In the days following the police-involved killing of Justin Robinson, family, friends and community members continue to demand an accurate account of the deadly encounter from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
That crusade for truth continued at a recent prayer vigil and balloon release on the 2500 block of Marion Barry Avenue in Southeast. The event, which later turned into a march upon MPD Seventh District Station, took place near where, according to family members, Vaso Mateus and Bryan Gilchrist of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) fired 10 shots into Robinson without provocation.
“I just want justice for my baby, that’s all. There’s no sweeping this under the rug,” said Robinson’s twin brother, who declined to be identified, during the vigil and balloon release that Harriet’s Wildest Dreams and Black Lives Matter DC coordinated. “I will shake the ground about you [Justin], I don’t care who it is. I want justice. I can’t stop nobody from doing what they want to do.”
On the morning of Sept. 1, police officers responding to a call about a car accident found Robinson,26, unconscious behind the wheel of a car that crashed into a building on the 2500 block of Marion Barry Avenue in Southeast.
They later fired shots into Robinson’s car, killing him in an instant. What took place during the last 20 minutes of Robinson’s life has become a point of contention.
MPD’s latest statement about the police-involved killing said that officers, upon approaching Robinson’s vehicle, discovered a firearm. From that point, officers asked Robinson to drop his weapon and he grabbed an officer’s service weapon. That’s when, according to the statement, officers discharged their weapons, fatally striking Robinson.
Robinson’s family, who saw the raw police body camera footage of the shooting, continues to challenge that account. They declined the public release of the redacted body camera footage, as explained in a Sept. 4 letter that Lindsey Appiah, deputy mayor for public safety and justice, sent to D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto, chair of the D.C. Council Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety.
During the Sept. 5 vigil, Robinson’s sister, accompanied by Nee Nee Taylor of Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, said the family wanted to prevent MPD’s propagation of a narrative that paints Robinson as the aggressor. With dozens of MPD officers within earshot, Robinson’s sister, who also declined to be identified, repeatedly demanded the request of the raw body camera footage.
“They had access to him [because] his back window was rolled down,”Robinson’s sister said as she recounted what she saw. “The officer focused on Justin and [MPD] blocked the car in. Not once did they try to wake him up… After he woke up confused, Justin decided to roll down the window and put his hands up. The cops stuck the gun inside the car and said they would blow his head off. He moved the gun off his lap and they shot him 10 times [at a] long distance.”
The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice didn’t immediately respond to request for comment about the release of raw body-camera footage. Mateus and Gilchrist are currently on administrative leave while the Internal Affairs Bureau and U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia conduct an investigation.
At the time of his death, Robinson was in his fifth month as a violence interrupter with Cure the Streets, a program under the purview of the Office of the Attorney General. He also had a nonprofit through which he provided young people in communities throughout the District with resources.
On the evening of Sept. 5, hundreds of mourners, wearing black and white clothing with blue and orange balloons in tow, converged on the 2500 block of Marion Barry Avenue. To enter the vigil, they walked past barricades of MPD vehicles that blocked both ends of the street. As the evening went on, uniformed officers laid in wait in a loading dock and lined up on the sidewalk across the street from the McDonalds franchise.
The officers’ presence didn’t temper feelings of resistance. Family and friends took to the mic in celebration of the late Robinson, and inquisitive about the District’s concealed carry weapons laws. Speakers included Pamela Brooks of Coalition of Concerned Mothers who reflected on the pain of losing her son, Amir Brooks, to police violence nearly a decade ago and encouraged community members to maintain their support for Robinson’s family.
Earlier in the evening, Mikki Charles of Harriet’s Wildest Dreams placed Robinson’s police-involved shooting death in deeper context, alluding to what she and others consider a prevalent issue in the nation’s capital.
“It’s heartbreaking how communities are brought together by tragedy,” Charles said. “Justin’s life mattered to his family, friends and community. He was a beloved son, uncle and friend. He was a young entrepreneur with a vision to uplift the youth. We see too many Black lives taken by the police. It’s not just Southeast but the whole community to talk about who Justin was and share their condolences.”
Rodney Norman, Robinson’s supervisor at Cure the Streets, said he remembered Robinson as a man of high moral character and someone who loved to shine a light in other people’s lives. Robinson’s fervor for grassroots organizing, Norman said, made such an impact at Cure the Streets that he forgot to conduct Robinson’s 90-day evaluation.
“Justin felt his passion, vision and love for this work in his community,” Norman said, adamant that only Robinson’s family and friends continue to shape his legacy. “We will not stand for shaming Justin. When you talk about attributes, all I can talk about is his love. It’s so hard for all of us but together we are strong. Justice for Justin.”
A woman who asked to be identified as Elle also stood among the hundreds who filled the 2500 block of Marion Barry Avenue in Southeast, hopeful that the world would learn more about Robinson’s impact throughout the District.
More than a decade ago, Elle taught Robinson and his twin brother, who were then middle school students. That experience, she said, boosted her enthusiasm for teaching, which she said continued to grow as she followed Robinson’s community work on social media years down the line.
“Justin and his brother were the reasons why I stayed in Southeast for 14 years,” Elle told The Informer. “He was important to the community and loved across the city. You don’t find that too often. The media will focus on the negative things, not the positive things. People jump to the negative, but it’s too much.”