Thursday, July 20, 2017
Political Mayhem Thursday: The latest shooting
The latest police shooting to attract national attention occurred just eight blocks from my house. There, a white Australian woman named Justine Damond was shot and killed by a black Somali-American police office named Mohammed Noor. The killing reversed the racial roles seen in many of the other previous shootings.
There is a lot of information yet to come out, it seems, given that the story makes little sense on its face right now. According to what we do know, Damond called the police late on Saturday night to report what sounded to her like a sexual assault in progress. After she made a second call, two officers responded. Noor was one of them, and was in the passenger seat of the police car.
As the officers drove down the alley behind Damond's house, they heard a loud noise. Then Damond approached the driver's side of the police car. As she stood there, Noor fired his gun-- across his partner in the driver's seat-- and killed Damond. The victim was not armed.
How did that happen? What could she have said or done to provoke that response, even arguably?
There is a lot of information yet to come out, it seems, given that the story makes little sense on its face right now. According to what we do know, Damond called the police late on Saturday night to report what sounded to her like a sexual assault in progress. After she made a second call, two officers responded. Noor was one of them, and was in the passenger seat of the police car.
As the officers drove down the alley behind Damond's house, they heard a loud noise. Then Damond approached the driver's side of the police car. As she stood there, Noor fired his gun-- across his partner in the driver's seat-- and killed Damond. The victim was not armed.
How did that happen? What could she have said or done to provoke that response, even arguably?
