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Religious Leaders Demand Answers From Miami Police

MIAMI (CBS4) -- Miami community leaders held a news conference at police headquarters Monday to demand information about a deadly officer-involved shooting over the summer.

They assert there has been a cover up.

African-American religious leaders are tired of waiting for police, citing a 5-month delay in getting a response from them on the shooting of an unarmed man, DeCarlos Moore, at a routine traffic stop.

The police union called the shooting justified. They said Moore rushed back to his car to retrieve something that rookie Miami Police Officer Joseph Marin thought was a gun.

Marin shot and killed Moore, but the actual reasoning and facts behind the shooting has yet to be revealed to the community.
"I'm mad and I'm mad as hell because people have died and we have not received a report," said Reverend Jerome Starling.

Reports in another case involving a November Coconut Grove beating were released just days after it happened in a neighborhood that they say is Caucasian.

The African-American ministers want to know why so many cases in the black community go unanswered. "If another community can get a report that quick we should be able to get a report," said Starling. "It does not take this long for an investigation."

The group is demanding that Miami's mayor, police chief and Commissioner Richard Dunn give them immediate answers. Mayor Tomas Regalado told CBS 4 News the case is now in the hands of the state's attorney's office. Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito did not return CBS 4 News' calls. Commissioner Richard Dunn said he will get to the bottom of the matter and press the police chief for answers.

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