CBS4 News Takes Center Stage
Jun 17, 2009 11:56 pm US/Eastern
Amateur Video Shows SOBE Police Shooting Aftermath
MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) ―
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You can see paramedics working on the shooting victim on the sidewalk at the entrance to the bar Twist on Washington Avenue.
Courtesy: Edwin Escoboza
New video shot by a witness shows the hectic moments after a Miami Beach Police officer shot and killed 29-year-old Husien Shehada, a tourist from Virginia.
A crowd of people gathered on Washington near 11th on South Beach early Sunday morning, watching as rescue crews tried to save Shehada. They pumped his chest feverishly, but it was too late.
"He did not deserve to die at 29-years-old," said Samir Shehada, Husien's brother who was with during the shooting.
Miami Beach police say they got a call that two men fitting the description of Husien and Samir were walking around with guns. There was some kind of confrontation, and then the officer shot Husien. Samir says they were unarmed.
"He doesn't even own a gun! We were vacationing, we were vacationing."
Police arrested Samir the same night, accusing him of beating up his girlfriend. According to our news partners at the Miami Herald, Samir's girlfriend denies he hit her. The Shehada family just can't understand how this all happened.
"He wasn't armed, how can you shoot someone for no reason? I need to know the reason, we all need to know what happened and we don't know," said Husien's cousin Najwa Ghannam.
For now, there are no answers. Miami Beach Police won't even release the officer's name while they investigate, though he is now on desk duty.
And now Samir's final memories of his brother—a man who lived with their mom and supported her financially—are of him dying on the pavement.
"There was no hating him, there was no disliking Husien, you loved Husein (chokes up) that's how it is!"
Miami Beach Police Department's Internal Affairs unit and the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office are investigating this shooting. A prominent Arab rights group, The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is questioning whether the shooting was racially motivated. They say police asked witnesses whether Husein was "Arabic", or if he was speaking Arabic.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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