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After the Chapas called 911, two deputies responded to the scene. Shelton and her companion—identified as Mason Mycue on the police report obtained by The Roottold the deputies that they had just arrived home when the Chapas approached and accused them of vandalizing their car.

According to the couple, however, when Mycue realized that Shelton had been caught in the act, he offered to pay for the broken windows. He was not indicted on any charges related to the incident.

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“The local police, of course, did nothing. The neighborhood housing association, the local realtors, all offered nothing but a silent endorsement of the attack,” attorney S. Lee Merritt, who represents the Chapas, wrote in a Facebook post following the incident. “This was not Black History Month. This is not black history. This didn’t happen 50 years ago. It happened a few weeks ago. This is America 2018.”

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The Marion Police Department did not issue Shelton a citation. After weeks of inaction and public pressure, the department turned over the police report taken at the scene to the Guadalupe County District Attorney’s Office. A grand jury indicted Shelton Thursday afternoon.

In an interview with The Root, Merritt broke down how institutional violence reinforces the violent actions for which Shelton was eventually charged.

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“Incidents like this act of terrorism and intimidation are common tactics used since segregation was deemed unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in 1948,” Merritt said. “Law enforcement plays a pivotal role in enforcing the law, a duty the Marion Police Department has been decidedly derelict in upholding in this case. If hate crime legislation, discrimination statutes, and basic law and order is to mean anything, we must demand equal protection under the law for all citizens.”

This is a developing story ...