Yep: The cops shot him.
A white police officer in a small South Carolina town shot and gravely wounded a black homeowner who had called 911 during an attempted home invasion. The officers apparently mistook him for a suspect.
Sheriff’s deputies shot the victim, Bryant Heyward, 26, of Hollywood, South Carolina, on Thursday morning shortly after he called 911 to plead for help because two armed men were trying to break into his home.
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By the time two Charleston County sheriff’s deputies arrived at Heyward’s home, the two suspects had fled and Heyward went to greet the officers at his back door — reportedly holding his brother’s handgun.
He reportedly had the gun firing back at the 2 people who attempted to invade his home.
When he shows up to answer the door for the police....you know how cops are about a black man with a gun.
There is, this time around, no allegation that Mr. Heyward raised a gun or anything. A white cop in a racist lille southern town sees a black man with a gun and.... here:
On Friday, Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon apologized for the shooting and said the deputy who shot Heyward, Keith Tyner, made a “split-second decision” to fire at Heyward after he thought the man posed a threat.
Threat, of course is a black man standing upright with a gun.
Mr. Heyward is alive with critical injuries and may or may not ever walk again.
The officer, of course, is on paid vacation. Everything by the book.
There was an audio recording of Mr. Heyward sitting in an ambulance essentially saying it was his fault he got shot, apparently realizing he was holding a gun while black, in the plain sight of a cop. I think the sheriff's department is going to really fall back on this to help excuse this erroneous shooting and underscore the infallibility of law enforcement.
It is also noted that the 'shooting comes as the #blacklivesmatter movement' continues to raise awareness in the wake of Walter Scott's blatant murder in the same state: one would think that cops would, by now, be starting to have just a bit more professionalism, a little more impulse control, a little more awareness that "Hey, I really do not want to shoot this person."
But noooo.... not yet.
Protests and #BlackLivesMatter clearly need to continues.