TLC's T-Boz Expresses Outrage After Cousin Was Fatally Shot By Police

On Media Outlook News: PEORIA, IL – TLC’s Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins is grieving the sudden loss of her cousin Eddie Russell Jr. after he was fatally shot by police last Wednesday (September 20) in Peoria, Illinois.

“My Cousin Was Shot 18 Times Including the Face and Back of His Head!,” she wrote. “He Harmed NO ONE EVER! He Had Mental Health Issues AND THE COPS KNEW THAT! Anything he’s ever Done Was minor and NON VIOLENT!”

She also added, Russell Jr. was “mentally ill.”

According to Peoria Journal Star, the 25-year-old man was a suspect in a bank robbery. When police tracked Russell Jr. down at his home, he was reportedly shot 18 times after an hours-long standoff.

Peoria police said Russell Jr. came towards them with a handgun, forcing them to fire. Russell Jr. was pronounced dead at the scene by County Coroner Jamie Harwood.

Russell Jr. had reportedly just been released from a mental health facility before he was killed. His father, Eddie Russell, Sr., had asked police to let him inside to talk to his son and they told him “trust us.”

In her post, T-Boz is adamant Russell Jr. didn’t have a gun in the alleged bank robbery at First Mid-Illinois Bank & Trust.

“The cops told his mother to call him out on a bullhorn USED her saying “WE WILL GIVE HIM THE HELP HE NEEDS,” she wrote. “and He Came Out Because He Heard His Mother and They used beyond excessive force to gun him down also with heavy artillery used in warfare! 18 times? Shot eighteen times??? IF THEIR GOING ON WHAT HES HOLDING AT THE BANK THAT ISN’T A GUN!”

Russell Jr.’s lawyer, Andrew Stroth, is calling the fatal shooting an “execution.”

“It was unjustified, it was excessive force, and the family demands answers and a full investigation,” Stroth reportedly said Tuesday (September 26) during a lunchtime news conference at the Peoria Police Department.”

He continued, “The family demands reform, and the family demands justice. We want to make sure that the city of Peoria and the Peoria Police Department and the Illinois State Police do a full and transparent investigation into what happened last week to Eddie Russell Jr.”