After being shot by police on June 24, Caution Mann was hospitalized in critical condition and may soon face charges, according to police. His family told KIRO 7 they want transparency and have now hired a lawyer.
Many of the facts of the case are still not clear, but investigators said the 19-year-old called 911 to report he was having a mental health crisis and was armed with a gun.
According to the Valley Independent Investigative Team (VIIT), a multi-department task force looking into officers’ conduct in the case, officers tried to de-escalate the situation before three of them shot at him.
The investigative team has said de-escalation efforts lasted for about 10 minutes before officers started shooting at Mann. The team has not said if Mann fired any shots or what caused the situation to turn violent.
“He didn’t ask for none of this,” Charles Mann, Caution’s grandfather, said. “He asked for help.”
Mann has now been in the hospital for more than a week and has undergone multiple surgeries. According to his father and grandfather, hospital staff encouraged them to take him off life support because he likely would not survive, but they declined.
“His auntie, my sister, was like, ‘We love you, if you can hear us, blink,’” Curtis Mann, his father, said. “He blinked meaningfully.”
When a KIRO 7 crew visited the apartment building off Federal Way’s Campus Drive where the shooting took place, they found more than 30 holes in the walls of the building.
“At this point, the tragic shooting of Caution Mann has given rise to more questions than answers,” Brian McDaniel, the family’s lawyer, said.
McDaniel has called for the police department to release body cam footage of the shooting. He said the announcement that charges will be referred against Mann is premature and that his firm will investigate whether a Caution may have been shot in the back.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said no charges have been referred yet, though they said Mann faces robbery and attempted robbery charges in a different case.
KIRO 7 reached out to VIIT for a response to the family’s claims and has not heard back.