A white police officer in Montgomery, Alabama, is being charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of 58-year-old Gregory Gunn, a black man who was walking toward his own house at 3 a.m. on Feb. 25 when the officer approached him.
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The official police account of what led to Gunn’s death is that Smith saw Gunn walking down the street and thought he looked “suspicious.” As Gunn came closer to his home, where he lived with his 87-year-old mother, Smith got out of his patrol car. After that, for reasons that have not yet been explained, a struggle took place, and Smith fired his gun several times.
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The Montgomery County prosecutor responsible for the decision to charge Smith with murder did not elaborate on Wednesday on the evidence that convinced him that was the right course of action. That evidence, whatever it is, will be presented before a grand jury at a future date.
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Nothing really to add except that it’s overdue and welcome and as usual, there’s someone willing to step up and try to explain it all away: "This is on the back of a 23-year-old police officer working by himself in a high crime area, with a larger man who ran," McDermott [the cop’s attorney] said. "We're sorry for the loss of this man, but he brought it on himself."