Reactions to the shocking footage of Victoria Lee's death by police shooting

By Julia Tong

Community members expressed outrage after seeing police bodycam footage of the shooting of Victoria Lee.

Under pressure from family, advocates and AAPI community groups, the New Jersey Attorney General's office on Friday released the bodycam footage of the police shooting of a 25-year-old Korean American man. Warning: Some viewers may find the video disturbing.

Lee was in a mental health crisis when her family called 911 to summon an ambulance. Footage shows police shot her at her door minutes after they arrived.

“I was completely disgusted and outraged by the disturbing actions of the Fort Lee Police Department,” Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of the AAPI Equity Alliance and co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, told AsAmNews in response to the footage.

“There is no doubt that Victoria should be alive today and in fact the footage confirms our worst fears that the police killing of Victoria was unjustified and unwarranted,” she adds.

“[The police] decided to carry out the deadly attack without attempting to de-escalate the situation.”

On July 28, an emergency call was made from the Lee family's home requesting an ambulance to take Lee to a medical facility. The police were also called, despite the family member's repeated requests that police not be sent.

During the call, family members also reported that Lee had a small folding knife on him. Body camera footage shows that when officers arrived, they immediately demanded to know who had the knife. An already distressed Lee can be heard becoming increasingly agitated as officers threatened to break down the door and debated whether to use lethal or less-lethal weapons when entering the building.

Within three minutes of arriving at the Lees' home, Officer Tony Pickens Jr. broke down the door and immediately shot Lee once. Lee was still standing in the doorway holding a plastic water jug; her family claims she did not have a knife in her hand at the time.

Community leaders from AAPI NJ and Stop AAPI Hate say the released footage shows officers using unnecessary deadly force, including making no attempts to de-escalate or manage the crisis at the Lees' home, even when the family asked police to stand down.

Officers also immediately resorted to deadly force rather than non-lethal alternatives — even though family members stressed that Lee posed no threat. They also made efforts to keep her away from police: Her mother locked the door and placed her body in front of her daughter, while her brother stayed outside and tried to ask the officers to back off.

“There was no threat. [Lee] “There was clearly no danger to anyone inside. Her mother was trying to protect her and put herself between the police and her daughter,” Amber Reed, co-executive director of AAPI NJ, said in an interview with AsAmNews.

“I just don't know how the police came to the conclusion that they had to break down the door and draw their weapons.”

Lee is the youngest AAPI youth killed by police in the midst of a mental health crisis. In 2024 alone, several notable killings occurred. They include 16-year-old Easter Leafa, who was killed by Anchorage police on August 13; 40-year-old Yong Yang, who was shot and killed by Los Angeles Police Department officers; and 19-year-old Win Rosario, who was killed by New York City police in March while holding a pair of scissors.

These killings reflect a broader trend: Studies have shown that people in mental health crises are 16 times more likely to be killed by police because police often lack the training needed to deescalate or treat mental health crises without violence.

The fact that police primarily address mental health issues is a major reason why gun deaths continue to occur, Reed says.

“As long as we continue to respond to mental health crises in this way, it will remain dangerous, especially for people of color,” says Reed.

“It is urgent to act quickly and invest more.”

In response to Lee's death, Stop AAPI Hate and AAPI NJ launched a call to action demanding transparency from the Fort Lee Police Department, an investigation into Lee's death, and greater investment in mental health care.

Their first demand is a transparent investigation into Lee's killing and accountability for the officers involved. Although the bodycam footage has been released, family members and community members say they have received little to no information from Fort Lee police. It is unclear whether the officer who shot Lee is still on active duty.

And questions remain about officers' response to the shooting itself. According to AAPI NJ, Lee was separated from her family after the shooting, as her brother and mother were taken to the station for questioning; it is unclear what medical care Lee received.

But advocates say structural changes are needed to ensure a tragedy like Lee's shooting is not repeated, including revising law enforcement policies on how mental health crises are handled and how mental illness is treated nationwide.

One immediate change, Kulkarni says, is that police should not be called to mental health emergencies because they are not adequately trained to do so. Instead, first responders such as crisis responders and paramedics should be the first to arrive on the scene.

Kulkarni says many of these programs have already been successfully implemented. For example, Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets (CAHOOTS) in Oregon is a community-based mental health treatment service that replaces police as first responders in emergency situations.

And New Jersey itself has the ARRIVE Together program. According to the New Jersey Attorney General, the program recognizes that police officers are expected to “take on roles they never expected when they chose to serve” — such as responding to mental health crises — and therefore “it should come as no surprise that negative consequences are possible, even likely.” (It's unclear, according to advocates, why this program didn't exist when Lee was shot.)

Another policy issue advocates are calling for is the implementation of the Seabrooks-Washington Community-Lead Crisis Response Act. The law is named after Najee Seabrooks and Andrew Washington, who were shot by police in New Jersey during mental health crises. It calls for the creation of a Community Crisis Response Team to minimize police killings. The law was signed in January but has yet to be implemented.

“We know that there are programs across the country that work, and that's why it's high time to invest in similar programs because that has to change,” she said.

Another important change is broader, “massive” investments in mental health care, Chang and Reed say — especially for AAPI people, who have historically struggled to seek help for mental illness. That includes investing in community-based responses that are culturally competent and in-language.

This is especially important now, says Reed, who fears the shooting has undermined the local AAPI community's trust in mental health treatment and emergency services.

“It was already very difficult for Asian Americans to access mental health care, and this incident is only going to make it even more difficult for people to get treatment given what they've experienced here,” Reed said. “So there's an urgent need to act quickly and invest more.”

The Asian American community in New Jersey has taken action following the shooting: In addition to AAPI NJ and Stop AAPI Hate, organizations such as the Korean American Association, the Korean Community Center and the MinKwon Center for Community Action also called for justice for Lee and urged authorities to ensure that people who need mental health care can safely access it.

But given Lee's serious shooting, it will be difficult for the public to restore that trust.

“This is a family that went to get help for their loved one during a mental health crisis and then watched as they were shot dead in front of their eyes by the police who were supposed to be helping them,” Reed said.

“There is just a lot of confusion and fear because you don't feel safe when you can be shot in the entrance area of ​​your own house.”

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