A 22-year-old black father was killed by police for holding a toy gun while at Walmart. According to CBS News, John Crawford, 22, went shopping with his girlfriend at a Walmart in Dayton, Ohio.
Crawford and his girlfriend went their separate ways to shop for personal items while in the store. At some point, Crawford picked up a toy BB gun and played video games while talking to his girlfriend on his cellphone.
A suspicious couple, April and Ronald Ritchie, began following Crawford. They eventually called police and told them that Crawford was walking around the store with a gun.
When police arrived at the store, they approached him from behind and told him to put the weapon down. Crawford turned and told them it was just a toy. The police officers opened fire on Crawford. He later died from his wounds.
This is clearly another case of a black male losing his life due to racist actions. April and Ronald Ritchie racially profiled Crawford by assuming that he was carrying a real gun. The couple should have notified store managers who could have verified that Crawford was carrying a toy gun. Instead, they called police and caused an innocent man to lose his life. Following the tragic incident with Crawford, a 37-year-old woman died after having a heart attack in the store.
The police acted in a racist manner by killing Crawford without giving him a chance to tell them he was holding a toy.
In the past three weeks, three unarmed black males have been killed by police. Eric Garner was choked and killed by NYPD in July. Several days ago, 18-year-old Mike Brown was shot and killed by police while walking to his grandmother’s house.
Crawford’s relatives have notified the NAACP and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
