The Government of Gambia is calling the United States to investigate the police shooting of one of its citizens.
Momodou Lamin Sisay, 39, was shot and killed in a standoff with police last Friday in Snellville, Georgia, just outside Atlanta. He was son to Lare Sisay, a retired Gambian diplomat who worked for the United Nations Development Program.
Just before 4 a.m. on May 29, Snellville police officers tried to pull over Momodou Lamin Sisay for a vehicle tag violation, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said in a statement. Sisay didn’t pull over, prompting a car chase, it said.
When the car eventually stopped, officers approached it and told Sisay to show his hands, but he did not comply, according to the statement. Sisay pointed a handgun at police, who fired back before taking cover behind their patrol cars, it said.
The Snellville Police Department requested help from the Gwinnett County Police Department SWAT team. During the standoff, Sisay pointed and fired his weapon at the SWAT officers, the statement said. One of them fired back, it said.
Sisay, who lived in nearby Lithonia, was pronounced dead at the scene, the GBI said. No officer was injured.
The Gambian foreign affairs ministry said Tuesday it has asked the Gambian Embassy in Washington to “engage the relevant U.S. authorities including the State Department, to seek a transparent, credible and objective investigation in the matter.”
The embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The GBI, which is helping local police with its investigation, declined to provide additional comment.
“He was a very pious and disciplined young man whose life was cut short brutally!” Ex Gambia Diplomat, Lare Sisay wrote on Facebook.