#David McAtee’s family disputes Louisville PD claim he fired first

The family of David McAtee is disputing the claim by Louisville authorities that new surveillance video shows he fired first before he was shot dead by police, according to reports.

McAtee, 53, was killed early Monday when city police and National Guard troops moved in to clear a group gathered outside his restaurant, Yaya’s BBQ Shack — with police claiming that videos released Tuesday suggest he fired first.

“They said my son shot first. That’s not my son,” McAtee’s mother, Odessa Riley, told WLKY-TV. “My son is a good child and he’s not going to do nothing like that.”

“The video that I seen, all I seen was his hand go up out of the door,” Riley told the outlet.

She said the videos raise more questions and provide answers.

The dead man’s nephew, Marvin McAtee told the Louisville Courier-Journal his uncle “did not try to shoot at the police.”

“I think it shows them trying to justify why they were wrong,” he said.

David McAtee was a well-known persona in the city, and officials said he was known as a friendly face to local cops.

His death prompted Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer to fire Police Chief Steven Conrad and has prompted investigations by the FBI and state authorities, WLKY reported this week.

The surveillance video, released Tuesday, shows the moments leading up to the shooting from inside and outside his restaurant.

The camera inside the eatery, seemingly from the kitchen, shows a group of people rush in, then McAtee pokes his head out of the door with his hand stretched outward. No weapon is clearly visible from the footage.

He looks outside a second time and retreats inside clutching his chest and falls out of camera view.

The exterior camera shows McAtee outside his restaurant tending to two barrel-shaped grills near a group of people gathered under a tarp. Police and National Guard troops are seen approaching in the background, and fire pepper balls at the crowd, prompting them to dash inside.

At one point a puff of smoke is seen outside the side door.

“This video appears to show Mr. McAtee firing a gun outside of his business as officers who were using pepper balls to clear the Dino’s (Food Mart) lot were approaching his business,” Acting Louisville Police Chief Robert Schroeder said during a press conference Tuesday.

Police said the officers and soldiers fired 18 shots at the restaurant, and that two of the officers have been placed on administrative leave.