Seattle police shoot California lottery winner
SEATTLE - A man shot to death by police outside a football stadium has been identified by his family as one of the winners of an $87 million lottery jackpot.
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Rick Camat, 32, was shot early Sunday as dozens of people fled to avoid a fight outside a bar before a St. Louis Rams-Seattle Seahawks game.
Police alleged that Camat was carrying a handgun and fired at a car that was leaving the area. Authorities said he crouched behind another vehicle and pointed a handgun at officers.
Relatives insisted Camat only fired into the air to break up the fight and said officers never issued a warning before shooting him.
“He shot once in the air to scare people away. He didn’t aim it at anyone,” said Camat’s brother, Brian, who was with him at the time.
Officer Debra Brown said the family’s account “differs vastly from the statements of dozens of witnesses who were at the scene that evening.”
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The officer who fired at Camat remains on paid administrative leave. An internal police review and a court inquest are planned.
Camat was one of 13 Starbucks employees in Los Angeles who shared an $87 million California lottery jackpot in 2000.
He recently bought a house in Federal Way, a suburb between Seattle and Tacoma, relatives said. He previously used his share of the lottery winnings to buy a house for his mother and cars for his siblings.
