Family of man who was shot and killed by Philly officer to speak at press conference

UPDATE: The family's attorney released surveillance video of the shooting. New details here.

The family of Eddie Jose Irizarry -- a 27-year-old man who was shot and killed by a Philadelphia police officer last week -- spoke out during a press conference on Tuesday. 

The family was joined by a lawyer during a press conference that will take place at noon at 1801 Market Street in Center City. 

The scheduled press conference occurred after officials identified the officer involved in the shooting as Mark Dial, a five-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department currently assigned to the 24th District.

What we know about the shooting

The shooting occurred on Monday, August 14, in Philadelphia.

Investigators said Irizarry was driving the wrong way along the 100 block of E. Willard Street at 12:28 p.m. when he was pulled over by Officer Dial and his partner.

When the officers approached Irizarry's vehicle, a Toyota Corolla, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said that Officer Dial approached and attempted to open the passenger door of the car, when his partner alerted him that Irizarry was armed.

As Irizarry turned, Officer Dial fired "multiple times" and Irizarry was hit "several" times -- though, his family said he was hit six times.

Outlaw said that officials are not yet certain whether Irizarry knew he was being followed by police or if the officers told the man anything before he was shot.

Initially, police officials said that Irizarry was outside of the vehicle while armed with a knife and had lunged at police before he was shot. Police later said this information was not accurate. Instead, Irizarry was inside the car and simply turned when he was shot and killed.

“I understand and want to acknowledge the hurt and confusion that family and community members can experience when details of investigations change and especially when they change in the very public way that this has occurred. In the name of transparency, I strive for our department to release as much detail as possible when we can do so without damaging the integrity of the investigation," Outlaw said. "That is why we preface all of our releases by stating that information is preliminary and subject to change. At the time we gave that information, that was the best information that we had available. And we always strive to clarify and update that information as quickly and accurately as possible. That’s what we’re doing here today.”

Irizarry was immediately taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead at 12:48 p.m. that day, officials said.

Outlaw said investigators knew their initial story was not accurate after watching body camera footage from the officers on the scene.

"The body worn camera footage made it very clear that what we initially reported was not actually what happened," she said.

Law enforcement officials also claimed two knives "were observed inside the vehicle." On Wednesday, officials said these were a serrated folding knife and some type of kitchen knife.

Léelo en español aquí

Officials said that officers have 72 hours after a shooting incident in order to obtain counsel before they must be interviewed by investigators.

"There are questions as to how this was handled tactically," Outlaw said.

Outlaw said an investigation is ongoing and Officer Dial has been placed on administrative leave.

During Wednesday's press conference, Outlaw addressed the issue of establishing trust between police and the community amid discrepancies in reports.

“It’s a challenge. You know the question is how do we reestablish the trust? Sometimes I feel like we take 20 steps forward and it just takes one incident, we take, you know, 50 steps backward," Outlaw said. "And I’m hoping that our efforts in being transparent is at least a first step in that. I understand the reticence. I understand folks not really being sure whether or not they should even trust what we’re saying today because of what we said initially. But I’m hoping that they see that this is a genuine effort to do everything that we can to share what we know when we have it as we receive it.”

NBC10's Miguel Martinez-Valle spoke with Irizarry's family. They said his primary language was Spanish and that he didn't understand or speak English well. They also said he had a mental health illness.

While the family acknowledged that he carried around a small pocket knife, they don't believe Officer Dial should have killed him.

"You could taze him," the man's aunt, Zoraida Garcia, said. "But to shoot him six times? They literally told us he got shot six times. What did he have on him that you felt threatened? You know? Was he coming towards you with a knife? You know? If that's the case, but six times? You could've shot him in his leg. But you shot and killed him."