Antwon Rose Jr (2001?-2018) was an unarmed Black boy in the US shot in the back three times by a White police officer. That was on June 19th 2018 in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Rose was only 17 with a year still to go of high school.
Video: A neighbour caught the shooting on her mobile phone. It shows Rose and another “man” running from the police. After three shots are fired, Rose falls and the other runner gets away. The police are still looking for him.
The police had pulled over the car Rose was in. It matched the description of a car that was seen at a drive-by shooting just 13 minutes before. When the police arrested the driver, Rose ran.
The police think it was the right car – even though they let the driver go after questioning.
Police say they found two guns in the car, but no gun on or near Rose.
Michael Rosfeld is the killer cop. He had been sworn in just 90 minutes before the shooting – and is now already on paid leave. He has eight years experience, five of them at the University of Pittsburgh, where one officer said he was “a fucking nut job.”
Investigation/cover-up: Allegheny County homicide detectives are looking into the shooting. After two days they still had not questioned Rosfeld – a bad sign.
Stephen Zappala Jr, the county district attorney, will determine whether the shooting was “justified” based on their findings.
How can shooting someone in the back be justified?
Coleman McDonough, the county police superintendent, put it this way:
“It’s very complex, there are a lot of dynamics. There is something called a reactionary gap between the time a human perceives a threat and is able to act on it. Things happen, people turn around and things. I’m not saying that any of that applies to this situation because it’s too early and we can’t make judgements.”
Pennsylvania law allows the police to shoot to prevent death or serious bodily injury.
Shaun King, the Black Lives Matter activist, has friends who knew Rose. By all accounts Rose was a good kid. He will be hard for the press or the police to demonize.
Protests are growing.
In 2016 Rose wrote this for English class:
I AM NOT WHAT YOU THINK
I am confused and afraid
I wonder what path I will take
I hear that there’s only two ways out
I see mothers bury their sons
I want my mom to never feel that pain
I am confused and afraidI pretend all is fine
I feel like I’m suffocating
I touch nothing so I believe all is fine
I worry that it isn’t though
I cry no more
I am confused and afraidI understand people believe I’m just a statistic
I say to them I’m different
I dream of life getting easier
I try my best to make my dream true
I hope that it does
I am confused and afraid
– Abagond, 2018.
Update (June 27th): Rosfeld is being charged with criminal homicide. From USA Today:
“The criminal complaint says Rosfeld first told investigators Rose moved his hand toward Rosfeld and appeared to be holding something ‘he perceived as a gun.’ Later, Rosfeld told investigators he did not see a gun and he was not sure if the teen’s arm was pointed at him when the fatal shots were fired.”
Police say they found the other person who ran: Zaijuan Hester. They are charging him with the drive-by shooting.
See also:
- Unarmed Black Americans killed by police in 2018
- Walter Scott – also unarmed, shot in the back, by:
- Michael Slager
- killer cops
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His life was cut short he was so young.
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Wash, Rinse, Repeat the cop will not be punished.
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Oh god that poem is heartbreaking
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He was fully aware of the white supremacist country he lived in, wanted to kill him for being black.
He either had parents or a parent, that did their job well by giving him the real lesson in being a young black male in America or he was smart enough to see all the signs that white America showed him on a daily basis.
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“Things happen, people turn around and things.”
Translation from Idiot to English: “I don’t really care about the injustice of an ‘officer of the peace’ killing a teenager for no good reason.”
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Update: Rosfeld is being charged with criminal homicide. From USA Today:
Police say they found the other person who ran: Zaijuan Hester. They are charging him with the drive-by shooting.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/06/27/antwon-rose-officer-michael-rosfeld-charged-fatal-shooting/737448002/
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White cop cleared in fatal shooting of black teen in Pittsburgh
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/22/cop-cleared-pitt-shooting-sparking-protests/3253147002/
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I am sure, no black person in America is surprised, nor is any white person for that matter. (even though white people will “pretend” they’re surprised.)
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