Tag: police shooting
Tyree King: Police Shoot 13-Year-Old Who Had BB Gun

Tyree King: Police Shoot 13-Year-Old Who Had BB Gun

(Reuters) – Columbus, Ohio, police fatally shot a 13-year-old boy after he pulled out a weapon they later learned was a BB gun as officers tried to apprehend him after reports of an armed robbery, police said on Thursday.

Tyree King, 13, was shot multiple times in an alley east of downtown when he pulled what appeared to be a handgun from his waistband during a confrontation with police on Wednesday, police said.

Police did not release information about King’s race or those of the officers.

Detectives retrieved the weapon from the scene of the shooting and later determined it was a BB gun, which shoots small round pellets, with an attached laser, police said.

The incident began just before 8 p.m. EDT when police responded to reports of an armed robbery. The robbery victim told officers that a group of males approached him and demanded money after threatening him with a gun, police said.

Officers located three males, including King, matching the description of the suspects a short time later, police said. While attempting to question the group, police said King and another male fled into an alley.

Police followed them and attempted to arrest them, police said. One of the officers shot King, police said, after he pulled what appeared to be the handgun from his waistband.

King was transported to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The second male who ran into the alley was interviewed by police and released, police said.

“Additional suspects are being sought,” said police. Columbus authorities were not immediately available for further comment.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee and Laila Kearney in New York; Editing by Alison Williams and Jeffrey Benkoe)

Photo via Flickr/Heather

Ex-U.S. Marine Kills Three Policemen In Baton Rouge

Ex-U.S. Marine Kills Three Policemen In Baton Rouge

BATON ROUGE, La. (Reuters) – A decorated ex-U.S. Marine sergeant opened fire on police in Baton Rouge on Sunday, killing three officers, nearly two weeks after the fatal police shooting of a black man there sparked nationwide protests, one of which was shattered by the massacre of five Dallas policemen.

The suspect, dressed in black and armed with a rifle, was himself shot to death minutes later in a gunfight with police who converged on the scene of a confrontation that Mayor Kip Holden said began as an “ambush-style” attack on officers.

Two Baton Rouge Police Department officers and one sheriff’s deputy were killed, and one sheriff’s deputy was critically wounded. Another police officer and one other deputy suffered less severe wounds and were expected to survive.

Colonel Mike Edmonson, superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, told a news conference the gunman was believed to have acted alone, contrary to early reports that police may have been looking for other shooters.

It was not immediately clear whether there was a link between Sunday’s bloodshed and unrest over the police killings of two black men under questionable circumstances earlier this month – Alton Sterling, 37, in Baton Rouge on July 5, and Philando Castile, 32, near St. Paul, Minnesota, on July 6.

Police did not name the suspect. But a U.S. government official told Reuters the gunman was identified as Gavin Long, of Kansas City, Missouri. Long, who was black, was reported by other media to be 29 years old.

According to Long’s military record, released by the Pentagon, he served in the Marines from August 2005 until August 2010, achieving the rank of sergeant. Listed as a data network specialist, he was deployed to Iraq from June 2008 until January 2009, earning several medals and commendations.

Authorities declined to offer a possible motive for Sunday’s attack in Louisiana’s capital, a city with a long history of distrust between African-Americans and law enforcement that was further inflamed by Sterling’s slaying.

Social media postings linked to an individual named Gavin Long and a Kansas City address cordoned off by police on Sunday included a YouTube video saying he was fed up with mistreatment of blacks and suggesting only violence and financial pressure would bring about change. He also said he had been to Dallas to join in the protests there.

“It’s only fighting back or money. That’s all they care about,” he said to the camera. “Revenue and blood, revenue and blood, revenue and blood.”

PANDEMONIUM CAUGHT ON RADIO

A second government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said investigators had reason to believe an emergency 911 call may have been used to lure Baton Rouge police into harm’s way.

Edmonson said several officers came under fire as police were responding to a report of a man dressed in black standing behind a store holding a rifle shortly before 9 a.m.

In the ensuing pandemonium caught on a recording of emergency radio traffic, police are repeatedly heard reporting: “Officer down” and “deputy down” as officers swarmed the area searching for and ultimately confronting the gunman.

The episode was over in about eight minutes, according to Edmonson’s account. At least one of the three officers killed was known to be black.

President Barack Obama condemned the attack, vowed that justice would be done and called on Americans to focus on rhetoric and actions that united the country rather than divided it.

“We as a nation have to be loud and clear that nothing justifies violence on law enforcement,” Obama said in televised remarks from the White House.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards called the shootings an “unspeakable, heinous attack” that served no purpose.

“There simply is no place for more violence. That doesn’t help anyone, it doesn’t further the conversation, it doesn’t address any injustice, perceived or real. It is just an injustice in and of itself,” he told reporters in Baton Rouge.

Obama has sought to balance concerns about police abuses, largely against African-Americans, while paying tribute to fallen officers.

He attended a memorial service last week for the five Dallas police officers killed by a black former U.S. soldier who opened fire at the end of an otherwise peaceful protest on July 7 denouncing the Sterling and Castile slayings.

Those two killings and the reprisal attack on Dallas police by a suspect found to have embraced militant black nationalism renewed national tensions over racial justice and gun violence just as America’s presidential campaign was kicking into high gear. The Dallas gunman, Micah Johnson, 25, was killed by police deploying a bomb-carrying robot against him.

The wave of violence has also heightened security concerns across the country, notably in Cleveland and Philadelphia, hosts to this week’s Republican National Convention and next week’s Democratic National Convention, respectively, which are expected to formally nominate Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for the Nov. 8 election.

WORRIES AROUND CONVENTION

“We demand law and order,” Trump said in a Facebook posting on Sunday afternoon.

In a statement, Clinton urged Americans to “stand together to reject violence and strengthen our communities.”

The head of a Cleveland police union called on Ohio Governor John Kasich to declare a state of emergency and suspend laws allowing for the open carry of firearms during the Republican convention.

“I don’t care what the legal precedent is. I feel strongly that leadership needs to stand up and defend these police officers,” Steve Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, told Reuters in an interview.

Loomis said he was concerned about copycat shootings at the Republican convention.

A spokeswoman for Kasich said the governor did not have the power to suspend the open-carry law.

Sunday’s shootings occurred about a mile from the Baton Rouge Police Department headquarters, where dozens of people were arrested this month while protesting Sterling’s death. The father of five was shot and killed at close quarters by law enforcement officers.

A witness to the Baton Rouge shootings, Brady Vancel, told CNN he saw a man dressed in black clothing and a ski-type mask running through a parking lot amid a hail of gunfire.

Vancel said the gunman “looked up and saw me. We stopped. I froze, he froze for a second, and he turned around and ran in the opposite direction the same time I turned around and ran in the opposite direction.”

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert, Ian Simpson, Tim Gardner and Julia Edwards, Sarah N. Lynch and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Writing by Paul Simao and Steve Gorman; Editing by Mary Milliken and Peter Cooney)

Photo: Police officers attend a vigil after a fatal shooting of Baton Rouge policemen, at Saint John the Baptist Church in Zachary, Louisiana, July 17, 2016.  REUTERS/Jeffrey Dubinsky

Snipers Kill Five Dallas Police; Obama Calls It ‘Despicable’ Attack

Snipers Kill Five Dallas Police; Obama Calls It ‘Despicable’ Attack

By Lisa Maria Garza

DALLAS (Reuters) – Snipers operating from rooftops in Dallas killed five police officers and wounded six more in a coordinated attack during one of several protests across the country against the killing of two black men by police this week.

Police described Thursday night’s ambush as carefully planned and executed and said they had taken three people into custody before a fourth died. Dallas-based media said the suspect died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a standoff that extended into Friday morning.

The fourth suspect exchanged gunfire with police during the standoff at a downtown garage and warned of placing bombs throughout the city. Police have not yet confirmed his death.

The attack took place as a protest in Dallas that included a police presence was winding down. It was one of the worst mass shootings of police in U.S. history.

No motive has been given for the shootings at the downtown protest, one of many held in major cities across the United States on Thursday. New York police made more than a dozen arrests on Thursday night, while protesters briefly shut down one of Chicago’s main arteries.

One of the dead officers was identified as Brent Thompson, 43. He was the first officer killed in the line of duty since Dallas Area Rapid Transit formed a police department in 1989, DART said on its website. Thompson joined DART in 2009.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown said the shooters, some in elevated positions, used sniper rifles to fire at the officers in what appeared to be a coordinated attack.

“(They were) working together with rifles, triangulating at elevated positions in different points in the downtown area where the march ended up going,” Brown told a news conference, adding a civilian was also wounded.

“It has been a devastating night. We are sad to report a fifth officer has died,” Dallaspolice said on Twitter.

The shooting turned the city’s downtown into a sprawling crime scene, unfolding along streets that house major corporations, restaurants and government offices.

President Barack Obama, who was traveling in Poland, spoke to Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and expressed his “deepest condolences” on behalf of the American people.

“I believe I speak for every single American when I say that we are horrified over these events and we are united with the people and police department in Dallas,” he said.

Obama said the FBI was in contact with Dallas police and that the federal government would provide assistance.

“We still don’t know all of the facts. What we do know is that there has been a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement,” he said.

“WORST NIGHTMARE”

The shooting, which erupted shortly before 9 p.m. CDT (0100 GMT), occurred near a busy area of downtown Dallas filled with restaurants, hotels and government buildings.

Footage on social media showed terrified protesters running through the streets, gunshots ringing out in the background, and police officers and emergency vehicles swarming the area.

Mayor Rawlings advised people to stay away on Friday morning as police combed the area. Transportation was halted and federal authorities stopped commercial air traffic over the area as police helicopters hovered.

Police said they conducted primary and secondary sweeps for explosives in the downtown area and found none. Large sections of downtown remained closed to the public on Friday morning.

“Our worst nightmare has happened,” Rawlings said. “It is a heartbreaking moment for the city of Dallas.”

The Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area is one of the nation’s most populous and is home to more than 7 million people.

The Dallas shooting happened as otherwise largely peaceful protests unfolded around the United States after the shooting of Philando Castile, 32, by police near St. Paul, Minnesota, late Wednesday. His girlfriend posted live video on the internet of the bloody scene minutes afterward, which was widely viewed.

Over the last two years, there have been periodic and sometimes violent protests over the use of police force against African-Americans in cities from Ferguson, Missouri, to Baltimore and New York. Anger has intensified when the officers were acquitted in trials or not charged at all.

‘THE END IS COMING”

The suspect in the Dallas standoff had told police “the end is coming” and that more police were going to be hurt and killed. Police chief Brown said the suspect also told police “there are bombs all over the place in this garage and downtown”.

Police said they were questioning two occupants of a Mercedes they had pulled over after the vehicle sped off on a downtown street with a man who threw a camouflaged bag inside the back of the car. A woman was also taken into custody near the garage where the standoff was taking place.

“We are leaving every motive on the table on why this happened and how this happened,” Brown said.

Mayor Rawlings visited the wounded at Parkland hospital, the same hospital where President John F. Kennedy was taken after he was shot in Dallas in November 1963.

Dallas had a tragedy when President Kennedy was shot here in the 60s and this is as close to that feeling I think as the city has had in decades,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told CNN. “This is going to have a profound effect on Dallas and the people of north Texas for a long time to come.”

Outside, officers stood in formation and saluted as bodies of the officers were about to be transported.

 

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee, Eric M. Johnson in Seattle, Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas, Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida; Writing by Brendan O’Brien and Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Alison Williams and Jeffrey Benkoe)

So Many Facts That We’ll Never Know About Corey Jones’ Death

So Many Facts That We’ll Never Know About Corey Jones’ Death

One true and tragic fact about the shooting of Corey Jones is that we’ll never know all the facts. Jones is dead, and the only apparent eyewitness is the Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, officer who shot him at 3:15 a.m. on an off-ramp of I-95, where Jones was waiting for a tow truck.

That’s another true and tragic fact — the man was only waiting for a tow truck.

On Thursday Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Jones’ family, said officer Nouman Raja fired six rounds, hitting Jones three times. He said Jones’ body was found 80 to 100 feet from his car, suggesting he had tried to get away, and that his weapon had not been fired.

This was way more information than the police had released, which is typical. In the end, these wrenching cases always boil down to what is known, and what is unknowable.

A national spotlight has been cast on the shooting because Jones, a 31-year-old black man, had no criminal record and was committing no crime at the time the officer stopped.

The handgun in Jones’ possession was legal. He’d purchased it a few days earlier, and the box with the paperwork was still in his car. He might still be alive if he’d been unarmed.

Jones was a housing inspector, a drummer, and a member of his church band. He was on his way home from a gig when his car broke down on the interstate ramp. Raja, dressed in street clothes, rolled up in a white unmarked van.

The police say that, according to Raja, Jones was holding his weapon when the officer walked up. If that’s true, who could blame Jones?

Anybody who’s ever had their car conk out on I-95 in the middle of the night is lying if they say they didn’t get a knot in their stomach. It’s sketchy as hell.

Imagine you’re stranded alone on a dark highway ramp, waiting for help, when a car you’ve never seen stops with a stranger at the wheel. If you are a person who owns a gun for protection, reaching for it when you’re frightened doesn’t seem reckless.

Sources have told reporters that Raja says he verbally identified himself as a police officer. It’s one of many things we’ll probably never know.

The transcript of his radio transmissions hasn’t been released, as of this writing.

Palm Beach Gardens Police Chief Richard Stepp has said there was no body camera on Raja, or dashboard camera in his vehicle.

Was there at least a blue light? Did Raja turn it on? Did he show his badge?

Put yourself in the cop’s position and it could be just as scary — you pull up to a stopped car and suddenly a guy’s standing there with a handgun.

If that’s how it actually happened.

What if Raja emerged with his own gun drawn and Jones, unaware that the stranger was a cop, reached for his? A deadly case of double mistaken-identity, each man thinking the other was a bad guy.

Maybe that’s how it went down, but we don’t know.

Just as we don’t know if the same thing would have happened if Jones had been a white man, waiting on a tow truck.

If security cameras on nearby buildings were working in the wee hours of Oct. 18, the videos might reveal the grim choreography of the fatal confrontation — but there would be no audio of what the two men said to each other, if anything.

Maybe Jones simply didn’t hear Raja announce he was a cop, or maybe Raja never spoke those words.

It’s almost inconceivable that Jones would have displayed a weapon had he been aware that Raja was a policeman. Said the family’s attorney: “Corey went to his grave not knowing he was killed by an officer.”

That could be true, but Jones isn’t here to testify.

The investigation is being handled by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, which has had credibility problems with police-involved shootings. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw is famous for press statements exonerating cops based solely on their version of events.

And a federal judge recently excoriated the PBSO for losing a cellphone and other key evidence in the case of Seth Adams, an unarmed white man shot dead by a deputy in a strange case three years ago.

This time the whole country will be watching, so everything needs to be done properly — ballistics, forensics, toxicology and especially the questioning of Officer Raja.

Even when the investigation is finally over, the family of Corey Jones and the community won’t get all the answers. Nobody ever does.

Something tragic happened in the dead of night, and only one person lived to tell his side of the story. That is the fact.

(Carl Hiaasen is a columnist for the Miami Herald. Readers may write to him at: 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132.) (c) 2015, The Miami Herald Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Screengrab via WPTV/YouTube