Activists Boycott Mall Over Grapevine PD Video
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GRAPEVINE (CBSDFW.COM) - The battle over police video from an officer-involved shooting continues to brew in Grapevine with new calls to boycott a popular shopping center. Activists are urging people across the DFW area to stop visiting the Grapevine Mills Mall until the video is released.
It was last month when an officer with the Grapevine Police Department shot and killed Ruben Villalpando after a brief chase into neighboring Euless. Villalpando was an undocumented immigrant with no criminal record. He was unarmed at the time that he was killed.
Cell phone video taken by a witness at the scene has shown the moments after the shooting incident. But activists want officials to release the dashboard camera video from the officer's patrol car. The Grapevine Police Department has been holding that video back, saying that the investigation is not yet complete.
The group of activists have started a campaign called 'No Video No Shop' that asks North Texans to boycott the popular Grapevine Mills Mall. Members of the Latino community have been urged online not to spend money at the outlet mall until the police video is made public.
But it does not end there.
Various activist groups -- including LULAC and the NAACP -- plan to march from Grapevine City Hall to the Grapevine Police Department's headquarters on Sunday afternoon. This is being called a march for justice, and a march for Ruben Villalpando.