For the first time, the family of Adam Sykes, who was killed by IMPD Officer Grant Snyder on February 25, addressed the media Friday, April 18 at 4:00 pm at the Indianapolis Liberation Center. At the same press conference, the Party for Socialism and Liberation – Indianapolis released the results of an independent investigation into Sykes’ killing. You can read a complete transcript of the press conference below.
Watch the full press conference
In particular, they revealed recordings from the incident that the IMPD censored from their edited “Critical Incident” footage released the week before. “The fact that the IMPD did not include this recording,” organizer Destiny Glover stated, “calls their entire narrative into question.” Glover also said it “increases the urgency in obtaining the full unedited body camera footage.”
Read the demands and sign the petition!
On February 25, police responded to a 911 call reporting an injured woman at a Speedway gas station on the near east side. Police say that woman told them she was assaulted and that she asked for medics, who later arrived and took her to the hospital. Less than a minute after abandoning that call to follow Adam Sykes instead, a man completely unconnected to the reported assault who was not suspected of any crime that night, IMPD officer Grant Snyder shot Adam Sykes three times, killing him.
On April 12, IMPD released a significantly edited video to portray Sykes as a wanted villain and Snyder as a hero for killing him. The decision to release the video at the end of the work week, day, and news cycle was more than convenient; it was undoubtedly calculated to prevent any counter-narrative or physical opposition from emerging.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation reviewed recordings taken at the scene of Sykes’s murder and have reconstructed an independent timeline including enhanced audio that IMPD censored from their video which includes an order to “fucking kill him” followed by three rapid gunshots that took Adam’s life. Sign the petition for justice for Adam Sykes!
2:21:30 am: Grant Snyder raises both his taser and his sidearm and aims them both at Adam, which is dangerous and against best practices, and shouts: “Stop! You’re gonna get tased! Stop!”
2:21:31 am: Officer 1: “Stop! Get on the ground!”
2:21:32 am: Adam falls to the ground.
2:21:33 am: Snyder: “Fucking kill him!”
2:21:34 am: Officer 1: “Get on the fucking ground!”
2:21:35 am: 5 seconds after the command to stop, Snyder fires three shots in two seconds
2:21:38 am: Officer 1: “Do not move! Do not move!”
2:21:55 am: Officer 1: “Do not move! Don’t fucking move!”
As Adam’s body twitches in the street, cops continue yelling at him to stop.
Transcript
Stephen Lane: All right, thank you all so much for coming out to today’s press conference at the Indianapolis Liberation Center, as we search for answers in the most recent killing of Adam Sykes by IMPD officer Grant Snyder. My name is Stephen Lane and I’m an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Today you will have a chance to hear from Adam’s family as well as hear audio we obtained through our own independent investigation. On February 25th police responded to a 911 call reporting an injured woman at a Speedway gas station on the near east side. Police say that woman told them she was assaulted and that she asked for medics who later arrived and took her to the hospital less than a minute after abandoning that call to follow Adam Sykes instead a man completely unconnected to the reported assault who was not suspected of any crime that night. IMPD Grant Snyder shot Adam Sykes three times, killing him.
Last Friday after 4 pm the IMPD released a significantly edited video to portray Sykes as a wanted villain and Snyder as a hero. The decision to release the video at the end of the work week day and news cycle was more than convenient, it was undoubtedly calculated to prevent any counter-narrative or physical opposition from emerging even their carefully curated presentation of Sykes’s murder, however, not only leaves several perplexing questions but also demonstrates the police involved violated their own general orders the IMPD’s standard operating procedures are laid out in what they call general orders which are rules and regulations that all officers are supposed to follow at all times. General Order 4.33 foot
pursuits says that officers may only start to chase someone on foot if that person has just committed a crime is having a mental health crisis or is a danger to the public. Sykes fit none of those criteria in fact was heard on the release footage saying that he didn’t want to talk to the police.
General Order 1.32 less lethal devices says that the act of fleeing without other factors involved does not justify the use of a taser. Sykes was trying to leave no other factors like the gun were known to the cops until they after they tased and shot him. General Order 1.30.30 use of force principles says that officers must deescalate be slow and deliberate and never use threatening or verbally abusive language within 5 seconds but within 5 seconds of giving their first audible command of Sykes, cops had shouted at him to get on the [ __ ] ground and you’re going to get taped even if we were to accept the ludicrous claim that officers recognized Adam and believed he had an outstanding warrant none of their actions followed department policy moreover given that the warrant was for theft from a family dollar, not a violent or serious crime why were the majority of the officers called to the scene abandoned and assaulted woman to pursue and ultimately kill Sykes. Tonight you’re going to hear from the family so they’re going to provide a little bit of u background about who Adam was as a person uh so first up I would like to invite Adam’s cousin Anika.
Anika Green: Good afternoon, my name is Anika Greene. I was born Anika Sykes and I am Adam’s first cousin and even though we’re only a month apart, he’s only one month older than me. He always called me his baby cousin. We were raised together since birth and before his adoption, my mother served as his legal guardian so although he was my cousin, he was more like my brother.
The last time I saw Adam was around the time of his mother’s death, she died around this time his birth mother around this time last year and in the summer we held a royal gathering for her and although it was his mother that he lost he was the one who was comforting me he was always happy to be around his family and his friends and we talked about how it’s our turn, our parents are getting older, our parents are not able to provide and be the backbone of our family anymore but that it was our turn and he often told me how proud he was of me and how we were going to lead the next generation for his daughter his younger sisters and his nephew and even though we shared our love for each other that day, we didn’t talk or we, I didn’t see him after that most of our check-ins were like on the phone and things like that but I was the first person contacted by police when we found out about his death.
An IMPD officer and chaplain came to my mother’s home searching for the next of kin and I was really confused when they came um I was unsure why they were at my door and they said “Do you know Adam Sykes?” I said “Yes that’s my cousin”. They said “Well how old are you?” I told them my age assuring them that I was over the age of 18 and it was then that they gave me the news and even in that moment it was very unclear to me what happened. The language was “There was a police incident last night shots were fired Adam was taken to the hospital and he did not make it.” I said “So is he dead?” And the officer answered, “Yes.” I said “Did the police kill him?”.
And they said “We are not allowed to say it’s under investigation”. That day I contacted my brother who called the police station trying to seek answers and from the very beginning lies were told they gave my brother a completely different story than was that was given to the news originally, saying that there was a shootout and we know that the only shots that were fired were from the officers that night and the most difficult part of this situation has been the entire framing of the situation news coverage has included details that have nothing to do with his pursuit of his death and we know for sure that officers were handling a completely unrelated call when they abandoned their job of protecting and serving to hunt and kill my cousin.
There have been so many lies and angles and to this day I have not seen the original footage and all we care about is the truth and we want to understand why there are so many lies and hidden agendas. For me Adam was a protector ever since we were young kids he always stood up for me and encouraged me to stand up for myself and so today, his own right that I’m here to stand for him. He loved his family deep down and he was just always proud of us and would speak about how we were going to change things, he was charismatic, he loved to laugh, he loved adventure, and trying new things, and he had a lot of love and hope and dreams that he didn’t get to actualize he didn’t get to see it and a lot of people failed him throughout his life preventing it. it is hard trying to think of the ways to explain to his daughter the death of her father so that she is not afraid. He has an eight-year-old daughter who is suffering; battling surviving leukemia and now this traumatic incident from the death of her father and it’s difficult trying to navigate these conversations and maintain his legacy when so much of the process has been built to destroy his character.
My cousin loved her father and he loved her. He would call and FaceTime her to check in and he was always showing her off to our family and he was very proud of his one and only child one and only daughter and I know that his goal was to be a better father, a better parent, than the way he was raised and grew up and now he is robbed of the chance to do so the murder of my cousin Adam Sykes at the hands of officer Grant Snyder has been a traumatic and unnecessary occurrence. This is not a case of retaliation or street justice, this is a case of state sanctioned murder. We know that instead of protecting and serving, officers chose to hunt and kill a young black man and as Mayor Joe Hogsett continues to funnel money to a corrupt department, we have to be sure to protect our future and say no more this state has just built a $1.2 billion prison and I’m sure that they are ready for a return on their investment.
Our boys, our men, they are the targets of these new age chain gangs that drive greed and heartlessness and of those clinging to power in this capitalistic society. These body cameras have become the new postcards capturing the lynching of black bodies while others get to sit at home and cast judgment from their couches or behind their keyboards while others like me live in fear because just earlier this year, we watched IMPD beat men bloody in the front of a Walmart parking lot. My cousin will never get his chance to sit in a courtroom amongst a jury of his peers to face the consequences of a petty theft. We know that it is hard out here there is a war on poverty, a war on homelessness, and a war on poor people but instead of facing his consequences with a jury of his peers, he was chased down by bloodthirsty cops in a completely unrelated incident where he was neither a suspect or involved and he was robbed of his life. We must be sure that more of our boys more of our children are taken care of so that this does not happen anymore. We have to have more people sign up to be mentors, to set more mentoring programs. We have to make sure that our children are literate so that they know their history and rights and there aren’t jail cells being built with their name on it based on standardized test scores and we have to vote and make sure that the funding stays in our neighborhoods in the programs that deserve them instead of the pockets of officers like Grant Snyder and we have to say his name in the name of all those that we lost to police brutality and a corrupt system so that their love and legacy lives on. His name is Adam Sykes and he was a father, a son, a cousin, a friend, a protector, and he will be remembered as such. Thank you.
Stephen Lane: Thank you so much Anika, that was very powerful. We’ll have a chance for a Q&A at the end before we show the new video evidence that we have. We also want to hear from Adam’s auntie, [excuse me], Aunt Shantia.
Shantia Jones: I’m Adam’s aunt, Shantia Jones. I’m the aunt on his dad’s side whose father is Jones and I’m not gonna be very long because I feel Nika said everything that needed to be said. I just wanted to speak on his character as far as Adam. Adam wasn’t a horrible person. Adam was out here trying to get himself together for the sake of his daughter. I hadn’t spoke with my nephew in quite some time but when I did speak to Adam, that’s one thing that Adam did say, he said “Auntie I’m going to get myself together.” He said, “Just count on me, I’ll get myself together.” And like N said he didn’t even have the chance to do that. His daughter she’s missing her dad I was one of the ones that did go and speak to his daughter and to let her know about her dad’s death but she didn’t know anything and just to see her break down like she did that hurt me more because now she has to grow up without her dad, she has to fight her leukemia without her dad so so I’m not going to be here long, i just want all to know that Adam was not a bad person, Adam was somebody that was trying to get himself together and he would have gotten himself together had he had the opportunity. Thank you.
Stephen Lane: Thank you so much, actually, thank you to Adam’s loved ones for coming out and speaking on his behalf today. We will now move into the next portion of our press conference as we uncover the recently obtained camera footage with audio capturing everything that the officers said that night. We removed the video to protect the privacy of the community who truly came together to get answers and seek justice for Adam Sykes, his eight-year-old daughter, Adam’s family and the entire Indianapolis community. The Party for Socialism and Liberation reviewed the recordings taken at the scene of Sykes’s murder and reconstructed an independent timeline including audio that IMPD censored from their video. I will now provide you with a summary of what you will hear from the two different cameras that captured the audio of Adam’s final moments at 2:21 a.m in the morning. At the 30 second mark Grant Snyder raises both his taser and his sidearm and aims them both at Adam Sykes which is dangerous and against best practices and shouts “Stop you’re going to get tased, stop.”
At 2:21 at the 31 mark, Officer One says “Stop get on the ground.” At the 32 second mark, Adam falls to the ground, at the 33 second mark, you hear, “[ __ ] kill him shoot“. At the 34 second mark, you hear “get on the [ __ ] ground”. At the 35 second mark you hear 5 seconds after Adam was commanded to stop, Snyder fires three shots in two seconds. At the 38 second mark you hear, ”do not move do not move” at the 55 second mark, you hear, “do not move don’t [ __ ] move” as Adam’s body twitches in the street cops continue yelling at him to stop so we’re going to play the video for you and so we’ll have it up here on the screen.
[sound from the video footage] “get on the ground get on the [ __ ] ground do not move do not move all right do not move don’t [ __ ] move get on the ground get on the [ __ ] ground do not move. do not move do not move don’t [ __ ] move”
Stephen Lane: That’s the video there. Does anybody need to see it again?
Reporter: Can we get a video of it?
Stephen Lane: Yes, yeah, we can send that over to you.
So that was a video that we were able to reconstruct with the audio from different door cameras um we were able to obtain that night in those door cameras you do see the police l recognizing that those door cameras are active and recording so they should have that same footage and we are wondering why IMPD left that audio out of their edited footage and we are demanding that IMPD release the unedited footage to the family and they have until Friday April 25th by 5:00 pm to release that unedited footage to the family so that they can review it with their representative legal representation and that with that we conclude today’s press conference and if you have any questions please feel free to ask at this time.
Reporter: Has the family or the legal representation filed to get the full video released to you guys yet?
Stephen Lane: The mother is working on securing legal representation
Reporter: I have a question. Just as a member of the news media, we of course always want to do our best to portray the full truth and make sure that all sides are equally represented. You mentioned there were some details released in the news that were unfair. I would just like to know what those were so that we could take a look at whatever.
Anika Green: When I came across the article—and this is the way I read it, and then also if you look at the comments the way a lot of people perceived it—when it was reported that a woman was assaulted by multiple men and it was unclear whether or not Adam was a part of that group of people or whether he…it was… it just seemed muddied with a lot of details that were completely unrelated to his death. If you see he was in the gas station, he came out of the gas station, walked past officers, and they completely abandoned their job of why they were even on the scene in the first place, to pursue him and to me, the mention of it… it was a lot of unnecessary unclear details that it made it seem as if, “oh he perhaps assaulted the woman” or whether or not he was involved, when we know that he wasn’t. And it was just kind of like… and then it was also talking about “they were going to report to an assault on a block down…. they were on their way to check on assault at the 3200 block of South.” Like that: just multiple details of crimes that were in the area that had absolutely nothing to do with him and have the concerns been brought up to IMPD once you were able to obtain these, yes. So, and even, like I said, I expressed concerns, my brother expressed concerns, because even the way we were told and the very day we found out, we had questions and were lied to from the very beginning. So we have addressed those concerns because I’m not his immediate family, his mother has been addressing a lot of those conversations more head-on, but yes we have our concerns.
Reporter: What legal action is being considered if they choose not to release the full video by next Friday?
Anika: I am not sure that is not a question that I can answer.
Reporter: And could we also have you each say and spell your full names again so we can get those accurately?
Anika Green: yes my name is Anika Green A N I K A green like the color G R E E N.
Shantia Jones: and mine is Shantia S H A N T I A Jones.
Stephen Lane: So, if the video is not released by Friday April 25th by 5:00 pm, we will stage a rally outside of the City-County building on that Saturday and we encourage everyone who is looking for social justice and justice for Adam and all victims of IMPD violence to come out to that Saturday rally.
Reporter: I have a good question: Can you clear up some of the details because I’m hearing the incident about Family Dollar, can you clear that part up because it’s not.
Anika Green: Thank you. So, the whole reason for the pursuit was that the cops recognized Adam from the area is just what we’re assuming and that he had an active warrant from his arrest. The warrant was for a theft in June 2024 and this was in February of 2025, and if they know his face and name, it’s just a little bit confusing as to why that night they decided to pursue that act of warrant.
Stephen Lane: Well thank you all so much for coming out today um and yeah we really appreciate you covering this story.
Thank you.