement last month that she counted at least 17 bullet wounds on her son’s body — including some in his back.
“The condition of his body, including his face — that was swollen beyond recognition — reflected a level of force that is devastating to even describe,” Karen Kirby said in a statement.
Because of this, Karen Kirby said she opted to cremate her son with no public viewing of his body.
Isaiah Kirby graduated from Sparrows Point High School in 2022 and was a member of the Baltimore City White Knight Track Club, his mother shared. He was studying zoology at Michigan State University.
His family said the boy who loved playing with sharks and snakes as a kid was preparing for an interview at a zoo in Austin, Texas, and graduation from Michigan State University the week he was fatally shot.
“While our grief is heavy, we are demanding answers based on facts and untouched video and audio evidence that show my son’s alleged involvement in any of the incidents and/or other actions that took place at the scene,” Karen Kirby said. “We want the truth. We want transparency. We want accountability — and we demand Justice.”
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