Heavily armed white man arrested after firing at cop

A recent incident underscores the racist double standard in U.S. law enforcement with regard to the way Blacks and whites are viewed and treated by the authorities.

Last week, at least two Black men were killed by police for merely having a gun in their possession.

However, William Bruce Ray, a 62-year-old white man, was taken alive by police in Wake County, North Carolina after aiming his shotgun at oncoming traffic and firing a .22 caliber pistol at police officers as they arrived at the scene.

It was reported that Ray threatened Deputy D.R. Farmer with his shotgun before reaching for his handgun in his pocket and telling the officer, “I got something for you.”

Sheriff Donnie Harrison told WRAL-TV that Farmer was able to subdue Ray peacefully, though Ray’s pistol did discharge into the air as he was subdued.

“The deputy luckily grabbed the barrel and pushed him back,” Harrison said. “Luckily, nobody got hurt. That’s the good thing. God was looking out for us… (Ray) was very fortunate that he didn’t get shot, very fortunate that anybody didn’t get shot.”

William Bruce Ray was reportedly charged with two counts of assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm and is being held at the Wake County Jail on a $150,000 bond. Prosecutors say his charges may be upgraded to attempted murder. According to WRAL, Ray had been drinking. His neighbors told local media that he had a mental illness.

The less-forceful treatment of Ray comes as the widely shared videos of police killing Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philandro Castile in Minnesota, both of whom were black, have caused national outrage and protests. While both men were armed, Sterling appears to have never reached for the gun in p his pocket during his final omens and Castile, 32, merely told the officers who pulled him over for a traffic stop that he had a gun and a permit to carry a firearm.

Unlike Ray, both men were cooperative with police and were shot at point-blank range anyway.

The two officer-involved killings led to protests across the U.S. and the killing of at least four police officers in Dallas, Texas.

This article originally published in the July 11, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.