Family Seeks Answers After Black Man Shot & Killed By Police In Backyard

A family is seeking justice after a 27-year-old Black man was shot and killed on his back porch by Miami police, NBC Miami reports.

The shooting of Daniel Lewis , 27, unfolded on May 31 at his home after his cousins said they were followed in a car by an unmarked vehicle with no police lights or sirens. Lewis' family members said they thought they were being followed by gang members, so they drove into the backyard.

Lewis, who had a permit to carry a gun, came outside to see what was going on when he was shot by police.

“Not once did anyone yell police, stop, police, freeze, instead what they did was they gunned down a law-abiding citizen in his backyard, on his back doorstep, without a warning,” attorney Ariel Lett said in a statement.

Christopher Robison , a special agent in charge of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms in Miami, said in a statement following the incident: “Unfortunately, some individuals discharged firearms at some Miami Gardens detectives as well as some of my agents, gunfire was returned, one individual struck and he’s unfortunately deceased.”

Attorneys representing Lewis' family said he had his licensed gun on him when he was shot to death, but none of the shells found at the scene came from his weapon. It's unclear what exactly unfolded before the fatal shooting or whether Lewis knew the people who entered his backyard were police.

“What was the rush, what was the urgency to fire upon Mr. Lewis on this night? There was none, this was a bad shoot, it shouldn’t have happened,” attorney Chris Lomax said.

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