Officer abruptly opened car door and fired at teen, who’s actually innocent and just eating a burger in his car outside of McDonald’s

Last week, a US police officer was fired after firing multiple shots at a young boy eating McDonald’s in his car. The incident was caught on the officer’s bodycam, and the video has since caused outrage on social media.

Officer James Brennand, who is 25 years old and works for the police department in San Antonio, Texas, was called to a different fight at a McDonald’s on October 2. Erik Cantu, who was 17, and a friend were eating hamburgers in their car in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant when the officer on duty came up and opened the door. Cantu was surprised when he told him to “get out of the car.” Before getting behind the wheel, the teen kept eating his hamburger and asked, “Why?” After a short commotion, Brennand fires five shots at the teen in quick succession. Cantu had already closed the door and was pulling away when the officer yelled “shots fired” and fired five more times at the moving car.

As he runs behind the car, he also tells the control room that shots have been fired. The healthcare advocate Kendall Brown posted the video on Twitter with the caption: “Earlier this week, a San Antonio cop walked up to a teen eating in a McDonald’s parking lot and told the teen to get out of his car.” The video got 5.6 million views. When the boy asked why, the officer attacked him right away and then shot him several times. Cantu finally stopped close to where the police had found them. He had been hurt by the gunfire. He was with someone else in the car who was not hurt. Before he was taken to the hospital in stable condition, he was first charged with trying to get away from the police and with serious assault.

A prosecutor in Texas says that there isn’t enough proof to bring charges against the teen. According to the Associated Press, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales said, “While the shooting of an unarmed teenager by a former San Antonio Police officer on Sunday is still being looked into, the facts and evidence we have so far have led us to reject the charges against Erik Cantu for further investigation.” The DA also said that a decision on whether to press charges against the officer had not been made yet because a police investigation was still going on. The prosecutor also said that when the officer got close to the car, he opened the door before waiting for help, which was against his training and against police rules.

This is normal for San Antonio police officers who just got out of the academy. Chief William McManus said, “The former officer’s actions are unacceptable and are not in line with our training, tactics, and procedures.” “As a result, I let him go. For now, I won’t say anything else because the event is still being looked into.” The district attorney’s office gets a report on every police shooting so they can look into it. Brennand is not thought to have done anything wrong. The President of the San Antonio Police Officers’ Association, Danny Diaz, has said that he won’t say anything until the investigation is over.