Neighbors recall hearing as many as 16 or 17 gunshots coming from the James home that evening. Nobody could be sure about the exact number, but Earl Fletcher, a 56-year-old retired auto technician who lives a few houses down the block from the James place, said it "sounded like Iraq."To Josette Horne, partner to Meat-Meat's sister Bridgette, it doesn't matter how many shots were fired—what matters is that a mentally ill man died at the hands of police."I really believe that that first shot took his ass out," she told me.Various family members and friends recall officers dragging Meat-Meat's body down the stairs and outside. Fletcher remembers it, too, and said Meat-Meat's feet were even sticking out of the door at one point, exposed to the block. Family members also said their cell phones were confiscated and everyone was ordered to evacuate the house. (Norfolk PD would not confirm or deny that this happened.) They said the officers clumsily tried to put handcuffs on Meat-Meat long after his body stopped moving.The block absorbed the scene in a state of shock. Family members said that Dozier, whom they had known for years, suddenly looked like a total stranger. "Why did this happen? Why couldn't he call someone who knew how to deal with mentally ill people?" Bridgette James asked about the shooting.Riddick, the family friend, remembers being told to leave by officers, and scrambling in front of the house to get a better idea of what was happening. By then, she said, Meat-Meat's body had deformed, swelling up from the damage caused to his internal organs by so much gunfire. She saw Dozier perform CPR on Meat-Meat outside and recalls telling him, "What do you think you're doing? He's already dead.""I really believe that that first shot took his ass out." —Josette Horne
By the Norfolk Police Department's own count, fatal police shootings in the city in 2016 include Keith Richardson, a 58-year-old white man who was shot in January; Tyre Privott, a 25-year-old black man who was killed in March; India Beaty, a 25-year-old black woman also killed in March; Eric Wakup, a 31-year-old white man killed in April; and Meat-Meat. Police say no body-camera footage was retained of any of the fatal shootings this year—except for Meat-Meat's death."The James family needed help, and when they got it, a life was ended." —Michele Jawando
A photo distributed by Norfolk Police at a June 3 press conference, which they claim shows the knife Meat-Meat James brandished just prior to his death.
Quashelle James. After Meat-Meat struck his sister Bridgette, Quashelle's friend Dominique summoned the cops who ultimately killed him.
In 2009, Meat-Meat walked over to buy a smoke from the "cigarette lady" in Tidewater Gardens who sold "loosies"—individual, untaxed cigarettes—from her home. According to his family, an officer stopped Meat-Meat, and a dispute unfolded. The female cop allegedly sprayed him with mace before he grabbed it from her and sprayed her back. Three officers subdued Meat-Meat, and multiple family members claimed the officers "beat him up."Meat-Meat was charged with three counts of assault and battery against a police officer, and one count of obstructing justice, according to documents provided by the family. He entered a plea of not guilty on grounds of insanity, and was acquitted, spending the next several years in a mental hospital. Documents provided by the family show a diagnosis of "schizophrenia, paranoid type, cannabis dependence, alcohol dependence, and depressive disorder.""He would never hurt anybody. He just balled up when there was trouble, that's all. He just balled up." —Keon Wilson, Meat-Meat's son
Sylvia Riddick, a James family friend present at the time of Meat-Meat's death
The Norfolk Police Department declined to comment on whether Dozier had been inside the James house previously or whether the officer knew Meat-Meat, though neighbors of the James family bolster their claims that he had. JoAnn Hughes, a police spokesperson, did tell me city cops receive training in "how to deal with people who are experiencing crisis situations." (She declined to comment on how that training was or wasn't employed during the call that led to the shooting.) For the time being, as is typical when it comes to police officers that kill people in the line of duty, the cops in question have been placed on administrative duty."When we're wrong, we should say we're wrong. But when we're right, we should show the family members, let them see how we came to a decision to shoot." —Mayor Kenny Alexander
Josette Horne, partner to Bridgette James and a witness to Meat-Meat's death
Whatever caused Meat-Meat's outburst—whether it was the police outside of the house or tensions inside it, or both—Tweety and Josette both said that they had never seen him look so frightened. When Dominique called Dozier over, Quashelle said he and the officer exchanged words before he entered the house. "What happened?" Quashelle said Dozier asked before entering the James house."My uncle goin' crazy," she remembers saying. "But he aiight.""His adrenaline was up," Tweety James claimed of Officer Dozier's mood that day, referring to the stolen car incident.Dozier stepped through the screen door, and his partner, Officer Wacker—who family and friends didn't recognize from the neighborhood—lingered close behind. Josette Horne recalls at least a dozen people in the house at the time, including the two officers, when Meat-Meat was shot.Dozier called up the stairs for Meat-Meat, and no one in the family remembers anyone saying anything else after that until cops pulled his dead body outside.According to the account of the body-camera footage published in the Virginian-Pilot, however, someone gasped "Oh my God!" before the bullets began to fly."This video has been cut up like a motherfucker." —Bridgette James
The James family gathered with close friends and kids from the neighborhood in front of the home of Bridgette James