“John was doing nothing wrong in Walmart, nothing more, nothing less than shopping.”
I covered this previously but there’s new information. On August 5th, John Crawford of Ohio was shot in a Wal-Mart while walking around with a BB/Pellet gun combo that he’d picked up in the toys section. He was on the phone with the mother of his children. A concerned citizen from Wal-Mart called the police. The police showed up and Crawford ended up dead. At the time, the responding officers and witnesses (unclear who the witnesses are) claimed he didn’t comply with police orders and “looked like he was going to go violently” so they shot him and he died.
But now there’s video from Wal-Mart’s surveillance cameras and their stories appear to be lies. Crawford’s family’s attorney has seen the video and here’s what he had to say about it.
Attorney Michael Wright said that the video, which he was allowed to view with the man’s family, contradicts statements by police and witnesses that Crawford ignored commands to drop the gun and “looked like he was going to go violently.”
“John was doing nothing wrong in Walmart, nothing more, nothing less than shopping,” Wright said in a statement. He said the 22-year-old father of two was shot “on sight” in a “militaristic” response by police.
In fact, the attorney is so confident that the video would make clear just how false the statements of the police and witnesses are that he’s asking the Ohio State’s Attorney General to release the Wal-Mart surveillance video to the public. The Attorney General has declined. Brackets are mine:
[Attorney General] DeWine said Tuesday he was glad he had allowed Crawford’s family to view the surveillance video, but he did not plan to publicly release the video to avoid tainting the jury pool.
That objection doesn’t seem to square with the fact that the police have already released their own evidence which includes dispatch audio and video from the day of the shooting.
HE HAS A NAME: John Crawford Killed By Police Officers For Holding Toy Gun In Walmart http://t.co/C8GCHWmKSN pic.twitter.com/wnWbr8Fmcw
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) August 11, 2014
And remember, Ohio is an Open Carry state. You can openly carry whatever rifle you own anywhere, including businesses as long as they don’t protest. Crawford was carrying a toy gun that was actually on sale at Wal-Mart. Again, here’s video of White people carrying actual guns all over the place without getting shot. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzw8jW0aCys
