20 Black Men And Boys Killed By Police In The US

20 Black Men And Boys Killed By Police In The US

The centuries-old American tradition of police shooting and killing Black males suffered an untraditional jolt in April when former cop Derek Chauvin was found guilty and convicted on all counts of murdering George Floyd by kneeling on the unarmed, handcuffed man’s neck for more than nine minutes.

But it has been a quick resumption of police normalcy with multiple killings of Black people by law enforcement since the day of Chauvin’s verdict.

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Patrick Lyoya’s family demanded the Grand Rapids police department released video footage showing his killing. The 26-year-old was killed on April 4 during an alleged “routine” traffic stop.

As previously reported

by NewsOne, Peter Lyoya, Patrick’s father, spoke to the outlet M-Live via his interpreter Israel Siku.

“I don’t know what to do because I am confused. I want justice for Patrick,” the elder Lyoya said. “I want people to see the way my son was killed. I want the entire world to see how my son was executed.”

The Lyoya family moved from the  Democratic Republic of Congo to the United States seven years ago in search of a better life.

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M-Live reported Michigan State Police showed Patrick’s father a brief clip of the fatal shooting. The grieving father claimed that the officer shot Lyoya in the back of the head as he lay on the ground face down. (Read the full article here).

An unidentified Grand Rapids police officer pulled Lyoya over to conduct a traffic stop on April 4 around 8 a.m., after officials claimed the young man was driving a vehicle with an unregistered license plate. According to M-Live, the Grand Rapids Police Department placed the officer on administrative leave pending the internal investigation.

Kent County Commissioner Robert Womack previously condemned the shooting on Facebook, calling it “an execution.”  “Gun violence by my community or by the police will not be tolerated. This man was murdered in a way that I cannot accept,” he added.

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Patrick Lyoya’s name joins a long list of too many other Black men and boys killed by the police, including people who have become household names for all the wrong reasons like Tamir Rice, Botham Jean, E.J. Bradford, and Michael Brown.

But there are plenty of others whose police killings never went “viral,” including people like Michael Dean, a 28-year-old father who police shot in the head on Dec. 3, 2019, and Jamee Johnson, a 22-year-old HBCU student who police shot to death after a questionable traffic stop on Dec. 14, 2019.

One of the most distressing parts of this seemingly nonstop string of police killings of Black people is the fact that more times than not, the officer involved in the shooting can hide behind the claim that they feared for their lives — even if the victim was shot in the back, as has become the case for so many deadly episodes involving law enforcement.

In a handful of those cases — such as Antwon Rose, a 13-year-old boy killed in Pittsburgh, and Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old killed in Sacramento, both of whom were unarmed — the officers either avoided being criminally charged altogether or were acquitted despite damning evidence that the cops’ lives were not threatened and there was no cause for them to resort to lethal force or any violence for that matter.

Crump, who has been retained in so many of these cases, described the above scenarios in his book, “Open Season,” as the “genocide” of Black people.

As NewsOne continues covering these shootings that so often go ignored by mainstream media, the below running list (in no certain order) of Black men and boys who have been shot and killed by police under suspicious circumstances can serve as a tragic reminder of the dangers Black and brown citizens face upon being born into a world of hate that has branded them as suspects since birth.

Scroll down to learn more about the Black men and boys who have lost their lives to police violence.

1. Irvin D. Moorer Charley

A Richland Couty police officer shot and killed  Irvin D. Moorer Charley in Columbia, South Carolina on March 19. 

Moorer Charley suffered from mental health issues. According to officials, deputies, John Anderson and Zachary Hentz were responding to a domestic violence call at the house of Connie Craig, the mother of the victim.

When they arrived on the scene, Moorer Charley came outside and approached officers with a piece of wood in hand. Officers believed it to be a knife.

His brother pleaded with the deputies not to shoot because Moorer Charley didn’t have a gun and had a history of mental illness.

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According to the body cam footage, which was edited and shared with the family, Moorer Charley slowly approached a deputy, the officer pointed his gun at him yelling for him to drop the knife.

Another officer then tased Moorer Charley, but the taser had little effect on him. The deputy who yelled at Moorer Charley to drop his weapon then shoots him seven times until Moorer Charley falls to the ground.

Moorer Charley’s family has demanded the full video be released to the public, but Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott believes the shooting isn’t something everyone needs to see.

Lott also defended the actions of his deputies basically stating they did what they had to do.

“We can’t expect these deputies to go out here and be killed,” said Lott in a statement to the AP. “They have to protect themselves. And that’s what this deputy did yesterday. He protected himself.”

But the family’s attorney Shaquana Cuttino believes deputies had no right to kill Moorer Charley.

“We believe officers could have disarmed Mr. Charley easily and without the use of deadly force,” said Cuttin. “Yet they came in with guns blazing.”

The Richland County Sheriff’s Department will be investing the incident with an internal investigation, then a prosecutor will decide if the shooting was justified.

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2. Thelonious “RaRa” McKnight

Thelonious “RaRa” McKnight died on Dec. 29, 2021, after an officer with the Paterson Police Department in New Jersey shot the 25-year-old under questionable circumstances.

“A cop car drove by and then came back and stopped,” McKnight’s friend and eyewitness Duke Snider told the Bergen Record the day after the shooting. “One of the cops came up and went straight for Thelonius. Then two other cops joined him. They marched Thelonius toward the backyard and made him take his hands out of his pockets.”

The Bergen Record reported: “Snider said that he followed and that McKnight was facing police with his hands up when they shot him.”

3. Kokou Christopher Fiafonou

Source:Kossi Adayi

Minnesota police in the city of Austin killed Kokou Christopher Fiafonou, an immigrant from Togo in West Africa, by shooting him to death in the parking lot of a convenience store on Dec. 23, 2021.

Police say that witnesses claim they saw Fiafonou walking in traffic while holding a machete.

When the cops responded, they reportedly used their Taser guns to no avail as Fiafonou was able to flee to his residence. He was shot and killed after he later merged from his home and walked to the convenience store, police said.

Kossi Adayi, one of Fiafonou’s cousins who lives in Austin, said in a GoFundMe that police were “harassing” Fiafonou “and eventually murdered him.”

He also said Fiafonou “was walking home praying out loud to himself” on Dec. 22 when officers with the Austin Police Department stopped him for being loud and harassed [sic] him and followed him his whole way home, instead of helping him because he has a mental disorder.”

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4. Alhaji M. Sow

Source:iOne Digital

Alhaji M. Sow, an 18-year-old student enrolled at the Florida Institute of Technology, was shot to death on Dec. 3, 2021, by police officers who claimed he was wielding a knife that he used to injure other students. He allegedly had a knife. The trained police officers definitely had guns. The Black teen is dead because cops couldn’t figure out a way to take him down alive.

5. Anthony Harden

On Nov. 22, 2021, police in Fall River, Massachusetts, responded to a report of domestic violence by shooting and killing 30-year-old Anthony Harden in an encounter that was only being described by local media outlets as an unspecified “altercation.”

Citing the local district attorney, all of the reports said a variation of what WCVB reporter Matt Reed tweeted: “at least one officer fired their gun killing Harden and that a [sic] knife was present at the scene of the altercation.”

6. Andra Murphy

Andra Murphy was killed by police in Tennessee on Oct. 6, 2021, under questionable circumstances. According to a press release, Murphy was killed in the town of Bolivar when police shot him shortly after an unidentified gunman threatened correctional officers and fled the scene. However, “many believe Murphy was not the individual who was initially at the scene,” the press release from Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney representing Murphy’s family, said in part.

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7. George Watson

According to the police narrative, officers responded after someone called 911 to report a man brandishing a gun on an apartment balcony. The Washington Post reported that a cop fired at George Watson when he aimed the gun at the police. The 34-year-old died on the scene. Officers ultimately determined that Watson was armed with a pellet gun typically used with paintballs that does not pose any lethal threat.

8. Antwan Gilmore

Antwan Gilmore was asleep in his car in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 25, 2021, when he was approached by police officers, one of whom proved once again that cops—who are celebrated in “back the blue” circles for their bravery and willingness to put their lives on the line—often open fire at the faintest sign of perceived danger.

The officers found Gilmore in his car “unresponsive” with his foot on the brake while the car was running. They also said they could see a gun in his waistband.

When the car begins to move forward, officers can be heard shouting “Don’t move!” and “Police!” just before the shots were fired—10 shots to be exact. After the shooting, the gun police said they observed on Gilmore’s person was still in his waistband. Opening fire on a moving vehicle goes against Metropolitan Police Department policy.

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9. Robert Anderson, 38

Robert Anderson was killed in Crescent City, California, on Aug. 25, 2021, after the 38-year-old former bus driver from Detroit had a fatal encounter with California Highway Patrol and officers with the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office. Police claim that Anderson was walking in the road with a knife in his hand. Reports mention body camera footage from multiple sources, but none was immediately released.

A Facebook video post made by Anderson that morning showed he appeared distressed and was shirtless walking through the woods. A friend of Anderson’s who saw him shortly before the shooting also said he was acting strangely during their visit. The combination suggests that Anderson may have been experiencing a mental crisis when police confronted and killed him.

10. Tory Brown, 22

Police gunned down Tory Brown on the night of Aug. 24, 2021, at the Chelsea Garden Apartments in College Park, Georgia, because he allegedly had a warrant out of Clayton County for violation of probation and cops said he refused to comply with police demands to exit an apartment.

No guns were found in Brown’s home, which means cops who were among a team of trained officers, none of whom were injured in the incident, felt the need to open fire on an unarmed man who did nothing more than “quickly advance towards” them.

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11. Ryan LeRoux, 21

Ryan LeRoux, a 21-year-old Black man, was killed in Maryland on July 19, 2021, in a McDonald’s parking lot under questionable circumstances that cast doubt on the police narrative.

Four Montgomery County police officers responded by firing a total of 24 shots at LeRoux “over the course of several seconds,” the Washington Post reported because they said he had a gun.

His father said LeRoux’s gun was legally owned. There is no evidence that LeRoux wielded the gun, let alone threatened the police with it. In fact, it’s unclear what prompted the police to use deadly force if their lives were not threatened.

LeRoux’s father said he was shown about 25 minutes of bodycam video that police have said is too dark and “very difficult to see,” effectively allowing them to control the narrative of the shooting.

Nevertheless, police have also said they “believe” the footage shows LeRoux brandishing the gun.

“So far, they have been unable to prove to me that my son raised a gun,” Paul LeRoux said. “They have not proved to me that Ryan showed any reason to justify the amount of lethal force.”

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich has called for a full investigation into the shooting that was allegedly prompted by LeRoux refusing to move his car from the McDonald’s drive-thru. Police have said LeRoux “was not cooperative,” which ultimately led to “a use of force resulting in Mr. LeRoux behind [sic] shot by the officers.”

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12. Leneal Frazier, 40

Source:Getty

Leneal Lamont Frazier was killed early morning on July 6, 2021, during a high-speed police pursuit in which he was not a suspect. But a Minneapolis police car chasing an alleged robbery suspect crashed into Frazier’s car, sending him to a hospital where he soon died from injuries sustained from the collision.

The family of Frazier, whose niece is Darnella Frazier, the teenager who filmed the video of Chauvin murdering Floyd, retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump and demanded accountability for the “irresponsible” killing caused directly by the police.

13. Demetrius Stanley, 31

Law enforcement in San Jose, California, released the video footage of Demetrius Stanley‘s fatal shooting, a 31-year-old Black man who was killed on May 31, 2021, Memorial Day. Police claim they were conducting surveillance on Stanley’s home related to an armed robbery Stanley was reportedly involved in earlier this spring.

Law enforcement officials say Stanley approached the officer’s unmarked vehicle and pointed his gun at the cops who were in plainclothes. Stanley’s family and supporters say that Stanley was protecting his home and family members after police failed to ID themselves in the unmarked vehicle, parked outside of his home. Community members have marched in the streets asking for transparency and accountability.

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14. Ashton Pinke, 27

The Mesquite Police Department in Texas shot and killed Ashton Pinke on May 4 following what his family lawyer says should have been a wellness check by authorities. Instead, police claimed the 27-year-old Pinke charged at them “with a knife and a club,” purportedly leaving the officers no choice but to shoot to kill.

15. Andrew Brown, 42

Andrew Brown, of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, was killed on April 21 as Pasquotank County Sheriff’s deputies attempted to serve a search warrant.

Brown, who was unarmed and a father of 10, reportedly drove away in his car when police fired a total of six to eight shots. Brown’s family says that he did not hurt anyone prior to him being shot.

Brown’s killing came one day after the guilty verdict in the murder of George Floyd and the shooting of Ma’Khia Wright, a 16-year-old girl in Columbus, Ohio.

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16. Matthew Williams, 35

Matthew Williams was killed by police on April 12, 2021, because he had a knife. However, Williams’ family rejects that narrative and has demanded the release of bodycam footage to verify the police claim.

Williams died in his own home from the shooting.

The lawyer representing the family said the police are actively engaged in trying “to cover up killing a man in his own home.”

Local news outlet 11Alive reported that a witness said Williams was not armed with a knife when he was shot.

One of Williams’s five sisters said the police narrative is totally out of character for her brother.

“My brother was not violent. My brother was not confrontational,” Chyah Williams said. “He was the most caring, giving, selfless person you could ever meet.”

17. Daunte Wright, 20

Source:Twitter/@MeritLaw

Wright was killed on April 11, 2021, after officers pulled him over for displaying air fresheners on his rear-view mirror during a traffic violation in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Police claim that after stopping Wright, they discovered a warrant for his arrest. When they attempted to detain him they claim that Wright hopped back into his car where an officer fired, fatally wounding him.

The officer, Kim Potter, claimed she confused her Taser for her gun and meant to stun Wright instead of killing him. Potter was allowed to resign on her own terms before being arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter, a charge that carries up to 10 years in prison.

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18. Marvin D. Scott III, 26

Source:GoFundMe

Marvin Scott III was a 26-year-old Black man who died in police custody in Texas.

19. Kurt Reinhold, 42

Source:Getty

Reinhold was shot to death on Sept. 23, 2020, after Orange County Deputies approached him, accusing him of jaywalking.

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20. McHale Rose, 19

McHale Rose, 19, was shot and killed by police in Indianapolis on May 7, 2020, after officers responded to reports of a burglary that later turned out to be untrue.

The police claimed that as they arrived, they were shot at. When they returned fire, Rose was fatally struck.

A prosecutor later declined to bring charges against the officers involved because they were deemed to have been defending themselves.

Read the full report here.