There’s been the typical media and public outrage over the shooting death of a black man in New York City, especially after he was found to only be carrying this silver pipe:
https://twitter.com/kiera_sw/status/981901361855025152
“Absolutely no reason to shoot” right?
Here’s how the narrative came out after the shooting:
today the NYPD shot and killed a black man 5 blocks away from my apt. his name was saheed vassell and he was holding a pipe. they shot him 10 times in broad daylight.
— Hannah Giorgis (@ethiopienne) April 5, 2018
shot 9 times for walking in his own hood carrying a showerhead bc 'it looked like a gun.' SAHEED VASSELL: say his name. don't stop saying it. MENTALLY ILL LIVES MATTER and BLACK LIVES MATTER
— ur local ugh dealer (@void_daddy_) April 5, 2018
"They murdered my son, and I want justice for him."
Hundreds of people are marching, protesting in Brooklyn, NY, after police shot and killed Saheed Vassell, a 34-year-old black man with a history of mental health issues: pic.twitter.com/tuL5Y12RzR
— Splinter (@splinter_news) April 6, 2018
But, this is the video the police put out that shows just what Vassell was doing:
And look, he had mental issues, he was bipolar, it’s still a terrible tragedy. But it’s an understandable one. This is not about cops going out shooting blacks for sport. This is about a troubled mentally ill person who did exactly what one does when they’re threatening police with a gun.
Vassell can be seen holding the silver metal pipe with a knob on the end as if it were a gun, and pointing it at people on the street.
Vassell was shot and killed shortly before 5 p.m. on Wednesday. Officers who arrived on the scene in response to the 911 calls encountered Vassell on a street corner.
The officers said Vassell took a “two-handed shooting stance” and aimed the object at them as they approached.
Four officers — two in uniform and two in plainclothes — discharged a total of ten shots. Vassell was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The 911 transcripts reveal that the callers were unsure as to what Vassell had in his hand. Only one of the three callers actually called the object a gun. The others said he was pointing something in people’s faces that looked like a gun.
Witnesses on Wednesday said they did not hear the officers — who arrived in an unmarked vehicle — issue any commands prior to firing at Vassell.
This doesn’t exonerate every police shooting – but it shows how the narrative can be formed to serve a political agenda before the evidence shows a justified, if tragic, police shooting.
AND even more surprising – Mayor DeBlasio defended the cops on this one!!! We’re in bizarro world!!