Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams announced Tuesday that she’s asked the FBI to conduct a civil rights review of the fatal shooting of 28-year-old James “Jay” Garcia, who was killed on the Fourth of July while he sat in a vehicle parked on a driveway in a west Phoenix home.

Williams also said the Police Department will release on-body camera footage within 10 to 14 days of a police shooting, a change from the 45-day wait, a policy she had put in place last year.

In a four-paragraph statement, Williams said the Police Department is “committed to growing and becoming better every day.”

“There are many aspects to this evolution. For example, increasing our transparency efforts to be more proactive in releasing video of critical incidents and seeking support from outside agencies to assist in conducting investigations into some of these incidents,” she said. “I’ve said before and will say again that I don’t fear civilian oversight or investigation of our practices from outside agencies. While I’m confident in the investigative work done by my team, I recognize the value of an unbiased outside agency in strengthening the public trust into an investigation.”

Williams’ statement said that the Police Department will still conduct an administrative review of the case and also a criminal investigation. Commonly, after the investigation is complete, it will be forwarded to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, which will decide if any charges should be filed against the two officers who shot Garcia.

The shooting of Garcia, who police say had a gun and raised it toward officers, prompted another wave of protest against the Police Department, which has a high rate of shootings, compared to similar-sized or larger cities.

On Monday, the Police Department released a 44-second clip of bodycam footage of an officer, showing him taking the gun out of Garcia’s vehicle after he was shot. That clip did not show the shooting.

While the Police Department has not released the full body-cam footage depicting the shooting, cell-phone footage taken by a bystander has been shared widely on social media by many people.

Williams’ announcement comes as advocates have put pressure on the Police Department to be more transparent on the details that led to this shooting. Garcia’s case is among several Arizona police shootings that have caught national attention in recent years.

The police chief’s announcement came the same day Phoenix Union High School District said it will not renew its agreement with the city of Phoenix for on-campus police officers, known as school resource officers. 

The changes come in the wake of mass protests in Phoenix last month after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Prior to that, multiple advocacy groups had demanded more accountability from the Phoenix Police Department.

‘Department wants to control the narrative’

Danny Ortega, the lawyer representing the Garcia family, said people across the country are watching Phoenix and how its police chief will handle this case. Ortega said he welcomes the FBI review because it can provide a non-biased view of the events.

“This case is getting national notoriety and we continue to call for transparency in this case like all the cases all around the country,” he said.

He said he would rather get the full body-cam footage sooner, but “10 to 15 days is better than 45,” he said. He also said it wasn’t right for the Police Department to release the 44-second clip by itself.

“It was a very selective video to release,” he said. “That tells me that the Police Department wants to control the narrative.”

He added that the family is still shocked, and his mother “is mourning his death more than anybody else.”

On Tuesday, before Williams made her announcement, two state Democratic lawmakers had called for the release of full body-cam footage.

“Releasing the information which we are asking for will not negatively impact the internal investigation in any way, but it would go a long way in establishing a greater level of trust between the community and law enforcement,” said Sen. Martin Quezada, whose legislative district includes Maryvale.

State Rep. Diego Rodriguez also called for the release of the two officers’ complaint history and if they were involved in any other shooting. Their names have not been released by the Police Department.

‘Please help me get justice for my brother’

The family has started a GoFundMe campaign asking for $10,000 for costs related to Garcia’s death. 

On Monday evening outside of the house of where Garcia was killed, protesters held a vigil. There, Garcia’s sister spoke.

“My brother is James Garcia, and he deserves justice. Please help me get justice for my brother, please. That’s all we want, that’s all we want. We love him so much. He was a great father and a great brother and a great son,” she said, crying.

According to police, someone called 911 about 1 p.m. Saturday to report that a man who had tried to kill him a week before had returned, threatening to harm him. The caller said he was hospitalized after the man stabbed him a week before.

Police arrived in the area of the 5600 block of West Glenrosa Avenue, which is north of Indian School Road and west of 55th Avenue.

Officers talked to the 911 caller “who pointed out a specific home where he said the stabbing suspect was,” police said in a news release on Saturday.

Police talked to “several people including a man inside of the vehicle in the driveway,” said a police spokeswoman, Sgt. Mercedes Fortune.

“Officers talked to the man for approximately 10 minutes, asking him to leave his car so they could secure the scene. He refused and eventually rolled up the windows and pulled out a gun,” she said. “Officers ordered the man to drop the gun but he refused. The man repeatedly told officers to shoot him and lifted the gun toward officers. That’s when two officers fired their weapons.”

Police did not say if Garcia was the man the 911 caller had referred to.

Cellphone video shows confrontation

The video that has been circulating online is just over two minutes long, showing four officers surround a four-door beige vehicle on a driveway. A police vehicle is also in the driveway facing toward the vehicle Garcia is in.

“Put the gun down (expletive),” an onlooker yells at the police.

“Bro, don’t shoot him,” someone else is heard saying.

One of the officers yells into the vehicle, “Stop (expletive) moving, I will shoot you.”

The footage shows the moment one officer breaks a passenger side window. The camera then moves away when officers multiple times into the vehicle, which can be heard on the video.

Garcia’s head is rested on the window sill as officers keep yelling, pointing their weapons at him, the footage shows. 

“He’s dead, what are you guys doing?” someone is heard yelling at the police.

Another person yells, “Give him an open casket at least.”

High police shooting rate

The Phoenix Police Department has been under intense scrutiny for its high rate of police shootings.

An Arizona Republic analysis of Phoenix police shootings from 2011 to 2018 found the Police Department outpaced similar-sized and larger cities. 

Phoenix police, who serve a city with 1.6 million residents, had an average of 17 shootings per every 1 million residents in the eight-year span — more than New York, Los Angeles, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and San Diego. 

The trend change in 2019, when the Police Department was involved in 15 shootings, the fewest number of cases in a decade. Phoenix police still outpaced a majority of those cities with nine shootings per every 1 million.

The Republic has also found that a majority of Phoenix police shootings since 2010 have been in low-to-middle income neighborhoods where Hispanic people are the majority

In 2020, the Phoenix police officers have fired their guns in 10 cases, five of which were fatal.

Uriel Garcia covers public-safety issues in Arizona. Reach him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ujohnnyg.

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