Police are willing to use lethal force in a library but won’t say why? NOW is not the time for silence. #KevinAllen pic.twitter.com/PedG0KxEc5
— Alex Blank Millard (@Hippoinatutu) May 30, 2015
Yet another black man became a hashtag recently as Kevin Allen died at the hands of Lyndhurst, NJ police, who said they had not option but to use lethal force against him in a library on a Friday afternoon.
Officials claim that Allen, 36, who was shot and killed by officers inside the Lyndhurst Public Library, was armed with a utility knife. Apparently a policeman somehow recognized Allen from a bench warrant, and a confrontation of some sort ensued from there.
Chief of Police James O’Connor said 36-year-old Kevin Allen “menaced” police with the utility knife before they shot him around 1:30 p.m. in the library’s top floor. “He was aggressive towards them….he charged at them with [the knife],” O’Connor said Friday night.
Earlier, a law enforcement source said local police engaged Allen when he was spotted outside the library because he was wanted. O’Connor said officers first tried to subdue Allen using non-lethal force, including using pepper-spray and a baton on him. Allen continued to charge at the officers with the large utility knife after police tried to stop him.
One can take the police version at face value, or maybe just maybe, police followed a black man into said library because he looked suspicious (Lyndhurst is apparently a not-so-welcoming-to-black-people predominantly white community), and just had to shoot to kill because the pepper-spray and baton didn’t work. Hmmmm.
The chief also said investigators were interviewing several people, including a child, who were in the library during the confrontation.
So police shot at a suspect in a library where children were, ostensibly to protect the public. Ah.
The site also says that Allen was often seen at the library, watching music videos and largely keeping to himself, according to people on the scene Friday afternoon.
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A New Jersey Man Shot To Death By Police In Public Library was originally published on newsone.com
