Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown and others. All kids

[applegrove]

Last edited Wed Oct 15, 2014, 04:30 PM - Edit history (1)

out to the local convenience store when they never made it home. Vibes to those wanting to start a dialogue about how this can be stopped from happening.

[Politicalboi]

1. John Crawford III

We have video of that encounter. Carrying a gun in a store where white men carry their own guns is legal, but being black and armed is illegal, and deadly in his case.

[Supersedeas]

2. +1

[jwirr]

3. We already know that wearing a camera will help. But some needs to tell the police that they have

to turn it on before it works. The policeman who shot Mr Myers should even been wearing one as he had his uniform on. This would prove what happened and they would not have to change their story all the time.

[adigal]

4. I'm confused - I thought Myers fired three shots at the off duty officer??

If that is the case, then he doesn't belong in this list. What is a security guard supposed to do if someone shoots??

[Bonx]

5. Some people doubted he had a gun & assumed the Cops were lying

"Vonderrit Myers, Jr. showed off his guns before shooting

ST. LOUIS (KTVI) – FOX 2 has learned the suspect, shot and killed last week by police, showed off his stolen gun to anyone who would look. We obtained pictures of Vonderrit Myers Jr. showing off his handguns on social media. Fox Files investigator Chris Hayes reveals the evidence while exploring why the officer shot at Myers 17 times.

Vonderrit Myers Jr. reportedly posted a picture on social media before someone dismantled the page. You can see three handguns in his lap, including a 9 millimeter Smith and Wesson semi-automatic.

Brian Millikan, the attorney for the officer who shot Myers said, ‘The one weapon with the silver slide on it has been positively identified by my client as the gun that was used in the shooting that night.’

The suspect’s family claimed publicly that Myers did not have a gun.

Millikan said, ‘We want people to know, not only did he have it but this is the actual weapon that he used that night.’"

http://fox2now.com/2014/10/13/vonderrit-myers-jr-showed-off-his-guns-before-shooting/

[applegrove]

6. I think we need to study the thing on the whole. Sure there is black crime.

Why was he wearing a gun to go to the store? Was he afraid of crime? Did he not trust the police to protect him? The whole thing needs to be studied. All three cases.

[Ace Rothstein]

7. He was probably in a gang.

The previous weapons charge, walking around with another gun before that case was settled and pictures of him and his friends posing with guns while throwing gang signs leads me to believe this.

[Ace Rothstein]

19. The poster asked why he carried a gun.

I gave a possible reason why. Gangbangers frequently carry illegal firearms.

[logosoco]

20. I am pretty sure if I was a young black man (or maybe even just black or young) I would

not trust the police to protect me.

I am still wondering why the security officer confronted this group of young men in the first place.

[cali]

8. I'm not ready yet to group Vonderrick Myers with Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown

In fact, it seems unfair to Martin and Brown to do so.

The evidence that Myers had and fired a gun, may not be conclusive, but it's mounting. Mike Brown was unarmed. Trayvon Martin was unarmed. Myers had a criminal history involving illegal gun possession. Brown and Martin did not. They truly were innocent victims.

[applegrove]

10. Okay. Ungroup them. Still. What is a kid doing with

a gun on the way to the store. Gangs are a crime too.

[cali]

11. maybe it's as simple as that he was obviously enamoured with guns

maybe he always carried. That picture of him with his guns supports that he was enamoured with them. Not sure what you mean with your comment that "gangs are a crime too".

[applegrove]

13. It is a tragedy if a kid needs to bring a gun to a store...if he

is that afraid of getting shot by rival gangs. Then that is something that should be looked into too. What is the lifecycle of a jr. gang member. What would make them feel safer and perhaps less likely to join a gang in the first place. And less likely then to shoot at the police. Like he did. Which got him killed.

[cali]

17. yes, it's a tragedy, but that doesn't make it murder by the cop

it may have been, but we just don't know enough yet.

[applegrove]

18. Got ya. I never meant to imply that all three cases were murder.

Then there was that kid who was killed by a white man at the gas bar because he and his friends were playing their music too loud. There is a problem with the fear that is going around, around such kids. Whether it is the fear is in the fantacies of George Zimmerman's mind, or the policeman who shot Michael Brown when his hands were up. Or the fear that made the kid last week bring a gun to a corner store. There is a problem with fear. And that is a police issue. They are supposed to be the experts on fear. Maybe in poor cities they are scraping the bottom of the barrel in the police they hire. Maybe homeland security has so hired so many security experts, both government and private, that poor neighbourhoods 1) can't afford to pay that well 2)have all their best officers in the drug war 3) don't have an adequate supply of good eggs to hire. I don't know. But the discussion has started and I trust that it will be an open and a good one.

[logosoco]

21. Missouri voted to have conceal carry a few years ago.

I don't like to think when I am out in public who has a gun or not. I already don't get out much as it is.
I have thought for years if we ended the drug war it would reduce gangs and gang activity. Also, if there were good jobs available i think there would be less crime overall.

But, I am just an old woman going around trying to figure things out myself, and I don't really think the powers that be are interested in my views!

Maybe this man, who was pretty young and at that age of making bad choices, figured the cop was going to kill him anyway and wanted to go out with guns blazing. I don't know.

The news story about the two congress people who were confronted by four armed robbers and didn't kill them while being able to defend themselves and hold them until they were apprehended makes me think about these situations.

[mb999]

9. End the drug war for starts

End the militarization of the local police. Ban racial profiling.

[csziggy]

12. let's buy all of them bullet proof vests

http://dreamdefenders.org/vest/

[Oktober]

14. Grouping them together is imprecise to say the least...

[applegrove]

15. Yeah, I ungrouped them.