Vallejo Police Chief Wanted To Fire Officer Involved In Willie McCoy Shooting
VALLEJO (CBS SF) -- City officials released a flood of new documentation connected to the fatal 2019 Vallejo Police officer-involved shooting of rapper Willie McCoy Wednesday, including evidence current Chief Shawny Williams recommended one officer's termination.
The newly released information posted Wednesday on the City of Vallejo website included documentation of an internal affairs investigation focused on Officer Ryan McMahon that confirmed officer misconduct, as well as nearly a dozen video clips of the incident.
McMahon shot 20-year-old McCoy -- also known as rapper Willie Bo -- on February 9, 2019 in the drive thru of a Taco Bell. The city made the new information public with the hope it "helps members of the public separate fact from fiction regarding this investigation."
There were a total of eleven videos posted along with two clips of cell phone footage taken by civilians of the incident.
The videos release show police officers yelling for McCoy, who was asleep in his car in the Taco Bell drive thru, to keep his hands visible. Police claim he reached for a handgun in his lap.
Officers unloaded dozens of rounds into his window, killing him. An independent report issued on the incident said six Vallejo police officers fired 55 rounds in 3.5 seconds at McCoy.
According to a police department memo included in the documentation, Chief Williams called for McMahon to be fired for his actions.
The memo dated March 27, 2020, states that Williams agreed with the investigation that found McMahon engaged in unsafe conduct with his firearm "with neglect for basic firearm safety and Vallejo Police firearms training." According to documentation, McMahon shot at McCoy while running from a rearward position, when officers were already engaged, endangering his fellow officers.
Last week, Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams announced the appointment of Michael Ramos as a special prosecutor to review the officer-involved shooting that killed McCoy.
Early in July, Abrams announced that her office would recuse itself from reviewing the deadly Vallejo police shootings of McCoy and San Francisco resident Sean Monterrosa, the unarmed man who was killed during a George Floyd protest last month.
The officer-involved shootings are part of a string of controversies affecting the Vallejo Police Department that recently came to light.
In addition to those two shootings, last Friday Chief Williams announced he was launching an independent investigation after two people in the department said officers had their badges bent to mark on-duty killings.