Family Reacts After Viewing Footage of Officer Shooting Galindo

Charlotte, NC — CMPD has released the body camera video of officers shooting a man in North Charlotte Sept. 6.

It’s video community activists with Action NC wanted released to the public to see if CMPD officers gave Rubin Galindo orders in Spanish before shooting him at his apartment in Hidden Valley.

To view the video released by CMPD, click here.

In it, you hear Officer David Guerra say “manos”, meaning hands in Spanish.

Galindo has his hands up in the video.

CMPD says he had a gun in his hand, and you can hear Officer Guerra scream “Drop the gun!” several times and shooting Galindo.

Officer Courtney Suggs also fired shots.

“I was horrified when I saw the footage,” said Hector Vaca, Director of Action NC. “To tell you the truth, I was sick to my stomach.”

Action NC is the group that asked the judge to order CMPD to release the footage.

“This is a man who was told raise your hands he raised them, they were up in the air for several seconds, and then, he was gunned down,” said Vaca.

Galindo called 911 that night, saying he had a gun, needed an officer to pick him up. He said he had been drinking. He only spoke Spanish so the dispatcher used an interpreter to talk to him.

CMPD says it wasn’t clear why he wanted help.

I’ve got him on the line,” said the dispatcher. “He says he still has a gun on him. He’s saying he doesn’t have any bullet in it, but he does have a gun on him, and he doesn’t want to set it down anywhere else.”

“It’s obvious what he wanted to do,” said Vaca. “Again, he told the 911 operator I have a gun that I want to turn in. He wanted turn in the gun.

Galindo’s girlfriend, Azucena Zamorano Aleman, other adults and children were in the apartment.

“The recordings confirm what we already knew. Ruben was seeking help. He repeatedly stated he had no bullets. It has been confirmed he had no bullets,” said Aleman.

To see Aleman’s entire statement, click here.

Activists want CMPD to review officer training.

“We also need at least 160, 162 more Spanish-speaking officer’s so that they can reflect the population being served,” said Vaca.

Chief Kerr Putney is holding what CMPD calls “real conversations” with the community next Thursday, Oct. 12, at 6:30 pm at the Camino Center on Stetson Dr. in University City.