Officer Mark Dial, who shot Eddie Irizarry, will be fired for insubordination, Outlaw says

Officer Mark Dial, who shot and killed 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry in Kensington last week, will be fired for insubordination, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said Wednesday.

Dial, 27, will be suspended for 30 days with intent to dismiss after he refused to cooperate with the department’s internal investigation into the shooting of Irizarry on Aug. 14, Outlaw announced at a news conference.

» READ MORE: New video shows Philadelphia Police officer shot Eddie Irizarry within seconds of getting out of patrol car

Outlaw said Dial, a five-year veteran of the force, had violated two department directives: refusal to obey orders from superior officers and failure to cooperate in a departmental investigation.

Fortunato Perri, a lawyer who represents the Fraternal Order of Police, said in an emailed statement that Dial “has the full support of the Fraternal Order of Police as we continue to review the facts and circumstances surrounding this tragic incident.”

Dial’s impending dismissal is the latest development in the shooting of Irizarry. His death has drawn mounting questions and widespread scrutiny from the community and Irizarry’s family, particularly after the Police Department’s shifting narrative and the release of security footage that shows Dial resorted to deadly force within seconds of encountering Irizarry.

Outlaw on Wednesday was careful to make clear that she was moving to fire Dial for administrative violations — not for any alleged wrongdoing involving the shooting. She said after reviewing footage of the shooting that she “has questions” about what happened, but that the department’s Officer Involved Shooting Unit and District Attorney’s Office continue to investigate.

“The shooting investigation remains ongoing at this time,” Outlaw said.

She declined to say whether she believes Dial’s actions were criminal.

“That’s not my call, that’s for the District Attorney’s Office to make that determination” Outlaw said. “I do have questions and I’m looking forward to the outcome of not only the administrative investigation but also the criminal investigation.”

Protecting the integrity of those inquiries remains the priority, she said.

The DA’s Office has declined to comment on the status of its investigation and has not publicly released body-worn camera footage of what happened.

Dial shot Irizarry multiple times through his car window at near point-blank range, according to video released Tuesday by a lawyer for Irizarry’s family. The video showed Dial fired his weapon just five seconds after getting out of his patrol car, and after his partner said he saw that Irizarry had a knife in the car.

Dial and his partner, who patrolled the 24th Police District, encountered Irizarry “driving erratically” in North Philadelphia about 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 14. The uniformed officers followed Irizarry’s car south, until he pulled the wrong way onto the 100 block of East Willard Street.

Irizarry parallel parked, and the police cruiser then pulled up next to him. Dial and his partner stopped their cruiser in the middle of the street, then stepped out of the car, immediately drew their guns and pointed them at Irizarry’s parked car.

“Show us your hands!” the officers yelled.

“He’s got a f— knife!” one officer said.

Dial ran in front of the car, then over to the driver’s side.

“I will f— shoot you!” Dial yelled at Irizarry, who was seated in the driver’s seat with his windows rolled up.

Almost immediately, Dial shot multiple times at close range through the driver’s side window. He ran backward and fired again through the windshield, holding his gun with one hand.

Dial and his partner — whom police have not identified — then pulled Irizarry out of his car, and holding him by his arms and one of his legs, carried him to their police cruiser. He was rushed to Temple University Hospital, where he died a short time later, at 12:48 p.m.

Outlaw has declined to say whether Irizarry was holding a knife when he was shot. Police said they found a kitchen-style knife and a folded serrated blade inside his car. Irizarry’s family said he used those for work, stripping wires and removing car parts as a mechanic.

The department’s move to fire Dial brought little comfort to the Irizarry family on Wednesday.

“Fired is not enough for my family,” Zoraida Garcia, Irizarry’s aunt, said in an interview. “He needs to be in jail.”

Mayor Jim Kenney joined Outlaw at the news conference Wednesday and spoke publicly for the first time about the shooting.

“This is certainly a tragedy, and my heart breaks for the family and for the loss of Mr. Irizarry,” he said.

“The investigation will bring out whatever it’s going to bring out, and we’ll move on from there,” Kenney said.

The mayor said he believes the relationship between the police and community has improved under his administration, particularly since 2020.

“I think we went through some really rocky times during the George Floyd murder in the civil unrest that followed, and then after Walter Wallace was killed,” Kenney said. “But I do think in general the community supports the police, the police are supportive of the community.”

”Certain circumstances like this do set us back,” Kenney said, “but I think we’re able to recover and move forward. And I think the next mayor will continue to make progress.”

Outlaw declined to share details about who provided a department spokesperson with the initial, inaccurate statement that Irizarry got out of his car with a knife and “lunged” at officers. She said only that the information came from an “internal source,” and declined to elaborate on who cleared the spokesperson to share that information with reporters at the scene that day.

After reviewing the body-worn camera footage, department officials saw that initial narrative was not true: Irizarry was seated in his car when he was shot, and never lunged at police with a knife.

“Unfortunately, the information that was released has pretty dire consequences in establishing a framing narrative that, quite frankly, was not true,” Outlaw said. “I recognize the impact that has on the family, the community, the immediate area where that happened.”

She said once the internal investigation into the false narrative is complete, someone will be held accountable. And, she said, less information will be shared with the media about shooting cases until details can be corroborated.