Family and Supporters of MSU Student Killed by East Lansing Police Demand Transparency

The family of a Michigan State University student who was shot and killed by East Lansing  police officers in April was joined by members of the local community Tuesday at a press conference in Lansing to call on East Lansing to release police footage of the incident.

The family of Isaiah Kirby, 21, has been pleading for answers about the April 15 incident to no avail, Teresa A. Caine Bingman, an attorney for the Kirby family said during the press conference. Meanwhile, the East Lansing Police Department says Kirby is suspected of stabbing a man and was shot by officers after he ran towards law enforcement and failed to respond to instructions to drop his weapon.

Isaiah’s face was no longer the face his mother recognized when she viewed his body, Bingman said. Nearly a month after the incident, the family has only seen a heavily edited timeline of events that didn’t provide evidence the shooting was justified, she continued. 

“When Mrs. Kirby was finally able to see her son’s body, she observed what no mother should ever have to see. She counted at least 17 gunshot wounds, including multiple wounds to Isaiah’s back,” Bingman said. “As a result, Miss Kirby was forced to make the heartbreaking decision to cremate her 21 year old son.”

Bingman said there has not been any evidence provided by the East Lansing Police Department, or ELPD, that shows Kirby with a knife or any footage of the stabbing. The limited footage the family has seen from ELPD shows a “very scattered, very biased” sequence of events showing a suspect purported to be Isaiah with a blacked out face.

Bingman and others who spoke at the press conference called for the release of unedited footage related to the incident. 

Since ELPD had a meeting with the Kirby family on May 7, the city has reached out to the Michigan State Police to inquire about their ability to release additional video evidence of the April 15 incident, East Lansing City Manager Robert Belleman said in a news statement Tuesday.

Later this week, with redactions, ELPD will release a narrated timeline of the incident and police body camera and fleet footage on the city’s website, Belleman said. Though ELPD does not have any footage of the stabbing, the footage will include video of aid being rendered to the stabbing victim and Isaiah Kirby.

The stabbing victim has been identified by Foster Swift law firm as local attorney Douglas Mielock, who ELPD said was recovering at home in an April 20 news release.

The experience of losing her first-born child, just weeks before his 22nd birthday, has been unspeakable, Isaiah’s mother, Karyn Kirby said. She described how her son was weeks away from graduating from the Zoology program at Michigan State University with a job interview lined up at the Austin Zoo before he was killed. 

The Michigan State University community has been very supportive of her family, Karyn said, unlike the City of East Lansing where no members of City Council or other local officials have reached out.

“It’s nice to know that Isaiah was definitely loved,” Karyn said, reflecting on the conversation she said she had with MSU President Kevin M. Guskiewicz on the phone following her son’s death.

Dozens of Greater Lansing community members attended Tuesday’s press conference, including members of East Lansing’s Independent Police Oversight Commission and Human Rights Commission, as well as state Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing).

Given longstanding trend of the ELPD using force disproportionately against Black community members, NAACP Lansing Branch President James McCurtis Jr. said during the press conference that now more than ever it’s important for the local community as well as state leaders to call for full transparency from East Lansing.

Isaiah’s death was avoidable, McCurtis said, as community members have consistently called for city leaders to clean house in East Lansing’s police force. The day before the April 15 incident, McCurtis said the NAACP renewed their call for ELPD Police Chief Jennifer Brown to step down during a City Council meeting.

“I said that day to the council, ‘what is it going to take, a George Floyd moment in East Lansing for you to replace the chief?’ The very next day, Isaiah Kirby was killed by East Lansing police,” McCurtis said. “We want transparency. What happened during the shooting? … The community deserves to know what happened … The NAACP stands in full support of the family.”