MELBOURNE, Fla. — Police in Florida are releasing more details about the police shooting where an 18-year-old college student from Georgia was killed last week. Melbourne Police said 18-year-old Alhaji Sow, a Florida Institute of Technology student, was killed during the encounter on the night of Dec. 3. Sow is from Riverdale, Georgia.
Last week, an officer said they responded to a campus building after receiving a report about a man armed with a knife and assaulting students; campus security also responded to the scene. They located a man who they said was armed with an "edged weapon," who lunged at an officer. Melbourne Police said their officer and the F.I.T security officer fired weapons, shooting Sow.
On Wednesday, the same day Melbourne Police released a timeline of events, Sow's family spoke about the deadly shooting for the first time, according to WESH-TV. The family is hiring a law firm to conduct an independent investigation.
“We do not want another life to be taken senselessly,” said Greg Francis of the law firm Osborne & Francis.
They also want to see campus security have crisis intervention training. While Francis said Sow didn't have a history of mental illness, they are working to find out if he was having a mental health crisis.
"Obviously there was a mental health crisis in the sense that, this was behavior that was not consistent with what he does or normally is," Francis said.
They family is shattered by the death.
"When you see it on TV, you don't know how much pain you get from losing a child, until it happens to you," Sow's father stated during the news conference.
Francis said they will be requesting police videos to help conduct their investigation if they are available.
“Primary concern is why non-lethal option weren't considered or used in the case.”
Below is a timeline of events from the night of Dec. 3, according to the Melbourne Police Department:
10:30 p.m. | Sow allegedly went to a friend's apartment at Columbia Village on Babbling Brook Place where there was a physical struggle. The friend allegedly had to remove Sow from her home.
10:40 p.m. | F.I.T. Security was called to the apartment about a man "believed to be Sow, battering another female by slapping her as he ran past her, and he ran towards the Columbia Village parking garage."
10:40 -10:45 p.m. | At the Columbia Village parking garage, a man punched a woman several times. "The female was able to escape on foot while Sow reportedly ran towards the Roberts Hall dormitory," police said.
10:49 p.m. | The first 911 call related to the incidents on F.I.T. campus was received by the Melbourne Police Department. The caller said a man armed with a knife, was attacking multiple people and chasing someone.
"Shortly after this initial 911 call, Sow went to the rear of Roberts Hall dormitory and struck the window of the building multiple times, causing it to break, and cutting himself in the process," police said. "Once inside, Sow dropped a knife and went to the 2nd floor. Unable to enter any rooms because they were locked, Sow returned to the 1st floor and confronted a Resident Advisor. Sow struck the RA several times and ran out of a back door of the dormitory."
Police said F.I.T. Security responded to the dorm and witnesses said Sow was headed south on campus.
10:51 p.m. | Melbourne Police Officers were dispatched to campus after the 911 calls.
10:52 p.m. | Melbourne Police said dispatchers contacted F.I.T. Security to let them know officers were responding to "an armed disturbance" at Columbia Village. They then advised that a security officer chased the person with a knife into Campbell Hall.
10:53 p.m. | Authorities said the first Melbourne police officer arrived on the scene and a short time later meets a F.I.T. security officer near Campbell Hall.
10:56 p.m. | Another call to 911 reports the individual involved is in the Columbia Village parking garage vandalizing cars. Police said F.I.T. security dispatch also called into the Melbourne Police Department to advise that he was near the Campbell Hall dorm.
Officers said he allegedly punched a man several times in front of the dorm. He allegedly entered the building and confronted two other students. "He pushed one student who retreated into a dormitory room. Sow was holding a pair of scissors when he confronted a second student in a hallway. The second student quickly ran into another room and locked the door," police said.
10:57 p.m. | F.I.T. Security Dispatch calls 911 requesting additional units. Melbourne Police said there were reports of an additional security officer chasing multiple people and other F.I.T. students called stating additional victims being attacked.
10:58 p.m. | Melbourne Police said officers and school security began searching Campbell Hall.
11:03 p.m. | Melbourne Police said officers and security were told Sow was in a dorm room.
11:06 p.m. | Authorities said Melbourne Police and an armed F.I.T. security officer used a key to open dorm room where Sow was located.
"After entering the room, Sow was found crouched down concealing himself next to a refrigerator. Armed with a pair of scissors, Sow lunges at the Melbourne Police Officer striking the officer’s leg and causing a minor injury. Both the Melbourne Police Officer and F.I.T. security officer discharged their firearms striking Sow multiple times. Melbourne Police Officers attempted life saving measures; however, Sow succumbed to his injuries on scene," Melbourne Police said.
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Photos | Alhaji Sow
Florida Institute of Technology said in a Facebook post that Sow was a sophomore studying aeronautical science. The family attorney said he was a first-semester student there because "he had achieved his AA degree in high school by taking dual enrollment courses."
The school's president, T. Dwayne McCay, said his "heart goes out to everyone in pain."
The family will soon be returning back to the Atlanta area to prepare for Sow's funeral. His father said many imams at Atlanta area mosques know his son.
"Alhaji is well-known by all the imams in Atlanta and even beyond Atlanta because most of those imams, Alhaji is a student for most of those imams. He's just now studying his major, but he also studied the Quran," his father said.
While the family will have an independent investigation, police will continue looking into the case as well. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the police shooting.