MEAWW.COM / NEWS / CRIME & JUSTICE

Trayford Pellerin: Family of Black Louisiana man who was shot 11 times by cops says 'he didn't deserve this'

The disturbing death in Lafayette has once again sparked discussions about police brutality and racial inequality

LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA: The family of a Black Louisiana man who was shot 11 times in the back by police officers has called for justice and said that “he didn’t deserve this.” The death of 31-year-old Trayford Pellerin was caught on a disturbing video by a witness and has sparked widespread protests in Lafayette after it went viral online, with authorities promising they would be as transparent as they could to their grieving community.

The incident unfolded after officers from the Lafayette Police Department responded to a Circle K gas station on Northeast Evangeline Thruway near the intersection of Castille Avenue at around 8 pm on Friday, August 21, on reports of a disturbance involving a person armed with a knife, according to the Lafayette Advertiser. When officers arrived they found a man, later identified as Pellerin, in the parking lot of the gas station and tried to apprehend him. However, he left the scene and walked about half a mile to a Shell gas station, with the officers following him the entire duration. When he tried to enter the store, he was shot repeatedly.

Rickasha Montgomery witnessed the shooting and managed to capture it on her phone. She can be heard exclaiming how Pellerin has a knife in his hand and how he was not listening to the officers' orders. The video then shows several officers surrounding the 31-year-old and firing 11 shots at him, following which he fell on the ground and did not move.

Montgomery said the officers had initially tased Pellerin and that they shot him after he did not get down on the ground despite orders to do so. Pellerin was subsequently transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. "When I heard the gunshots, I couldn't hold my phone like I was first filming," Montgomery told the Advertiser. "I feel kind of scared about it. I'm traumatized. You're so used to hearing about this, but I never thought I would experience it."

While officials have promised an open and transparent investigation — Lafayette Police have asked the Louisiana State Police to investigate the shooting, which has resulted in all the officers involved being placed on administrative leave with pay — Pellerin's family have been left heartbroken.

"My family is hurting. My sister-in-law is hurting. My brother is hurting. I’ve never seen nothing like this before," Choicey Pellerin, the 31-year-old's aunt, told USA Today. "He loved to cook for me. He did get a chance to live with me for about a year, and every day when I got off from work I had a home-cooked meal. He was very quiet. He had a big heart. He would give you the shirt off his back. He was just an overall great kid. He didn’t deserve this."

The family has retained Civil Rights attorney Ben Crump to represent them. Crump has represented the families of other Black men who have been killed in racially-motivated shootings, including George Floyd and Trayvon Martin. "We stand with Trayford's family in demanding justice and transparency into the reckless shooting and tragic killing of this man," he said in a statement. "We refuse to let this case resolve like so many others: quietly and without answers and justice."

He called for all the officers involved in Pellerin's shooting to be fired immediately. "His family believes that he was suffering a mental illness crisis and what he needed was a helping hand. But what he got was what looks like 11 bullets," he said.

The ACLU said the shooting was a "murder" and a "brutal killing" and called for changes to policing. "None of our communities are safe when the police can murder people with impunity or when routine encounters escalate into deadly shooting sprees," the organization said in a statement. "The ACLU of Louisiana will continue to demand justice for this brutal killing and push for reforms that will end the epidemic of police violence once and for all."