PM Beers

June 3, 2015

(ANTIMEDIA) Long Beach, CA — “Where am I?” Feras Morad asked shortly before crashing through a second floor window and subsequently being shot with his hands up — point blank in the chest by a Long Beach Police officer. On May 27, 2015, Feras Morad, a college student hoping to get into law school, went over to a friends house to prepare for a debate team event. Tragically, his life was taken that night by a police officer who perceived him to be a threat.

The police’s version of what happened is very different from the account by witnesses who were with Feras that night. According to ABC7.com, the officer allegedly told him he was there to get him medical aid, but Morad “advanced more rapidly toward the officer” and ignored the officer’s verbal commands to stop.

“During the next few minutes, the officer utilized verbal commands, an electronic control device, an impact weapon and physical force to gain compliance but was unsuccessful,” according to the police statement.

“When Morad again advanced toward the officer and told him he was going to attack him, an officer-involved shooting ensued.”

The following is a statement posted by the Justice For Feras Morad Facebook page, compiling actual witness accounts, which tells a completely different story:

“We have seen a lot of articles telling different versions of the interaction between Feras Morad and the Long Beach Police officer on May 27th, 2015 at around 7:35 pm. The narrative that has come from the police is unclear, contradictory, and appears to criminalize an individual under intense duress and in immediate need of medical attention without any specific cause. They have still not released the name of the officer, and the lack of transparency by the agency that took the life of Feras Morad has made a difficult time for his family even more brutal.

We are awaiting the official statement from the Long Beach Police. Our patience is no longer plentiful, our questions are unquenched. The public is being told that Feras Morad was dangerous but they have not explained why, instead using rhetoric to encourage the public to criminalize him before understanding the true events of that evening.

The following explanation of events comes from a collaboration of interviews from Kamiran Dadah, Ryan Fobes, and two other eyewitnesses that have chosen to remain anonymous for the time being:

At approximately 6:00 pm on May 27th, 2015, Feras Morad began to show symptoms of sensory degradation caused by ingesting psilocybin mushrooms. Witnesses report that by 7:00 pm, Morad was asking his friends where he was and what he was doing, but their answers did not seem to register with him. Approximately 25 minutes later, Morad broke through a second story window that shattered, dropping him onto the cement below. Kamiran Dadah immediately phoned the police and ran down the stairs to find Feras sitting on the ground, severely bleeding from a deep gash on his shoulder. Dadah and Fobes urged him to get back in the house, but Feras Morad stood and walked through an open gate and into the alley. The unnamed officer arrived alone in the alley and confronted Feras after stopping his car, telling him to raise his hands. Morad was not able to comply, and instead moved about aimlessly in the alley as witnesses yelled to the police officer that he was unarmed and in need of immediate medical attention.

Feras Morad was shirtless, without any weapon, bleeding from multiple wounds, and possibly suffering head trauma from the fall. Witnesses report that Morad did not threaten the officer. He did not physically swing, attack, or verbally indicate aggression toward the police officer or anyone else. Feras Morad was unable to comply with any of the officer’s demands for compliance and continued to be confused and injured, “like a bird with a broken wing hobbling around in the house”, one witness said. The officer was unable to immobilize Feras, but witnesses report there was no fight, just the police officer trying to subdue Feras. As Dadah and Fobes were moved from the scene by emergency personnel, they continued to scream that Feras was unarmed and in need of help as the unnamed police officer fired 3 shots, all on target.

We have recorded official statements from both people who were with Feras that night. Both Kamiran Dadah and Ryan Fobes are awaiting to see the official narrative that emerges from the Long Beach Police, at which point we will get in touch with the press and explain what happened in that detail.

We want to know:

What threat did Feras Morad pose?

How could a trained police officer allow this escalation?

At what point did killing Feras Morad become necessary for anyone else’s survival?”

Here is a video comparing and contrasting NBC’s version of an interview with a witness and how NBC edited it to make it appear that Feras was being violent.

Here is the witness account of a neighbor who saw Feras being shot (note: video settings are private. We will update when the settings are changed)

Here is video of the crime scene. You can see that the glass is still on the ground where he fell out of the window.

A candlelight vigil to celebrate the life of Feras Morad will be held in Woodland Hills, California on Wednesday, June 3. http://www.facebook.com/events/413130255555995/

There will be a Rally For Ferasa on Thursday June 4 in Long Beach, California. https://www.facebook.com/events/1577482982514347/

@JUSTICE FOR HECTOR & JUSTICE FOR FERAS – ongoing actions https://www.facebook.com/events/1124942194187851/

#JUSTICE FOR FERAS Saturday, June 27 in Long Beach, California https://www.facebook.com/events/692291524250206/

A fundraising page has been set up to help with funeral costs at gofundme.com

A tribute to Feras Morad made by his friends

This article (Police Statements Do Not Match Witness Reports of Student Shot by Long Beach Cops) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TheAntiMedia.org. Tune in! The Anti-Media radio show airs Monday through Friday @ 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Help us fix our typos: edits@theantimedia.org.