NYTimes | Ivan
Lara, 43, a painter, said he saw Mr. Hill outside sometime after noon
Monday, wearing a pair of shorts and lying face down. He assumed that he
was exercising. But when Mr. Hill lifted his head, his speech was
indecipherable, Mr. Lara said.
Workers at the rental office eventually called 911. Mr. Lara said one of the workers at the complex tried to calm Mr. Hill.
Pedro
Castillo, 43, a maintenance worker at the complex, said Mr. Hill was
naked and on his hands and knees in the parking lot when the officer
arrived in his squad car, parking a good distance away.
When
Mr. Hill saw the officer, Mr. Castillo said, he stood up and moved
toward him with his hands raised, and the officer, who Mr. Castillo said
looked frightened, yelled for him to stop.
Mr. Castillo said that he had not seen a scuffle, but that he did see the officer pull out a handgun and shoot Mr. Hill.
Another
resident, a woman who did not want her name published because she is an
undocumented immigrant, said Mr. Hill had his hands at his sides and
raised them parallel to the ground as he drew nearer to the officer.
She, too, said the men did not fight before Mr. Hill was shot.
A
third witness, Xochi Macedonia, 27, said she had seen Mr. Hill running
toward the police officer from more than 20 yards away. But Ms.
Macedonia said she could not see what happened when Mr. Hill got close.
In
a news conference on Monday, Cedric L. Alexander, the DeKalb County
deputy chief operating officer for public safety, said the officer had a
Taser at the time. He said he did not know whether the officer had used it. None of the witnesses said they saw a Taser used.
