Relatives of Jamir Cave question whether he was armed as investigators examine body-camera footage and other evidence from the encounter.
PHILADELPHIA — Relatives of a 26-year-old man fatally shot by two Philadelphia police officers in Mayfair are disputing key parts of the preliminary police account, including whether he was armed when a foot pursuit ended in a deadly confrontation Friday.
Family members identified the man as Jamir Cave and said he had been struggling with mental health issues before the shooting. They told local news organizations that they had reported him missing earlier Friday and said he had recently been released from Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital. Those details came from Cave’s relatives and had not been independently confirmed by authorities as of Saturday.
The family’s account differs from the preliminary description given by police. Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore said officers responded after multiple 911 callers reported a man trying to enter homes on the 4100 block of Tyson Avenue. Officers later encountered the man on the 7000 block of Frankford Avenue, where police said he ran when officers attempted to stop him.
Police said the pursuit ended outside a business, where Cave and the responding officers became involved in a physical confrontation. Both officers fired their weapons during the encounter, striking Cave. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No officers or bystanders were injured, authorities said.
Vanore said investigators found a knife near Cave at the scene. Cave’s family, however, said they did not believe he had been armed. His aunt, Moico Boyd, also disputed the suggestion that he had been trying to burglarize homes, saying a resident had called police after finding him in a yard drinking water. Police have described the reported attempts to enter homes as information received from 911 callers, not as a criminal charge established in court.
Cave’s mother, Ebony Boyd, said her son was innocent. His relatives have urged greater attention to what they described as his mental health condition and to the events leading up to the police encounter. Authorities had not publicly confirmed the family’s account of an earlier missing-person report or provided a detailed response to the relatives’ claim that police did not arrive after that call.
The evidence now under review could help clarify the competing accounts. Police said the officers’ body-worn cameras were activated during the shooting. Video recorded from another vantage point shows an officer and a man engaged in a struggle outside a storage facility before a second officer arrives. Both officers can then be seen drawing their weapons before shots are fired.
Witnesses told local news organizations they heard an officer repeatedly tell someone to drop a knife before the gunfire. Those accounts and the recovery of a knife are among the evidence investigators will have to compare with body-camera footage, surveillance video and physical evidence. Authorities have not publicly said whether forensic testing established who possessed the knife or released a full sequence of the confrontation.
The shooting began with calls shortly before 2:30 p.m. Friday and drew a large police response to Frankford Avenue. Video from the area later showed a section of the block behind police tape, with investigators and an ambulance outside the storage business where the encounter ended.
The Philadelphia Police Department maintains a public record of officer-involved shootings and conducts specialized investigations into such incidents. Officers who discharge their weapons can be moved to administrative duty while reviews determine whether their actions followed department policy. Separate legal review may also address whether a shooting complied with Pennsylvania law.
As of Saturday, investigators had not announced a final finding on what prompted the officers to shoot or resolved the dispute over whether Cave possessed the knife found near him. Body-camera footage, other video and witness statements remain central to the investigation, while Cave’s family continues to seek answers about both the fatal encounter and the events that preceded it.
Author note: Last updated October 3, 2026.