The shooting of Cemil Kaya, a Turkish father of four, in Belgium's Verviers by police on Wednesday has drawn the outrage of his family and eyewitnesses.
Kaya was undergoing treatment for mental problems before he was shot in the chest when he reportedly confronted six police officers while holding a knife. Kaya's family said that the 45-year-old man did not pose a threat to the public and the police shot him dead when they could have restrained him.
Kaya left home in the morning when he heard his daughters had called a doctor due to his mental health deteriorating. The man, not wanting to go to hospital, wielded a knife as he left home. Acting on a tip-off, six police officers arrived at the scene and fired upon the man. Eyewitnesses said the police chose to fire instead of wrestling the knife out of Kaya's hand.
Durdu Şen Çınar, one of the eyewitnesses and a neighbor of the Kaya family, said she saw the man threatening to kill himself if police officers came closer when she was in front of her house and the officers fired pepper spray twice. "He covered his eyes with his jacket and officers circled him. Then I heard a single gunshot and fled home. I was shocked," she said. Her husband Emin Çınar said Cemil Kaya never harmed anyone though he had mental problems. "I tried to calm him when I saw him holding a knife. Then the police arrived. He never attacked the police and did not even point his knife towards them," he said. Çınar said that the police officers tried to intimidate them after his son told them he would file a complaint. Engin Çınar, his son, said he saw the police officers drawing their guns. "He could not have hurt them because they were far away but still they shot him," he said.
"I yelled at them that they were murderers and I would file a complaint. One of them approached me and asked for my ID. He was visibly angry. He told me they acted in self-defense. They then asked me if I recorded the shooting," Engin Çınar said.
Cemil Kaya had been living in Belgium since 1992. His family said Cemil had problems but never intended to hurt anyone. "They shot him like he was a criminal. I wonder whether it was because he was Turkish," his wife said.
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