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An unarmed, 20-year old college student with dreams of becoming a lawyer for victims of police brutality was shot and killed by a Long Beach Police officer.Feras Morad was fatally shot by an officer on the 4600 block of East 15th Street, near Pacific Coast Highway on Wednesday night after jumping out of a second story window. According to friends he was with at the time, Morad was having a bad reaction after taking shrooms for the first time. According to the Long Beach Press Telegram, a responding police officer arrived around 7:30 p.m. to help him get medical attention.
However, Morad continued to approach the officer, who perceived his actions as a threat, and after unsuccessfully trying to subdue him with a Taser and a baton, shot the 20-year old. He was quickly rushed a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
"Even if he did something, if he was under the influence, he should not have been shot, he does not harm anyone," his father, Amr Morad, told NBC 4. His sister, Ghada, said it was "unfair" that the family was first notified of his death through a Facebook message, instead getting a call from the police, hospital or the coroner's office. Morad's family also disputes the police's side of the story, which says the 20-year old was in a "physical altercation" with his friends before jumping through the window and later threatened the officer.
"From what the friends had told me, he was just having a bad reaction," said his cousin Kareem. A friend that was with Morad when the shooting took place told NBC 4 that Morad was simply dazed from the drugs and falling through the window without his glasses, and that he was about 20 feet away from the officer and actually walking away when he was shot.
"We were saying, 'Don't shoot! Don't shoot, he's not armed!'" his friend Ryan Fobes told ABC 7. "Feras was shirtless and covered in blood and obviously very hurt."
Feras was a 3.9 GPA student at Moorpark College and was going to start classes at Long Beach State in the fall. He was a nationally-ranked debate student while attending El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills, and was accepted into UCLA and Cal out of high school, but chose to attend CSULB to save money. His goal was to become a lawyer who would represent victims of police brutality.
The Morad family plans on suing the Long Beach Police Department and for now have set up a GoFundMe to cover his funeral arrangements. A "Justice For Feras Morad" Facebook page has been set up, and a candlelight vigil is schedule to take place this Wednesday night in Long Beach.
According to the L.A. Times Homicide Report, Morad is at least the fourth person fatally shot by police in Long Beach in the last 12 months, with the last being Hector Morejon.
