Fort Wayne Police Release Bodycam Video of Police Shooting of Linzell Parhm | WBOI

A day after Fort Wayne Mayor Sharon Tucker announced she would release bodycam video of the police shooting of 22-year-old Linzell Parhm once his family viewed it and gave their consent to release it, Fort Wayne police released the video to the public.

The video begins with the officer – Mason Wills, who has been with the police for seven years – approaching the vehicle he has just stopped.

Parhm was sitting in the passenger seat. The officer instructed Parhm and the other person in the vehicle to keep their hands on the dashboard and not to reach for a weapon that was not visible on the body camera footage but could be seen by the officer in the vehicle.

For an unknown reason, Pahrm was observed moving his hands away from the dashboard, and after Wills warned Pahrm three times to keep his hands on the dashboard, Wills fired twice at the vehicle.

The video shows additional officers arriving and confiscating a firearm, a Draco AK pistol, from Parhm’s seat in the vehicle.

Police have not yet disclosed what prompted Wills to stop the vehicle.

According to Wills’ service record, he has been disciplined three times in the past six years. He was involved in two accidents involving a police vehicle, both of which resulted in a reprimand. One of those was in 2018 and the other in 2021. In 2019, Wills was suspended for “failing to properly and thoroughly search a person in custody.”

Wills has also received three letters of commendation coming in 2022 and two last year. Wills also received an award for excellence last year.

Investigations by several law enforcement agencies are ongoing.

The video provided by FWPD can be found here.