Jackson is the ninth person killed by Phoenix police this year.
Footage of the encounter was released on Aug. 23 as part of a Phoenix Police Department “critical incident briefing," which is made public after police shootings and in-custody deaths. The briefings are narrated by officers and include edited compilations of body camera footage, dispatch audio and other information regarding an incident.
Events leading up to the fatal shooting started earlier on the morning of Aug. 10 after police received a 911 call about a shooting near 27th Avenue and Van Buren Street. In 911 audio released as part of the briefing, a female caller said the shooter was “wearing some pajama pants” and “driving a white Explorer with rims on it.”
The caller initially described the shooter as “a Black female” before quickly correcting herself to say the shooter was “a Black male.”
“I’m just a little shaken up,” the caller said in the 911 audio.
Police responded to the scene, where the department said officers interviewed multiple witnesses who said a man fired at and threatened several people with a handgun. The briefing video included surveillance footage from a business across the street, which showed a vehicle driving up to a group of people. The suspect exited the white SUV, turning it off but leaving the door open.
The man appeared to chat with a group of people sitting and standing in a parking lot before pulling out and firing what appeared to be a gun. A few of the people in the group scattered, including a dog. The briefing did not include surveillance video of what happened after the man fired his weapon.
Following the incident in the parking lot, police said they spotted a vehicle near 25th Avenue and Buckeye Road that matched the description of the SUV mentioned in the 911 call. Police said officers in two police vehicles then pulled up behind the SUV, which was driven by Jackson. Police initiated a traffic stop at about 3:41 a.m., according to the briefing.
The department said officers Vicente Rodriguez and Jeremy Lemos, who both are assigned to the South Mountain Precinct, stopped Jackson's vehicle. The department did not specify which officer is which in the videos included in the briefing.
‘He’s reaching’
The bodycam footage included in the briefing began after officers stopped the SUV. In footage from one officer’s camera, the officer instructed Jackson, who had exited his vehicle, to “stay in your car.”“What?” Jackson could be heard replying.
The officer again yelled twice more for Jackson to stay in his car.
“What did I do?” Jackson responded.
As the first officer communicated Jackson’s license plate number to a dispatcher, the second officer yelled at Jackson to “stop where you are.”
Jackson is barely visible at the beginning of the bodycam footage. But surveillance footage from a nearby business included in the briefing showed him wearing pajama pants, a black shirt and slides. In the surveillance video, Jackson pushed his car door shut — the slam of which could be heard on the bodycam footage, even though Jackson was obstructed from view — before putting his hands up and walking in front of his car and away from the officers.
The officers then approached Jackson. As Jackson continued to walk away, the first officer yelled, “Stop now! I said stop!” while pointing his gun toward the ground in front of Jackson. In the bodycam footage, Jackson could be heard saying something inaudible, though he was not visible.
Officers then began running east on Buckeye Road to pursue Jackson. Jackson’s silhouette barely was visible in the footage during the foot chase. As the officers followed Jackson, bodycam footage showed a third police vehicle execute a quick U-turn on Buckeye Road in an attempt to cut Jackson off.
After a few seconds of running, one of the officers appeared to yell, “He’s reaching!” before firing two shots at Jackson. Soon after, the second officer fired three more in quick succession. Police said Rodriguez and Lemos both fired their guns but the identities of the officers in the briefing video are not clear.
Police said Jackson “suffered at least one gunshot wound,” though it's unclear how many bullets struck him.
As one of the officers called in the shooting on the radio, the other could be heard yelling, “Chill out, chill out. Get behind the car, get behind the car. Relax, breathe. Everybody good?” In the bodycam footage, a third officer could be seen exiting the vehicle that pursued Jackson during the chase, though police have not identified him and no camera footage was provided from his vantage point.
No additional footage was included in the briefing. Police said Jackson was detained and that “life-saving measures were attempted” but that he died at the scene.
Police said Imani Jackson suffered at least one gunshot wound and died at the scene.
Phoenix Police Department
The aftermath
Police also said they found a handgun near where Jackson was shot and claimed it was “linked to evidence found inside of the suspect vehicle” and “forensically matched to the original shooting scene near 27th Avenue and Van Buren Street.” However, if Jackson was carrying a weapon, no evidence of it appears in the bodycam or surveillance footage included in the briefing.Both officers currently are assigned to nonenforcement positions in the department, which is standard protocol for officers involved in a critical incident. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office opened a criminal investigation, and police are conducting an internal investigation to determine if officers followed department policy. Both investigations are also standard in the wake of fatal police shootings.
After police killed Jackson, his family retained civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump. He has represented families of several Black victims of police and gun violence, including the families of Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.
“The death of Imani Jackson is a heartbreaking reminder of the dangers Black men face in interactions with law enforcement,” Crump said in a statement on Aug. 19. “The Jackson family deserves to know exactly what happened to their loved one in his final moments. We will continue to fight for justice on behalf of Imani and all those affected by this tragedy.”
