Family of Frankford man killed in confrontation with police last month still looking for answers

PHILADELPHIA - The family of a Frankford man wants answers after their loved one was shot to death by a police officer last month.

"Once it hits you it's surreal," said Emanuel Mitchell. He never imagined losing his brother the way he did.

"I still have a problem materializing that my brother is gone," he said sitting alongside his wife and son. 34-year-old Terrell Mitchell was killed in a police-involved shooting in Frankford on May 29.

There’s video posted on YouTube of the confrontation. Police say they've seen it and say it shows exactly what they said the day it happened. Mitchell walking toward officers after repeated commands to stop. They say he had a knife.

We're not showing the part of the video when the officer fires a shot hitting Mitchell once in the stomach killing him. It happened after a SEPTA employee stopped two officers driving by saying a man was chasing him with a knife.

"I was just at a loss for words," said Emanuel. He says someone sent him the video.

"I try to have empathy. Put myself in an officer’s place. I would have tased him or pepper sprayed him if he was that hocked up on drugs and he went in lunging motion and had to shoot him. They could have tried to give him a leg shot."

The national conversation of police and the use of deadly force has hit home for this family.

"Something has to happen to the point where as though when an officer reaches for his gun he thinks twice," said Emanuel.

He says his brother was known in the neighborhood as “Ski-Bot” and suffered with mental illness and drug addiction but was well-known for his sense of humor.

"He never hurt anybody. He'd chase people around, act tough, act crazy and the police know him. They laugh at him," he said. The family also says it's hurtful that police have not reached out to them.

"No one's talked to us. It's like it never happened. Except for it did happen," said Emanuel.

A police spokesperson says the officer who fired the shot is on administrative duty while the investigation is underway.

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