Black Lives Matter has turned its latest protests to Utah, where 50-year-old Patrick Harmon was shot by a police officer as he attempted to run away from officers.
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Of course, the district attorney called the shooting justified, claiming that officers feared for their lives even though Harmon was running in the opposite direction, which sparked a demonstration outside police headquarters in Salt Lake City on Sunday afternoon, ABC News reports.
Video of Harmon’s shooting was released Wednesday after the district attorney made his decision. In the video, the officer who killed Harmon, Clinton Fox, can clearly be heard shouting, “I’ll fucking shoot you,” before firing three bullets at Harmon’s back.
“You can’t watch that video and not realize it is a clear case of murder,” Black Lives Matter organizer Lex Scott said. “It is one of the clearest cases of murder we’ve ever seen.”
Scott said last week that the community was pushing for Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill to resign after the incomprehensible decision.
In his decision, Gill said that the shooting was justified because slow-motion video of the encounter showed Harmon turning toward officers with a knife. A knife was recovered from the scene.
Fox, the officer who fired the fatal shots, said that Harmon told the police that he would “stab” them, although, in what I’m sure is not a coincidence, that wasn’t audible on bodycam footage.
“We felt that the officer was justified in the use of that lethal force,” Gill said. “He generally feared for his safety and the safety of other officers.”
However, in announcing the demonstration, Black Lives Matter said that Gill “is more concerned with his relationship to the Police Department than actually serving his community in a just fashion.”
Fox is currently on modified duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
Read more at ABC News.
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