Community members are demanding answers after a Temple University graduate student was shot several times in the chest by police officers in West Philadelphia on Wednesday.

According to The Inquirer, Kaleb Belay was allegedly holding a steak knife when he was confronted by officers on the 4900 block of Hazel Avenue. After the 25-year-old supposedly ignored orders to drop the knife, one of the deputies fired several shots toward him, striking him in the chest. He was taken to the hospital where he is reported to be in critical condition. A lawyer for the Belay family told WPVI-TV in Philadelphia that doctors have already removed Belay's spleen and parts of his pancreas.

Belay, a research assistant at the Ethiopian Development Research Institute according to his Linkedin profile, has a difficult recovery ahead of him. Most of his current responses are nonverbal, rendering him unable to describe his run-in with police. Belay also has no idea he could potentially be indicted following his release from the hospital.

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This incident has triggered the local Ethiopian immigrant community which has a hard time understanding how Belay could be perceived as a threat.

"I just can't see him being an aggressive person toward anybody," Nazareth Teklesenbet, a fellow member of the Ethiopian and neighboring Eritrean community, said to The Inquirer.

Nonetheless, Teklesenbet and other leaders in the community are standing in solidarity with Belay and are committed to helping the part-time bookkeeper find justice.

"He is new to this community, however, as an Ethiopian community we do stand by our own," Lula Abera, a board member at the Ethiopian Community Center, also expressed to The Inquirer.

As Belay continues his recovery at Penn Presbyterian Hospital, WPVI-TV reports his family is awaiting developments from the investigation. An internal affairs investigation is also underway.

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Kaleb Belay

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