Family of Donnell Thompson during an emotional press conference
Los Angeles, CA — The LA Sheriff’s Department has admitted that an unarmed African American man killed by deputies in Compton, California on July 28th was not involved in a carjacking and pursuit. According to the department, they were pursuing Robert Alexander, an armed carjacking suspect that led deputies to the neighborhood where 27-year old Donnell Thompson, Jr., who had nothing to do with the carjacking, was shot and killed.
Naturally, Thompson’s family is highly upset especially since it was also revealed that the real suspect was already in custody when Thompson was gunned down. Even more, Thompson had a mental disability and had the mental capacity of a 15-year old. “Why would SWAT and dogs have to surround a man who weighed 130 pounds and stood about 5 feet 3 inches tall?” asked Matrice Stanley, Thompson’s oldest sister.
Thompson’s older brother Dwayne Hill said he wanted to “make sure [his] brother’s name is being cleared” and demanded a public apology from the police department.
To make matters even worse, the killing happened on the second anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown, another unarmed African American man that was killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri back in 2014.
Captain Steven Katz of the sheriff’s Homicide Bureau, comments, “We share the concerns of the family. The Sheriff’s Department is deeply concerned.” He also announced that the deputy who fired the shot is now on desk duty, pending an investigation by the district attorney’s office.
Local organizers of Black Lives Matter issued a statement saying hat Thompson was “unarmed and wrongfully killed” and that “police and [the] sheriff’s department can no longer be allowed to police themselves.”
Watch the video below: