Activists in The Gambia on Monday presented a petition to the United States embassy in the capital Banjul demanding a thorough investigation into the killing of Momodou Lamin Sisay, the son of a retired Gambian diplomat, by the police in the US state of Georgia.
The petition compels the US government to release body camera footage documenting the killing of Sisay during an attempted traffic stop in Snellville town.
“(We) demand a thorough investigation of the killing of Momodou Lamin Sisay by making the police to release their videos on the incident,” Gambian activist Madi Jobarteh told Al Jazeera.
According to a statement by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, preliminary information indicated that police officers pursued Sisay after he failed to stop when they tried to pull him over for a vehicle tag violation.
The statement said that when the car eventually stopped and officers approached it, Sisay pointed a handgun at the officers, who fired on the vehicle and retreated to find cover behind their vehicles.
During an ensuing standoff with a SWAT team, the statement continued, Sisay fired his weapon at the officers, one of whom returned fire. Sisay was pronounced dead at the scene, it said.
According to Jobarteh, the petition is also a sign of support with George Floyd, the African American man killed in Minneapolis late last month when a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.
“But also [we] demand the investigation of the murder of George Floyd and to hold those responsible for the killing of African Americans.”
Activists are planning to hold a rally in solidarity with the “Black Lives Matter” movement when restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic allow, Jobarteh added.
Sisay’s father said he was withholding judgment on the incident pending results of an autopsy and findings from a private investigator.
Gambia’s foreign affairs ministry had already issued a statement saying it had asked the Gambian Embassy in Washington D.C. to engage the relevant U.S. authorities including the State Department, to seek a transparent, credible and objective investigation in the matter.
