BLACKS WANT NO MORE WHITE COPS PATROLLING THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD AFTER WHITE COP SHOOTS ‘SUSPICIOUS’ UNARMED BLACK MAN

“I don't want them patrolling here anymore, because we're either ‘suspicious’ or if something happens, they say they were in fear of their life.”

A black Montgomery, Alabama grocer was walking home when a white cop stopped him because he looked ‘suspicious’ in a neighborhood where there had been a lot of burglaries. Some sort of a struggle ensued during which the officer shot the unarmed man to death.

Now people are in an uproar. Some are claiming the man was racially profiled and that the only thing suspicious about him was that he was black. And some do not want any white cops patrolling black communities.

In the past, I have advocated that only black officers patrol black communities because of the racially charged atmosphere that permeates and poisons this country. Then when a black officer shoots an unarmed black man, the community cannot scream racism.

Officer A. C. Smith may well have had a good reason to shoot Greg Gunn during a struggle, but the reason for the stop – that he looked ‘suspicious’ – could spell real trouble for the officer.

WHITE OFFICER SHOOTS DEAD UNARMED BLACK GROCER YARDS FROM HIS ALABAMA HOME
Officials said the officer deemed the grocer ‘suspicious’

By Kelly McLaughlin

Daily Mail
March 1, 2016

A family is seeking answers after an Alabama police officer last week shot and killed a man yards from his own front door.

Greg Gunn, 58, of Montgomery, died early Thursday morning after a police officer on patrol spotted him walking in a residential neighborhood a little before 3.20am.

Authorities on Monday identified the police officer as AC Smith, who joined the force in 2012.

Police Chief Ernest Finley said Smith deemed Gunn, a grocer, 'suspicious', left his car and approached Gunn on foot. A struggle ensued before Smith fatally shot Gunn, Finley said.

Finley confirmed Smith is white. Gunn was black.

At a Monday news conference, Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said he couldn't specify why Smith deemed Gunn suspicious but said all patrol officers were aware of a rash of burglaries in the area lately.

Gunn was reportedly carrying a retractable painters stick, family members said according to the Washington Post, but Montgomery Police Chief Ernest Finley denied this accusation.

'He was not carrying a painter's stick,' he told The Post. 'I do know the painter's stick is a lie, and they know it's a lie.'

Neighbors said they heard commotion - one saying he heard banging on his windows - before shots were fired.

Gunn's younger brother told the Post that Gunn 'was racially profiled'.

'I know he was racially profiled,' Franklin Gunn, Gregory's younger brother, told the Post. 'He was black. That was the only thing suspicious about him.

'They thought he was a low-life nothing, walking the street,' he said. 'They didn't see a man. They didn't see a black man. They saw somebody who needed to die, and they executed him. Now they are trying to cover it up.'

Local attorney Tyrone Means, who represents the Gunn family, said Gunn attended a regular card game with friends Wednesday after he got off work.

Gunn frequently walked from his friend's house to his home a few blocks away, where he lived with his mother.

'Trayvon Martin was a black kid walking in a predominantly white neighborhood, and someone just thought he looked suspicious,' Means said. 'Greg Gunn was in a community in which he was well-known and well-loved. That's scary.'

Authorities said they are conducting a thorough investigation into what happened.

'We will get to the facts. It will be open. It will be transparent, and wherever the facts lead us, that will then tell us what our next steps will be,' said Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange on Friday, according to WSFA. 'I understand that there is frustration right now. The [state investigators] will not do a quick investigation; they will do a thorough investigation.'

Gunn and his family grew up in the west Montgomery neighborhood, Means said. After a divorce, he had returned home to care for his mother.

'All this gentleman was doing was walking home,' Means said. 'Little did the family expect that a walk this man has done all his life would end with him dying in terror.'

Family and community activists want answers from city authorities and police, specifically about possible body and patrol camera footage.

But city officials said the situation is out of their hands while the State Bureau of Investigations handles the case.

'We're not satisfied either,' Strange said Monday. 'We obviously want answers. It's out of our hands. We've done everything possible to make sure this is done correctly.'

Strange said the crime scene was immediately sealed Thursday after Gunn was declared dead around 3.35am, and no police officers reviewed any potential camera footage at the scene.

All evidence was turned over to SBI, Strange said, who arrived on scene around 4.30am.
Means said the Gunn family is concerned about their family but also 'broader implications' of Gunn's death.

'If nothing else, perhaps this will change the way law enforcement responds,' Means said. 'There has to be some manner of screening people who do not have the discernment or discretion to use a lethal weapon.'

SBI on Monday would not comment on any aspect of the investigation. Strange said he has requested SBI expedite the investigation.

Some of Gunn's family members, friends and neighbors are calling for white police to stay out of their historically black neighborhood following the incident.

'I want to see all white officers out of the black community,' Chris Miles, a close friend of the Gunn family, told The Montgomery Advertiser. 'I don't want them patrolling here anymore, because we're either "suspicious"

Or if something happens, they say they were in fear of their life. Those 'talking points' get them not indicted. We can't live under those conditions anymore.'