“I understand that there’s anger in the community, but the way to get answers is not through violence or law-breaking,” said Bloomberg. “We cannot tolerate that, and we will not tolerate that.”
Bouquets of flowers and lit candles formed a makeshift memorial on the sidewalk near the corner where Gray died. Posters were scrawled with messages: “Love you lil bro” and “RIP Waking Angel.”
“Everybody loved him,” said Shawn Burgendy, a friend of Gray’s who had stopped by the memorial. “Never had a problem with him. He was just around a bunch of bad situations.”
Would his friend point a gun at a cop?
“He’s not that type of kid. He’s not a dummy,” Burgendy said. “He wouldn’t just go and pull a gun on the police. Who would pull a gun on a police officer?”
A police officer may use deadly force when he or she has a reasonable fear of serious injury or death, and police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said the shooting appeared to be within those guidelines.
Gray’s death marks the 10th police-involved shooting this year. A weapon was recovered from every one, police said. In 2011, police shot and killed nine suspects and injured 19, the lowest in recent years, according to a police report released last fall.
The 2012 firearms discharge report has not been published.
Kenneth Montgomery, a lawyer for the Gray family, questioned the police department’s account of how the teen died. The family wants to know how the gun was recovered and by whom, he said.
The medical examiner’s office ruled that Gray was hit seven times and had wounds in the front and back of his body, including his shoulder, rib cage, forearm and legs.
Speaking of her son in the present tense, Carol Gray remembered a boy who still had a curfew to abide by at night. A boy who babysat his nieces and nephews regularly and who, for the first time in his life, recently got a bedroom all to himself.
“The past couple of days, the bell hasn’t rung,” she said. “I’m still waiting for him to come home.”
While she doesn’t condone the violent protests, Gray said she wants answers. She wants to know why her son was struck by more than one bullet. And she wants to know why she will have to bury him in the coming days.
This is the second tragedy for the family: Two years ago, her older son was killed in a car accident.
“Now I have to place my younger boy in the same hole,” she said.
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White folk act suspiciously all the time..Black folk act suspiciously…Hispanics act suspiciously..Everybody does that! North Korea is acting suspiciously too are you going to send out troops after them America! Iran acts suspiciously..Russia..shall I continue! Just go after everybody!!..then EVERYbODY will come after you!
The same thing happened right here in Howard County, MD to a white “boy” . . . who was carrying a “toy” gun . . . but they didn’t know . . . and he pointed it at them . . . and he had a death wish . . . and they knew it . . . and they killed him . . . there is only a fraction of a moment to react. What do they do? SAD all around!
On Monday, dozens of people threw bottles and damaged some stores. Surveillance video shows a cashier cowering in a corner as people looted his shop.
Okay, I read the above statement, and I get that a 16 year old kid is dead; so why are people “looting the store” that is owned by someone who did NOT kill this kid ???
That makes a lot of sense !!!
NOT !!!
?Why are our Black men hated so much……..someone please explain this to me……..All over the world Black men endure the same treatment……”WHY”……someone please explain this to me…..I’m 42 & have two sons of my own…..one being a teenager, I have explained just about everything to him that a young Black man should know about this world and what he should expect a black man and he don’t believe that these things can happen to him or a family member or even a friend………..
This was a teenager they act suspicious all the time…..dealing with hormones and other things……..they are children ……?how are they suppose to act…..
Now lets investigate those two “Crumb Mashers” that gunned this child down because something sounds “Suspicious” about this……….. ??????America who is “Watching” the “Watcher” it’s time that we start policing the police…….. Lets start placing our own cameras in our own communities so that their will no longer a question of what is really happening to our young men……Cameras don’t “Lie” unlike “Dirty Coppers”……..
Maybe the mom should put her faith in Jesus Christ!
IF HE HAD GUN!!!! Did anyone else see a gun other than the police?
?does any one ever see a gun besides the coppers…..it never fails, it’s always the same story when they gun down our Black men……..
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NO MATTER WHAT THE OUTCOME HERE , IF HE WAS ARMED OR NOT UNTIL WE AS A PEOPLE PUT THE VALUE OF BLACK LIFE AT A HIGHER STANDARD HOW CAN WE EXPECT OTHERS. MY HEART GOES OUT TO THE YOUNG MAN’S MOTHER AND BEING FROM CHICAGO IAM ALWAYS LEARY OF POLICE INVOLVED SHOOTINGS, WHY WOULD HE PULL A GUN AFTER ATTEMPTING TO LEAVE TO AVOID THE POLICE AND WHY FIRE SO MANY SHOTS WHEN THERE WERE NONE FIRED BY THE YOUNG MAN.
WTF is: wrong, really?