Three Black Men Gunned Down In Five Days In So Cal

The police homicide capital of America gets a three bagger:

Snell was the third black man in five days to die in confrontations with police in Southern California. Last Tuesday, Alfred Olango was fatally shot by an officer in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon, triggering three days of angry and sometimes violent protests. Olango was shot when he took a "shooting stance" and pointed at an officer with what turned out to be a 4-inch vape pen — an electronic cigarette device.

On Friday, Reginald Thomas died after being shot with a stun gun by police in Pasadena. He was armed with a knife and his wife described him as mentally ill. His brother told a 911 dispatcher that Thomas was high and had a history of violence.

Wait a minute:

Meanwhile officials were investigating a second weekend shooting involving officers. A man armed with what turned out to be a replica handgun was shot and killed as police responded to reports of a man with a gun Sunday afternoon, according to Officer Liliana Preciado. She said the shooting in South Los Angeles happened when officers approached two Latino men, one of whom matched the description in the initial call of an armed subject.

OK. Back to the story: https://www.google.com/amp/www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/LAPD-Police-...

Chief Beck addressed angry Protesters at the Police Commission meeting following release of the Snell shooting video. The mother of a previous victim of homicidal L.A. cops was pretty blunt:

Tensions later escalated during the public comment period when a woman who identified herself as the mother of Richard Risher, a man police fatally shot earlier this year in Watts, said she felt revenge on officers was the only option, saying the department has so far failed to give her an adequate response about her son's death.

"From today, (expletive) this protesting (expletive), I'm going to start taking your lives," she said.

What does a mother do when her son gets gunned down? Maybe start shooting back?

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Late Again's picture

I'm shocked it's remained so relatively peaceful for so long.

You might think they'd understand that you can only push people so far before they snap. I hate to seem like I'm condoning violence but maybe that's what it's going to take. It's not so much fun when people start shooting back.

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"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained." - Mark Twain

but it won't get the result any of us want. If we shoot back, that will just give them the excuse they want to militarize further, break out their fancy deadly toys, and impose de facto martial law by cop.

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Thaumlord-Exelbirth's picture

But at the same time, I can't be completely mad at the cops in these cases either. I watched the video for Alfred's death, and it confirms their story. Alfred did assume a shooting stance with that vape, and because of the training our cops go through, instinct kicks in and they shoot. Doesn't matter that they were told by his sister that he didn't have a gun, training beats out rational thought. And it is worth noting that only one of the cops went for the violent approach. The other cop used a stun gun, though that could have been because he was already going to use it before the shooting happened.

Looking up the story behind Reginald's death, it seems less justifiable than you actually make it sound here. With what you have here, it makes it sound like he was just one of the few unfortunate people who die after being tased, but looking it up it seems that he was tased 2 to 3 times, and possibly beaten. But they did at least try to resuscitate him when they noticed he wasn't breathing. So at least they tried to not kill him, though they still could have used excessive force which may have lead to his death. Autopsy is still unavailable as far as I know.

Haven't found much on the replica gun story. Just that the tip was painted black. Which, as I can't find any information regarding the death, can only lead me to believe that the cops were justified, but should have used a less than lethal option.

These stories reaffirm two things for me: police training is shit in this country, and there are not enough psychiatric emergency response teams available.

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Meteor Man's picture

I can't be completely mad at the cops in these cases either.

So it would be OK with you if a cop gunned down a member of your family for no reason?

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Thaumlord-Exelbirth's picture

I swear, you're just looking to find reasons to consider people enemies if they don't agree with your outlook 100%.

In each of my responses to the individual stories, can you tell me where I said the cops were perfect and didn't need to be changed? Because what I wrote out was that given some of the circumstances, their reaction may have been justified, but that reaction shouldn't be to murder people.

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Alex Ocana's picture

Two of the black men killed this week in LA had mental disabilities... If Mark Ruffalo were black and "acting erratically" like he does in this movie, would he have lived 18 months?

Watching the Alfred cam, I have no notion at all of why the cops were pointing weapons at him, or why they were even there in the first place and not medical personnel.

Alfred's case looked like assisted suicide (suicide by cop).

In any event the issue is not one individual murder by cops or another... the issue is a regime of repressive, profiling, militarized cops who don't know or interact with the community, and the systemic racism they enforce. The killings by cops are like the spotted owl for a much more profound injustice towards people of color.

Personally I reject cops and soldiers and everything they stand for.

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From the Light House.

Meteor Man's picture

Simple solution. Without guns cops won't go barging in to a common every day occurrence and gunning down innocent people.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Meteor Man's picture

My best guess is that there will be one or more bloody shootouts started by LAPD cops getting out of their car. "Shoot on sight" is LAPD policy, so it will become gang policy. Fight fire with fire is SOP in these situations.

After 20-30 cops are killed in firefights maybe the L APD will reconsider their approach to policing. Maybe they escalate to armored vehicles. That's their call. The LAPD started the war under Bratton, the Sheriff escalated it under Baca and Tanaka.

Where it ends is anyone's guess.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn