DETROIT—Wednesday, August 5th, Hakim Littleton’s autopsy report was released.
Littleton, 20 years old, was fatally shot on the west side by Detroit police officers on July 10. In a video captured on an officer’s body camera, Littleton is shown pulling a gun from his shorts’ pocket and firing two shots two feet away from a cop.
The officer was investigating a July 5th mass shooting at McNichols and San Juan in which three people were killed and 5 wounded.
After Littleton fired the two shots, he was physically charged by one officer and the others on the scene opened fire.
In a press conference, hours after Littleton’s death on the west side, Detroit’s Police Chief James Craig claimed that three officers had fired four shots at Littleton, one of which struck him in the head.
On that same evening, protesters gathered at the site of the shooting. Some threw objects at officers and threatened more violence.
In an effort to quell the violence at the scene, Craig released the body-cam footage later on during that evening of the 10th. On August 5th, he commented on his decision to release the video so quickly after Littelton’s death, “There was a false narrative being put out that we shot him while he was on the ground […] so we released the video, which poked holes in the narrative.”
Wednesday’s autopsy report confirmed statements made by city police officials during the press conference and the footage released on July 10th.
The report from Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office was obtained by The Detroit News through a Freedom of Information Request.
The Chief Examiner Carl Schmidt ruled Littleton’s cause of death as being homicide. He received four wounds: one shot to his head, one to his left thigh, and two to his right thigh.
“The thing we find most disturbing about his shooting was the fact that the last shot was point-blank to the head,” commented Tristan Taylor, a member of the group Detroit Will Breathe, during a July 28th press conference. “We call these murders, especially someone who’s shot point-blank to the head, an execution. They are victims of police brutality.”
Since the release of the autopsy report, no press has had substantial contact with Taylor.
Craig commented on the release of the report noting, “Our officers have shown tremendous discipline and poise lately under some tough circumstances.”
Since Littleton’s death, four people have been shot by the police, three fatally.