WASHINGTON, United States
A black man was murdered by a white police officer in Columbus, the second case in a few weeks in this northern United States city that sparked outrage in a country that has witnessed a historic anti-racist movement and against police brutality since the Boreal Spring.
Andre Maurice Hill, 47, was in a house garage Monday night when he was shot several times by the uniformed officer. The police had been called to come to the scene for a minor incident.
Footage from the officer’s portable camera shows Hill walking to the officer with a cell phone in his left hand, while his other hand remains invisible. Seconds later, the officer fires his gun and the civilian collapses. No sound is produced to explain the recording conditions.
Officer Adam Coy and his colleague waited several minutes before approaching the surviving victim, who died shortly afterwards.
Coy was suspended. According to local media, complaints have already been made against him for excessive use of force.
Hill, who was unarmed, was the second African American killed by police in less than three weeks in Columbus.
23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr. was shot several times on December 4 while driving home after buying sandwiches.
The murders come because the United States has been rocked by historic protests against racial injustice and police brutality, fueled by the murder of African American George Floyd in May.
Floyd, also unarmed, suffocated under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Startled passers-by filmed his death and the images quickly spread.
“The agents see a black man again and conclude that he is criminal and dangerous,” lawyer Ben Crump criticized on Wednesday, who is defending several families of victims, including Floyd’s.
With Hill, there are 96 black victims at the hands of a Floyd police officer, the lawyer said, denouncing “a tragic sequence of shootings” by soldiers.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said he was “outraged” by Hill’s death and “deeply disturbed” by the fact that neither police officer applied first aid to Hill.
The official called for Coy’s “immediate resignation”.