Questions remain in RPD officer-involved shooting

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Community advocates in Raleigh have new questions about an officer-involved shooting that left a man dead.

Thirty-year-old Soheil Mojarrad did not survive.

The only clues so far come from 9-1-1 tapes.

One call said Mojarrad was reported as trespassing at the Sheetz off New Bern Avenue. Another dispatch call said Mojarrad was armed with a knife and then the officer called for an ambulance after shots were fired.

"The Raleigh Police Department needs to answer our questions," said Faisal Khan, a community activist. "The police officer that shot Soheil had a camera on but the camera was not working."

Siavash, Soheil's brother, spoke Wednesday as well.

"He was very focused on happiness and having a good time with people," he said. "He cared about everyone, there was not a drop of prejudice in him. No one was a stranger to him. Everyone was someone he cared about even if it was the first minute he met you."

Advocates are wondering if there was another way to deal with a man with known mental illness. His family said he was hit by a pickup in Asheville seven years ago and suffered brain trauma from that to compound with what he was already battling with.

"Could other tactics have been used beside deadly force?" said Kerwin Pittman, another community activist. "Could he have been tased? Maced? Detained? Restrained?"

There will be a celebration of Mojarrad's life this Saturday.

Raleigh Police's Department five day report on the incident should be released by the end of the week.