Outrage As Deaf Man Shot To Death By Police Officer Christopher Barnes: Magdiel Sanchez Couldn’t Hear Commands

Julio Rayos appears in the attached photo. He is a neighbor who was an eyewitness to the shooting death of Magdiel Sanchez on Tuesday evening in Oklahoma City. According to NBC News, Oklahoma City police officers shot and killed Sanchez as he walked up to police with a metal pipe in his hand. Neighbors and family members of Sanchez said that the 35-year-old Magdiel often kept the metal pipe with him in order to ward off stray dogs in the area as Sanchez would take his nighttime walks. However, police claim that they didn’t hear Sanchez’s neighbors as they yelled at police, shouting that Magdiel was hearing impaired and could not hear police in order to comply with their instructions.

Captain Bo Mathews held a press about the shooting death of Magdiel. Sanchez was also tasered on his porch at approximately 8:15 p.m. Police were responding to a hit-and-run crash that involved Sanchez’s father, who left the scene and drove to Magdiel’s home. Sanchez wasn’t in the car that police said struck no one. Magdiel also did not have a criminal history. When police arrived, they spotted Sanchez on the porch with a two-foot-long metal pipe in his hand, which was wrapped in a material. Police assumed the metal pipe was a weapon and sought backup. Authorities asked Sanchez to “drop the weapon and get on the ground,” but because Magdiel couldn’t hear officers, he kept approaching.

Magdiel Sanchez wasn't obeying the officers' commands before one shot him with a gun and the other with a Taser. https://t.co/YjyokYYJxU

— NewsChannel 12 (@wcti12) September 21, 2017

On social media, the outrage is growing over the death of Sanchez, with readers asking why Magdiel wasn’t merely struck with the Taser. People want to know why police used deadly force to stop the deaf man when Sanchez was approximately 15 feet from the officers. Sanchez died at the scene. The name of Sanchez’s father has not yet been released to the public, but the man confirmed that Magdiel was indeed deaf.

Sgt. Christopher Barnes fired his gun at Sanchez and has been placed on paid administrative leave after firing more than one shot at the deaf man, reports ABC News. The shooting is under investigation as a homicide. Because the officers involved in the shooting were not wearing body cameras, there isn’t video footage from authorities showing Sanchez’s death.

[Featured Image by Sue Ogrocki/AP Images]