California Police shot black-man suspecting gun. He had an iPhone
What's the story
Police in California has released disturbing footage of cops shooting an African-American man 20 times in the backyard of his own Sacramento home.
Officers said they believed Stephon Clark was carrying a weapon. The 22-year-old father of two was actually holding an iPhone.
Police said Clark was suspected to have smashed several vehicles, adding it "recognizes the impact (the incident) has on our community."
Details
Footage reveals a horrific few minutes
The incident happened on Sunday night. Cops received a 911 call reporting vandalism in the neighborhood.
At the scene, they saw Clark, who reportedly fit the suspect's profile, and chased after him.
Clark is seen running and entering the backyard of his grandparents' home, where he lived.
An officer shouts "Show me your hands!" before exclaiming "Gun, gun, gun!"
Then 20 shots are heard.
Reax
'Wrong place, wrong time while in his own backyard?'
Clark's grandparents, who were in the house, called 911 when they heard gunshots, without realizing it was police.
"They finally told me, hours later, there was a victim dead in my backyard," Sequita Thompson told media.
When she looked out the window, she saw her own grandson dead.
"He was at the wrong place at the wrong time in his own backyard?" she asked.
Quote
'He had changed, cared about nothing else but his kids'
Stevante, Clark's brother, said, "He was arrested before, but he's been different lately, he really changed his life. He was a people person who everybody wanted to be around. We came from underprivileged, broken homes, but he didn't care about nothing else but his kids."
Police
Involved cops suspended, but expert says actions were "reasonable"
The Sacramento Police said officers had believed Clark was holding a firearm.
"After an exhaustive search, investigators didn't locate any firearms. The only item found was a cellphone."
The cops involved have now been suspended.
According to police training expert Ed Obayashi, police's actions were "reasonable." "He's got an object in his hand which unfortunately even during daylight could easily be considered a gun."
Protests
Black Lives Matter was a result of several such cases
According to Vox, 31% of police shooting victims in 2012 were black people, who make just 13% of the US population.
More disturbingly, racial minorities constituted 62.7% of unarmed people killed by police.
Apart from socioeconomic factors like poverty and segregation, subconscious racial biases were found to play a major role.
Such cases had given birth to the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013.