Abigail Margulis

amargulis@citizen-times.com

Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify that police were responding to a 911 call.

ASHEVILLE – A 22-second-long video showing an Asheville Police officer approaching three teenage brothers while holding an assault-style rifle has sparked community protests, with critics citing it as an example of police intimidation.

The video clip was posted on Facebook Monday afternoon immediately following the confrontation on Courtland Avenue off Montford Avenue.

More than 23,000 people had viewed the video, and it had been shared more than 245 times by Thursday. A change.org petition calling for the officer’s firing had 452 signatures.

The video shows officer Shalin Oza holding the AR-15 in both hands as he steps toward the teens, with the rifle pointed downward. Officer Jessica McCoy and officer Brandon Shope were also shown in the video.

The officers were responding to a 911 call at 3:09 p.m. reporting one of three high school-age males walking on Courtland Avenue was waving a gun in the air. The area has seen a spate of recent shootings.

As the officers approached in the video, one of the teens can be heard saying “This man got an AR. Bro, that’s big."

Asheville Police Chief Tammy Hooper addressed the video at a Citizens Police Advisory Committee attended by about 75 people Wednesday night. The advisory committee, often referred to as CPAC, is a 12-member board set up to listen to community concerns and look for ways to improve relationships with police.

Most of the 15 speakers during a public comment period criticized police.

"I humbly submit my gun is bigger than your gun is no solution to de-escalate. It makes me feel scared for the African-Americans and for the soul of our community," said Melissa Hyman, a teacher and West Asheville resident.

Hyman said she saw no value in an officer displaying a weapon capable of killing multiple people in seconds.

APD has recently completed a new draft of a use-of-force policy emphasizing de-escalation and accountability, holding city officers to a higher standard than the North Carolina statute. Officers will begin training this month.

Every APD officer is issued a Glock model 21-.45 caliber handgun and Colt AR-15 5.56 caliber rifle, which is a powerful semi-automatic weapon.

Speakers at the Wednesday meeting said Oza also was captured on video Sept. 5 shoving a 16-year-old girl to the ground during a confrontation in Hillcrest Apartments.

The officers were nearby Monday because of recent incidents of gun violence in the subsidized housing communities of Hillcrest, which is just west of downtown Asheville, and Klondyke, which is on Montford Avenue.

Asheville police from Jan. 9-15 responded to six calls for gunfire in the Klondyke neighborhood, which houses 182 families, department spokeswoman Christina Hallingse said.

“These incidents sprung up from a dispute between groups of young men from Asheville High School,” she said in an email Thursday.

Officers recovered more than 50 shell casings from weapons that were fired into homes and cars belonging to Klondyke residents from the dispute earlier in January, Hooper said.

“When the officers received the call they had a heightened sense that there was some gun play to be concerned about,” Hooper said. “The one officer who had the rifle, pulled that out and deployed it as cover for the other two who approached the subject.”

This was an appropriate response under the given circumstances, Hallingse said.

Additionally, the officer did not raise his weapon, and the two other responding officers did not deploy their weapons, as the teen did not have a gun in his hands when he was stopped, Hooper said.

Officers later recovered a BB pistol on the ground where the teenagers were walking when the officers arrived. Police said one of the three teens, a 15-year-old, dropped the weapon when he saw police.

Gun-related calls have soared in recent months in the city’s 10 subsidized housing developments, Hooper said during the CPAC meeting.

“(This) needs to be dealt with and talked about in our community,” she said. “When I walked around Klondyke last week, the neighbors were coming out of their homes asking, ‘why are these guys coming in and shooting up our neighborhood? We are afraid.’

“I want to take this head on, because I know there are a lot of concerns about it,” she said. “But I’m not sure what the expectation is for how police can solve the problem of gun violence in the community. To me, that is a community problem that we have to figure out a way to come together to address.”

Police are investigating whether the officers followed department policy, Hooper said.

The department has also contacted and invited the mother and her children to view the body camera footage and talk about the confrontation, Hallingse said.

The department would not release the body camera footage to the Citizen-Times Thursday. North Carolina does not require that police body camera footage be made public.

After viewing the video recorded by one of the teens at the meeting Wednesday, resident Laurie Newman said she questioned why the officer was displaying the weapon.

"What in the world is he doing with that type of gun with these children in my city where I live and have a son? It is completely unacceptable. It is horrific,” she said.

DeLores Venable, an organizer with Asheville Black Lives Matter, spoke on behalf of the organization and the mother of the boys involved in the confrontation. Not just African Americans were affected, Venable said. The confrontation impacts the entire community, she said.

"This is an issue that has plagued us for more years than not, and it has come to a boiling point,” Venable said. “I am coming here to ask us as a city at large. Can we all come to the bargaining table and figure out how to help our people? Because when black people suffer, you all will suffer too. It’s just that simple."

The next CPAC meeting is scheduled for March 1 at 5 p.m. at the Dr. Wesley Grant Sr., Southside Center, 285 Livingston Street. The public is invited.