Some black San Francisco residents believe the fatal shooting of a black man by police Wednesday night was some form of payback for the recent killing of a police officer, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Said Tanya Fowler: “Ever since that other officer died, they’ve been jumping out on everybody. Disrespecting everybody. Jumping everybody. The police are supposed to protect. But what they did here, that’s off the hook.”
No matter what they had heard about the dead man’s alleged actions before he was shot or his long background of arrests and convictions, many were convinced that he was killed in retaliation for the officer’s death
Police Chief Heather Fong and other top officials appeared at a hastily called community meeting yesterday. Fong said she was aware of the community’s concerns but emphasized that the facts in the new shooting were still under investigation. “Sometimes when circumstances happen, the timing is wrong,” she said. “I assure you the members of this department — and we have made this very clear — are here to do the best job we can to provide safety to all of the communities.”
One local business owner complained that on Wednesday, police, “didn’t give the man a chance. He came out and had his hands up. He surrendered. Why would you kill him? One officer is killed, and it’s on national TV week after week. I feel it’s unfair. Fifteen boys in our neighborhood were killed, and it’s not on national television. Are they less important?”
Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/07/MNG1A6HEGG1.DTL