I want to give the benefit of the doubt to the worker who called 911 to report a man asleep in his car on Taco Bell’s property. As I understand it, the worker reported that the man was slumped over the steering wheel and that the engine was still running. Let’s take it that the worker was concerned about the man’s well-being and was being a Good Samaritan. I wanna hope. Though, no ambulance or firetruck responded; but many police cars did, and they came prepared for action...to take out someone… as was shown by what followed. So what exactly did the Taco Bell worker say?
Within seconds of arriving on the scene, all six cops had emptied their guns in the car killing a 21-year-old rapper. Would expressing concern for someone elicit such a response?
The family of Willie McCoy, who was fatally shot by police at a Taco Bell in Vallejo over the weekend, are calling his death a "senseless" act.
McCoy—who made music under the moniker Willie Bo—was the target of "multiple rounds" fired by six Vallejo Police Department officers, according to a report from The Guardian. The shooting took place at a local Taco Bell, an employee of which had notified authorities that McCoy was "slumped over" in a silver Mercedes in a drive-thru lane…
In a statement, police have claimed the shots were fired "in fear for [the officers'] own safety." Police also claim that McCoy had reached for a handgun in his lap at the time he was killed, though they haven't alleged that he pointed the weapon at officers or anyone else.
Video (more an earwitness to murder) of cops in action:
So, the cops were told of a black man asleep in his silver Mercedes; they blocked his car, they determined that the doors and windows were all locked, they yelled at the driver waking him up, they claimed that the confused man reached for a gun and so they all became afraid for their lives and they all — all six of them — fired into the car so as to neutralize the perceived threat. Because he was a black man with a gun. And murdering him was the only option.
The family has retained the services of famed attorney John Burris.
“(But) it seems to me that, from a position of safety, you have to account for the fact that the person is going to wake up and not know who’s out there,” he said.
Burris said police should consider that a person waking under such circumstances could have a startled reaction.
Willie Bo was not on the run. He was not a wanted man, he had not shot up anywhere, he had not killed anyone, but yet his family is right now planning a funeral.
--— The Washington Post: In 2018, police killed 998 people —--
Willie McCoy is described by reports as an aspiring rapper. I went over to YouTube to check out his body of work and quickly concluded that I wasn’t his target audience. In the bits and pieces of his videos that I forced myself to watch, I thought “aspiring” was an apt description, but his friends described him as a very hard worker. His relatives described him as very kind and caring, and everybody is heartbroken about his murder. He was only 21; he should have been afforded the time to develop his sound, to perfect his craft, to mature. Or to fail. He had the right to get to continue his journey uninterrupted by racist, murderous cops.
--— In 46 days, police have killed 102 people —--
The Vallejo Police Department has offered its “thoughts and prayers” to the family of the now dead young man. Very classy of them. I am sure the grieving family members are comforted by “thoughts and prayers” even as they are forced to deal with the reality of their loved one reduced to a statistic (the 97th person killed by police in 2019) and a hashtag.
Rest in Power, Willie Bo. Condolences to your family and friends.
#JusticeForWillieBo