17-year-old girl shot & killed by police while her hands were up; witness

A 17-year-old girl’s family is demanding answers after she was shot and killed by police.

The shooting happened on Friday before 7 p.m. on the eastbound Riverside (91) Freeway in Orange County.

Williams was shot 3 times by an officer who said that she was speeding, and was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

There are two witness reports, and they are NOT the same.

According to one witness who spoke to NBC, she witnessed 17-year-old Hannah Williams walking towards a police officer with what appeared to be a gun, while both of her hands were in the air.

Another witness recalls something very different. The second witness says that Williams was holding a cell phone in her hands and NOT a gun.

Police are conducting 3 separate investigations.

The family released a statement through Rev Jarrett Maupin of Arizona:

“We ask for prayers from the community as we work with Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jarrett Maupin, and the National Action Network to find answers to what appears to be another unjustified shooting of a young person of color. In the coming days, we will release the results of a secondary autopsy and the facts as they become known to us.”

Williams was a loving teen according to her family, who had a job as a lifeguard, volunteered, was about to graduate from High School and attend college.