Sitting home while Black is getting people killed by the police
18th May 2020 · 0 Comments
By Frederick H. Lowe
Contributing Writer
(BlackmansStreet.Today) — Ahmaud Arbery was shot to death running while Black, but a disturbing number of African Americans have been shot to death by police while sitting home.
The police deadly shooting of Breonna Taylor in her Louisville, Kentucky, is an example. Her death is part of a disturbing pattern of police murdering unarmed Blacks in their homes over the past two to three years.
The 26-year-old Taylor, an Emergency Room Technician, was shot to death March 13 by Louisville police during a drug investigation, although no drugs were found. Police also had the wrong address, and the man they were looking for was already in custody. Police shot Taylor eight times.
That’s what happened in the case of Botham Shem Jean, who was shot to death in his Dallas apartment September 6, 2018, by Amber Guyer, a white Dallas cop, while sitting on his couch eating ice cream and watching television.
Guyger, who lived in the same building but in an apartment one floor below Jean’s, mistakenly opened Jean’s door. She saw him sitting there and immediately assumed he was a burglar. Guyger shot him in the chest and stomach, killing the business executive.
Guyer claimed Jean did not obey her police commands. A jury found Guyger guilty and she was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
On October 12, 2019, in Fort Worth, which is down the road from Dallas, a cop shot to death Atatiana Koquice Jefferson, 28, in what began as a wellness check.
Aaron Dean, of the Fort Worth PD, fired through a window in Jefferson’s home, killing her as she played video games with her eight-year-old nephew.
Dean shouted “put your hands up!” before firing the deadly shot.
Jefferson graduated from Xavier University and intended to apply to medical school.
In shooting involving Breonna Taylor, police used a “no knock” warrant to raid the home she shared with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker.
Believing someone was breaking into their house, Walker fired his gun wounding one of the cops.
He was arrested, leaving many to question why he was arrested for protecting his home.
Police murdered three individuals who were professionals who had a contribution to make to society.
This article originally published in the May 18, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
