RT NewsOver 1,000 people showed up to protest the death of Andy Lopez hours before the funeral for the 13-year-old boy was scheduled to take place. California police fatally shot Lopez last week when they saw him carrying what turned out to be a toy rifle.
The Tuesday rally began at approximately 12pm local time and only seemed to grow as the day went on. Demonstrators planned to march through the small city of Santa Rosa, California, located approximately 50 miles north of San Francisco.
Signs reading “We are all Andy Lopez, the whole damn system is guilty” and “Andy did not have to die” were on display alongside police officers in riot gear who were monitoring the crowd.
Lopez was walking through Santa Rosa on the way to a friend’s house carrying what his father described as a “toy” Airsoft gun, often used by teenagers to shoot small plastic BBs. Two sheriff’s deputies encountered the boy and claimed they ordered him to drop the weapon. When he did not, they said, one of the two officers fired eight rounds – hitting Lopez seven times and twice fatally.
The entire incident reportedly unfolded in no more than 10 seconds.
The incident has sparked outrage throughout Santa Rosa and surrounding communities, with a number of candlelight vigils taking place over the past week to remember Lopez. Police advised demonstrators planning on attending the Tuesday rally to not bring any replica weapons, which were brought to previous vigils.
“The demonstration last Friday was mostly peaceful, but there were incidents that created risk and were harmful,” a police statement said. “Some demonstrators brought replica weapons to the march, and at least one person displayed a very realistic looking replica handgun to passing citizens in a threatening manner. That incident created unnecessary risk for all involved and forced Santa Rosa Police Officers to respond.”
Image from flickr.com @ari
A quiet faction of the population has continued to support the law enforcement community on social media and local websites, arguing that no one should ever walk around with a gun out in the open, real or fake.
The first rally came at noon, with another beginning at the sheriff’s office at 3pm local time, ahead of the 5pm funeral. Teachers, parents, and other community leaders addressed the crowd on a microphone through much of the day while kids in the area chanted “No justice, no peace, f**k the police.”
Still, with protesters busing in from all around California, organizers took to Facebook to ask the crowd to “not let things get out of hand for the respect of the family.” Others, while noting that no fake guns appeared to be on hand Tuesday, advocated for a cathartic demonstration.
“We, as a community have been faced with the tragic and senseless death of a mere boy, Andy Lopez,” said a Facebook post. “Moreover, we, as a community have a sacred duty to not let young boy’s death be in vain. Let us rally – LET US MARCH!”
The protest comes just one day after the sheriff’s department confirmed that the deputy who killed Lopez was 48-year-old Erick Gelhaus. The officer is a 24-year-veteran of the force, an Iraq War veteran, and a frequent contributor to publications advocating gun use, according to NBC Bay Area.
Gelhaus has declined all media requests, but a police report detailed that he fired upon Lopez when Lopez had his back toward the police and appeared to be raising the weapon.
http://rt.com/usa/thousands-protest-shooting-victim-funeral-931/
I was thinking this evening; What is a normal reasonable reaction for a normal 13 yr old boy, when accosted with a (likely hysterical sounding) cop screaming at him, while pointing a gun? I mean, I’ve seen enough cop shows to gather what is “usual” cop behavior these days. They “storm” into, or at, the “perp”, AS TRAINED, to wit; Yell, scream, lunge, control, force down (into submission) all of which is INTENDED to disorientate (See: vertually any training manual on this type of control thing). Anyone who’s been through military Basic training has seen this.
Anyway, back to the average 13 yr old boy – I’d think the average kid would likely turn towards the cop and for a few seconds, be thinking “what the f*-k does he want?” “Is he screaming at me?” “This is a plastic toy.” – and it was in those few seconds (of likely complete disorientation) that the cop shot the entire 13 rd clip, hitting him with almost half (6) of the bullets. Now, seen and deemed as “justified”, purportedly because that kid didn’t comply immediately with his orders.
I wish we could conduct training tests on cops like that – it would have to be by supprise, but I seriously wonder what any of their reaction would be to a sudden approach of armed men that screamed commands at them and if they didn’t understand AND comply within seconds, the penalty was jail, prison, loss of job, death, etc., etc – Something tells me deep in my gut that that perticular cop (who’s been “trained” to control, and only control) would fail miserably at immediate submission. But somehow they’re thinking the rest of the world should drop and wet themselves immediately on command.
And old friend of mine used to tell me; Behavior that is rewarded will be repeated – and its opposite – behavior that is punished, etc – and I believe that: Blind and immediate compliance, submission, etc., is a behavior that “requires” a very “trained” responce that I don’t think any normal 13 yr old would or should have. Or maybe its just me, and I don’t want to live in a Country wherein the “Shoguns” rule the streets at their whim.
as a trained military police officer, i know, if you have a gun and somebody is pointing a gun at you, the best next thing is to take cover and be ready to neutralize the adversary. in case if it is a crazed cop, he will be terminated.
in a live ammo shooting range, as a commanding officer, you will be ready to jump the guy that turns away from the targets. I had one guy turn away from the targets, pointing his gun at me. I was armed with automatic weapon and a pistol. the guy was not shot even as he had a real no safety live ammo weapon pointed at me. this was scary. later we had to do a live ammo unit assault training with him. scarier.
there will be a need to identify [cops] at distance, see their history, and to be able to call in armed citizen backup.
this will not be one time incident. once a cop goes rouge, he will be entered in the system. we know where he lives. there will not be a one time leave without pay. every time he shops for food a penalty will be applied. a penalty for which he cannot pay without doing actual useful non government work.
a scene from robocop comes to mind.
this is a dangerous fear based path the us persons are at
Agreed, Agent – your last line; “This is a dangerous fear based path . . . . . . .”
– I have nothing in my own past that allows me to justify any of it, or more specifically, what may have been going through that cops mind to cause him to start shooting, other than, un-trained, un-controled, fear.
Which scares me.
All the protesting in the world will have zero effect. Your time would be better spent brushing up on your Checkers strategies.
Not to belabor the point, but I do want to ask: how many freedoms did the American Colonists get from King George by making protest signs and chanting catchy slogans? Not a single one, yes? There it is.
I tried explaining this to my libtard friends. All that sign makes you is a target.
bet if the kid had an automatic assault rifle and a few of his buddies, the cops would not have shoot due potential return fire. guess what will you do if you are the older brother. a brother in the army. in the army with friends. the cop will be missing in action soon.
the stage has been set. the play has already started.
Once the shtf, all cops will be MIA. Chicken-shit weasels will all go to help their own. Rogue cops will become instant targets of those mistreated. Judges will also be targets as well as crooked businessmen and politicians. A lot of hemp rope will be put to the test.
Met a guy a few months back that had a good idea…for every one of us they kill, we take one of them – leave a note.
Wouldn’t two for one be better and then increase by one each time?
First time would be two then three then four and so on.
But we already have a lot of catching up to do at this rate so better just get started I suppose.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=983_1313329124
this is the only response to costumed known threats to you life and property you remove it
the ppl in this town had better get off their feminist football cheerleading arses and get this man away from his kidnappers before they harm or murder him for defending life and property
Outstanding response!
We need millions more just like him.
(He should have shot the Chief while he was at it, though)