A video going viral on social media (here, here, and here) claims to show a Pakistan-origin individual, Mohammad Altamas, roaming around with a knife in the United States. The video alleges that U.S. police asked him to surrender, and when he refused, they opened fire on him. Let’s verify the claim made in the post through this article.
Claim: The video shows Pakistan-origin Mohammad Altamas who was roaming with a knife in the U.S., and police shot him after he refused to surrender.
Fact: The viral video dates back to 10 November 2022, when Jesus Crosby was shot by the Albuquerque Police Department in the parking lot of their headquarters. Crosby was holding nail clippers with the file extended, which officers mistook for a knife. He stepped forward, and two officers opened fire after he reportedly refused to surrender and shouted obscenities. The video does not show the police shooting a Pakistan-origin man. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the claim, we conducted a reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video, which led us to news reports (here, and here) featuring a screenshot from the video. According to the reports, in November 2022, Albuquerque Police Department (APD) officers shot and killed a man named Jesus Crosby in the parking lot of their headquarters. Crosby was holding nail clippers with the file extended, which the officers mistook for a knife. When he stepped forward, two officers opened fire. He had reportedly refused to surrender and was shouting obscenities.
To gather more information about the incident, we used relevant keywords and found a news bulletin (archived) dated 24 March 2023, from KRQE News 13. The bulletin included the same visuals from the 1:52 timestamp onwards. It reported the incident as part of the officer-involved shootings by the Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico, United States, in 2022. According to the date stamp, the shooting occurred on November 10, 2022.
We also came across a press release (archived) from the APD. According to the release, Crosby had threatened bank employees and customers on 08 November 2022 after being unable to withdraw money. The release also highlighted Crosby’s prior criminal record. On the morning of 10 November 2022, an officer recognised Crosby standing near the transport centre. When the officer attempted to detain him, Crosby reportedly screamed profanities and lunged at the officer with a white and blue plastic object. After Crosby refused to surrender and advanced two more steps towards the officer, he was shot by the officers.
On 4 April 2023, KRQE News 13 reported (archived) that Crosby’s family filed a lawsuit against the Albuquerque Police. The family argued that Crosby was experiencing a mental health crisis during the incident and that the police officers either lacked proper training or chose not to use a less harmful method when confronting him.
To sum up, an old November 2022 video of police firing at a man in the U.S. is shared with a false communal narrative.
