The city of Sacramento, Calif. has become a gathering place of protests, this after it was announced that the officers who shot and killed unarmed Black man Stephon Clark won’t be charged. The 22-year-old Clark was shot dead in his grandmother’s backyard last year.
NBC News reports:
The shooting of Clark, 22, in his grandmother’s backyard on March 18, 2018, sparked protests. The two officers said they believed Clark had a gun and was in a shooting stance before they fired, but only a cell phone was found.
Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said body cameras and other evidence showed that one of the officers shouted at Clark to show his hands, that they took cover during the incident and that they saw a flash of light that one officer believed was the muzzle flash of a gun and the other thought was light reflecting off a gun.
Statements made by the officers asking whether the other was hit seconds after the shooting “support the belief that they honestly, without hesitation believed he had a gun,” Schubert said. Body camera video showed the flash of light, she said. She also said that helicopter video “conclusively shows that Mr. Clark was in fact advancing on the officers” during the encounter.
Angry protestors and Clark’s family, including his mother, Se’Quette Clark, have called out the district attorney and other city officials by framing the death as an injustice.
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Photo: Getty