POLICE SHOOTING IN WAUKEAN MAY BRING TROUBLE

by Bob Walsh

Two young Black people were shot by the Waukegan, ILL, P D on Tuesday night.  Since Waukegan is just south of Chicago maybe nobody will care but the families of the young couple, but I am not sure you can count on that.  The mayor , Sam Cunningham, who is also Black and a personal friend of the couple, is urging calm and is not trying to throw the cops under the bus (yet) but did say he is nervous about how things could go.

The two people shot are Marcellis Stinnett, 19, who died, and his babymama, Tafarra Williams.  

Accpording to the cops they tried to pull over a car that Ms. Williams was driving.  The cops went to investigate a "suspicious vehicle" just before midnight.  As the cops pulled up the car took off.  A second unit spotted the suspect car a bit later and successfully pulled the car over.  As the officer approached the car the vehicle allegedly-apparently backed up towards the officer.  The second officer then opened fire.  The woman was hit twice, once in the stomach and once in the hand.  The male passenger died of gunshot wounds.  No weapons were found in the car.

One officer is White, the other HIspanic.  The Hispanic officer was the shooter..  

There is apparently some footage of the incident available which is under review by the local state's attorney (prosecutor).  The video will be released when the prosecutor makes his decision about whether or not to file charges in the incident.

The woman has stated that they were fired on "for nothing."