'We had clarity': After seeing video, family of Elijah Wilks acknowledges his shooting by off-duty officer was justified

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The family of Elijah Wilks, and their attorney, held a news conference Friday, Oct. 10, after reviewing video of the altercation between Wilks and an off-duty officer. The officer shot and killed Wilks Thursday morning, Oct. 9.

Dashboard camera video from that officer's car captured the entire event.

"He made a bad decision yesterday, and, unfortunately, it came with dire consequences," attorney B'Ivory LaMarr said Friday.

LaMarr and Wilks' mother, Pamela Bonslater, watched the video twice at police headquarters. LaMarr told reporters, "We will acknowledge that we do believe that this officer involved shooting was justified."

The video has not been released to the public, but LaMarr explained what it shows.

He said the video showed Wilks driving on Mill Rd. into a construction zone, where he "aggressively" cut off the off-duty officer when trying to get into the left lane. That caused the off-duty officer to collide with Wilks' car.

LaMarr said both men pulled over and got out of their vehicles, then Wilks pointed to the front of the officer's vehicle.

Wilks then pulled out a firearm. LaMarr said, "He does slap the off-duty officer with the firearm."

He added, "The video does depict Elijah pointing the firearm at the off-duty officer. And the off-duty officer did respond, we believe, in accordance with his training."

In the video, the officer fired several shots. LaMarr said Wilks then ran to the front of his vehicle. The video showed him pop up, and the officer fired more shots.

"In sum, we do believe that the shooting was unfortunate, it was tragic," LaMarr said. "The loss of any life, we hope is preventable."

The family believes Wilks did not know the person he was arguing with was an off-duty officer.

"In any event, we want to be cognizant of our actions and not resort to firearms, violence, aggression," said LaMarr.

Wilks' mother was too distraught to speak, but other family members did.

His aunt, Andrea Ward, said, "I would also like to thank the Milwaukee Police Department for their transparency and professionalism."

No matter the fault, they're grieving the loss of a son, grandson, nephew, and brother.

Wilks' sister, Elayjah, wept as she told reporters, "My brother is all I got. For real. That's my only sibling. And now he's gone."

The family said the city needs to heal, and wanted to speak up to discourage any community unrest.

Latrice Bell, another aunt, said, "He made a decision that he should not have made. And that's just something we have to live with."

LaMarr said it was unlikely they would take any legal action. "Once we got an opportunity to actually see the video, there weren't many questions. We had clarity as to what actually transpired."

The officer involved has not been identified. He is still recovering from injuries.

Per MPD policy, video of the incident will be released to the public within 15 days.