Homewood Mayor Alex Wyatt continues to call on the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to allow the family of Jabari Peoples to view body camera footage from the June 23 fatal shooting.

“As the Mayor of Homewood, I continue to urge the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to allow the family of Jabari Peoples to view the body camera footage from the June 23 shooting incident,” Wyatt said in a Monday statement. “Their request is completely understandable.”

Wyatt said the city legally doesn’t have the authority to release the footage because ALEA has taken over the investigation. Under the law, it controls access to evidence because it is the custodian of the footage.

“We know this is an incredibly difficult time for everyone involved,” Wyatt said in his statement, “and want objective results made available to the family and the public as quickly as possible.”

Also Monday, the family’s attorneys – including Ben Crump and Leroy Maxwell – announced they will hold a press conference Tuesday to announce the findings of an independent autopsy they had done.

Read full coverage of the case here

Peoples, 19, was a 2024 graduate of Aliceville High School where he was standout track athlete and football player.

Peoples had just finished his freshman year at Alabama A & M where he was studying computer information and criminal justice with hopes of becoming a law enforcement officer, specifically a detective.

He was shot to death that Monday night in Homewood Soccer Park.

Homewood police say a veteran officer, who has not been publicly identified, approached the vehicle to investigate because of a recent increase in criminal activity in and around the city’s athletic complexes.

The officer, police say, smelled marijuana and ordered Peoples and his female friend out of the vehicle.

Police say the encounter ended with Peoples resisting, breaking away from the officer as he tried to handcuff him, and grabbing a gun from the driver’s side door pocket.

The officer shot Peoples, who was pronounced dead a short time later at UAB Hospital.

Peoples’ family and attorneys disagreed with that narrative, saying that Peoples wasn’t armed and didn’t resist.

The Homewood Police Department turned the investigation over to ALEA, which is standard policy for many officer-involved shootings.

ALEA denied the family’s request to see the footage, saying the release of the video would jeopardize the ongoing investigation.

Though Alabama provides a way for families to view body camera and dash cam videos, the same law also allows law enforcement to withhold the footage for investigative purposes.

There have been several protests following the fatal shooting, including at the Homewood Police Department, ALEA’s office in west Homewood, Homewood City Hall and during the World Police and Fire Games in the Birmingham area.

The family’s attorneys have filed a motion in Jefferson County Circuit Court seeking to preserve critical evidence and identify parties as the family considers a potential wrong death and civil right lawsuit.

The City of Homewood on Friday filed a response in Jefferson County Court seeking to have the petition dismissed, citing ALEA as the custodian of the footage and all other investigative material.

Peoples’ funeral was held Saturday at Aliceville City Hall.