Black Utah ‘samurai’ dressed as anime hero shot 6 times, killed by police – autopsy

Darrien Hunt (Image from facebook.com)

Darrien Hunt (Image from facebook.com)

A young black man in Utah was shot six times and killed by police responding to a 911 call. The man was wearing a Japanese anime costume and carried a gift-shop samurai sword.

The state’s autopsy report confirmed that Utah police shot
22-year-old Darrien Hunt six times, including four times in his
back.

The report is part of an ongoing investigation into Hunt’s
shooting death. The young man was wearing a costume of the
“Samurai Champloo” character Mugen and carrying a replica katana
sword on Sept. 10 outside of a strip mall in a Salt Lake City
suburb. When police arrived at the scene, they were responding to
a 911 call about a man with a sword.

Police also claimed Hunt lunged at the two arriving officers,
swinging the sword. One of the officers fired three times, and
then fired four more shots as Hunt ran away from them. The report
found that of the six shots, four shots hit Hunt from behind.

The report confirmed the results of an independent autopsy
requested by Hunt’s family, who said the police treated him
differently because he was black.

“I don’t think anyone would have thought twice if it wasn’t
someone with an afro,”
his mother, Susan Hunt, told USA
Today. Police say race wasn’t a factor, adding that the two
officers involved were white.


READ MORE: St.Louis protest: ‘Armed’ black teen shot by cop 17
times

The family’s lawyer, Robert Sykes, said the gunshot trajectories
indicate that Hunt was turning away when he was hit.

“I think that means they were pursuing him, he was running
away. He was probably scared to death,”
said Sykes,
according to AP.

Hunt’s family disputes the account that the young man attacked
the cops, and say the 2.5-foot sword – which did not have a sharp
edge – was bought at a gift shop and was purely decorative.


READ
MORE: Local police kill at least 400 people a year, mostly
minorities

Sykes also said a witness has a photo showing Hunt smiling as he
talked to Cpl. Matthew Schauerhamer and Officer Nicholas Judson
before being fatally shot.

The county’s investigation into whether the shooting was legally
justified is expected to wrap up by next week.

READ
MORE: Ohio cops killed Walmart air gun-wielding man moments after
confrontation, new video shows


Source Article from http://rt.com/usa/201059-utah-police-kill-black-anime/

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes