The other day 23 year old Mark Anthony Barmore ran into a daycare center while fleeing from police. According to police, Barmore went for one of their weapons and they consequently fired on him. He was shot 8 times. He died.
Witnesses, including the daycare owner, say Barmore emerged from a boiler room with his hands up and head down and that there was no altercation over a weapon.
The city is in a big stir over it. The African-American community senses racism. I've heard that Reverend Jesse Jackson has been contacted. Other members of the community, don't see it as racism, but as just another example of police abusing their power.
I am not psychic. I can not ever know if race was a motivating factor in the shooting.
I can say this, race aside. If this suspect came at the police with his hands up and his head down, he was MURDERED.
I also see this as another case of someone slipping through the cracks of the "system". This young man had a troubled youth, raised in foster care. He also suffered from bi-polar disordor and schizophrenia according to the Rockford Register Star. My mother works in corrections and she often speaks of the mentally ill that get caught in the jail's revolving door. Because they can't afford the help they need and perhaps lack the social/family network necessary to protect them, they just end up getting tossed around the justice system.
This young man had had brushes with the law before and that doesn't surprise me. His criminal past does not justify his MURDER. Of course, this is an ongoing investigation, and nothing has come back conclusive. Perhaps the violent action will be deemed appropriate after research into the matter is completed. I've learned to be skeptical of the police and the media. I'm curious to see the official report nonetheless.
There's also the matter of the children who were present for the shooting. It would appear as if the police had no concern for their safety whatsoever. I just want to know, as a citizen of Rockford, what the hell they were thinking. My taxes pay their bills and I want an answer.
copyright © August 26, 2009 by Sha'Donna A. Woods, All Rights Reserved
