Christian Hall was “crying out for help” when he called 911 while standing on a Monroe County overpass on Dec. 30, attorneys for his estate and parents said during a press conference Wednesday.

Instead, Hall, 19, died after what Monroe County First Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso said Tuesday was a justified shooting. Hall was shot on the bridge at the Route 33 southbound overpass over Interstate 80 in Hamilton Township after police said he repeatedly moved toward them and refused to drop what appeared to them to be a semi-automatic handgun.

“Unfortunately, instead of getting the help he cried out for, Christian got bullets,” attorney Ben Crump said in response to Tuesday’s findings. “They shot even after he put his hands up.”

Mancuso said Hall was told nearly 100 times to put the gun down, but refused.

“A first round of shots from police missed Hall, but yet, he doesn’t drop the gun and instead raises it up and continues to move toward police,” Mancuso said. “It’s a testament to troopers that they didn’t shoot sooner. The threat was apparent the moment he had his hand on the gun. They had no choice.”

The gun in question, investigators said, turned out to be a pellet gun made to look like a semi-automatic handgun.

Attorney Devon Jacob said Hall’s family is planning to file a civil lawsuit in Monroe County Court. A writ of summons, which is the lead-up to an actual lawsuit, should be filed this week, he added.

“We need to move forward so the family can get access to documents that, quite frankly, the public should have already had access to, such as the incident reports, use of force reports, and unedited video,” Hall said.

From there, Jacob said, the case would move to federal court for a civil rights lawsuit.

While Mancuso pointed out Tuesday that Hall never dropped his gun and even raised it in the air right before the shooting, attorneys said Hall’s movements showed an intent to surrender.

“Once you see hands go up, that’s a sign of surrender,” Crump said. “Why continue to shoot at a person who’s putting their hands up in surrender?”

According to Mancuso, investigators attempted to interview surviving family members to help determine Hall’s state of mind at the time of the incident.

“Several attempts were made and each time were rebuffed,” he said. “Each time we were told to talk to their attorney. We didn’t hear anything from an attorney until last week. There was no direct request for information during the course of the investigation.”

Jacob said those comments were an “unnecessary attack” on Hall’s family.

“The family’s only contact with law enforcement was the day Hall died,” Jacob said. “They only had contact with the coroner’s office.”