Family Claims Ohio Father Was Shot Dead by Police in Wal-Mart Over Toy Gun

John Crawford III lost his life over a toy gun. Suggested Reading Flint’s Water Crisis Ends With A Major Development Songs by White Artists You Can Add to Your Black Cookout Playlist NBA’s Mike Beasley’s Alleged Gambling Issues Have Him Owing Money to Who?? Video will return here when scrolled back into view Trump’s Tariffs…

John Crawford III lost his life over a toy gun.

Video will return here when scrolled back into view
Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?
Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?

At least thatโ€™s what his relatives are claiming, and they are taking their case to civil rights organizations, the Dayton Daily News reports.

According to the news site, on Tuesday night Crawford was talking on his cellphone to the mother of his two children, LeeCee Johnson, when he was gunned down by police while standing in an aisle at Wal-Mart.

โ€œWe was just talking. He said he was at the video games playing videos, and he went over there by the toy section where the toy guns were.โ€ Johnson said, according to the news site. โ€œAnd the next thing I know, he said, โ€˜Itโ€™s not real,โ€™ and the police start shooting, and they said, โ€˜Get on the ground,โ€™ but he was already on the ground because they had shot him.โ€ She added, โ€œAnd I could hear him just crying and screaming. I feel like they shot him down like he was not even human.โ€

The 22-year-old Fairfield, Ohio, native reportedly had a third child on the way, also with Johnson, who didnโ€™t get the chance to tell Crawford about the pregnancy.

โ€œHe had a lot of family members that cared about him and his kids. Theyโ€™re not going to be able to know their dad. Theyโ€™re too youngโ€”only 4 months [Jayden Crawford] and a year old [John Crawford IV]โ€”to even know how wonderful he was to them,โ€ she said.

His cousin Lamon Brown insists that Crawford didnโ€™t even own anything that resembled a gun. โ€œHe does not own [a riflelike weapon]. We think it was a toy,โ€ Brown said. โ€œAfter these things happen, they usually report what kind of gun it was, but theyโ€™re not saying what kind of gun it was.โ€ย He said that the family has reached out to the NAACP and National Action Network.

The police chief in Beavercreek, Ohio, said that his officers responded appropriately, the Dayton Daily News reports. According to the New Yorkย Daily News, the Ohio attorney general says policeย shot Crawford because he was carrying a pump air rifle, which is similar to a high-powered BB gun. It cannot kill a person but can be used to kill small animals in close range.ย 

Johnson disagreed that the shooting was appropriate and told the Dayton Daily News that officers did not speak to her after the incident. Sheโ€™s hoping that camera footage and phone records will bring the truth to light. โ€œI hope the police get fired and sent to jail, because [the officer who shot him] didnโ€™t do his job. He didnโ€™t treat him like a human being. He didnโ€™t treat him like someone at Wal-Mart looking at toy guns,โ€ she told the news site.

A woman claiming to be Crawfordโ€™s girlfriend, Tasha Thomas, said that she was with Crawford at Wal-Mart but was in a different aisle during the shooting. Thomas insisted that Crawford was not armed when he was in the store.

โ€œHe did not have any type of gun on him,โ€ she said. โ€œItโ€™s not fair.โ€

Read more at the Dayton Daily Newsย and theย New York Daily News.

Straight From The Root

Sign up for our free daily newsletter.