An independent report ordered by city officials in Vallejo, Calif., found that 21-year-old rapper Willie McCoy was fatally shot at 55 times within seconds by police officers who found him sleeping in his car earlier this year.

According to USA Today, the report, conducted by police consultant and former peace officer David Blake, found that the group of six police officers fired the rounds at McCoy in 3.5 seconds in the February shooting.

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At the time, McCoy had been found sleeping in his car outside of a local Taco Bell. Police said they found the rapper, also known as “Willie Bo,” sleeping in a drive-through lane with a handgun in his lap.

They said they were called to the restaurant after an employee found a driver slumped over in his car. Police said that McCoy was initially unresponsive when they found him, but that he made a sudden movement as they were examining him.

They said that when they told McCoy to keep his hands visible, he allegedly reached for his weapon, upon which time they discharged their own firearms “in fear for their own safety.”

His death was met with protests and a wrongful death and civil rights violation claim filed on behalf of McCoy’s family against the city, according to USA Today.

In his report, however, Blake said that he found the officers’ use of deadly force to be “reasonable and in line with contemporary training and police practices associated with use of deadly force.”

"Officers are not required to wait until a weapon is pointed at them to take the necessary steps to save their own lives," Blake also wrote in the report.

He also added that the officers’ use of deadly force in the February shooting was "reasonable based upon my training and experience as a range instructor as well as through applied human factors psychology."

The report's findings on the officer’s use of deadly force have since been dismissed, according to John Burris, an attorney representing McCoy’s family.

"These officers used deathly force tactics," Burris told USA Today. "They wake a man up and, before he has a chance to react, they shoot and kill him. That cannot be reasonable."

Burris also noted Blake’s past report ordered by city officials in last year's fatal police shooting of Stephon Clark, saying the recent reports’ “findings only means to me that local police agencies have found a person they can count on to support their position.”