UPDATED PRESS RELEASE
The fatal shootings of unarmed people and the mentally ill by Dallas police must end!




 
A Vigil for the Victims

DATE: Wed 8/13/14                     Time: 8pm-10:30pm
Location: DPD Headquarters
1400 S. Lamar St. Dallas, Tx

                             For Immediate Release
Contacts:
John Fullinwider
jhfullinwider@gmail.com
(214) 683-2493

Collette Flanagan
mapbdallas@gmail.com
(214) 989-8888
Dallas Police killed 2 victims in less than 24 hrs.
Mothers Against Police Brutality Announces Vigil for the Victims to Honor the Unarmed and Mentally Ill People Shot to Death by Dallas Police Officers.

 

 

The fatal shooting of unarmed and mentally ill people by the Dallas Police Department is unjustified, and the officers involved are not being held accountable by the City of Dallas. There have been more than seventy  unarmed and mentally ill people killed by Dallas police since the year 2002, and not one indictment for a fatal shooting.

 

The autopsy of Jason Harrison, a mentally ill man killed by two Dallas officers on June 14, 2014, found six gunshot wounds in all and two shots in the back. In the fatal shooting of the reportedly  disturbed Andrew Scott Gaynier, on August 10, 2014, the Dallas officer fired five times at the unarmed man. These deaths did not have to happen.

 

We call on all people of conscience to join us in a non-violent protest to honor the lives, to protest the needless deaths, and to support the bereaved families of these two men and the other unarmed or mentally ill victims killed by Dallas police officers, including: 

 

Clinton Allen, James Harper, Tobias Mackey, John Husband III, Kendrick McDaniel, Brandon Washington, Salvador Munoz, Geraldo Pinea, and others.

 

 

We will assemble at 8 p.m., with the ceremony of remembrance and vigil lasting till 10:30 p.m. Participants are encouraged to bring a small flashlight to shine a light on police practices that have to change.

 

UPDATE:  August 13, 2014: In the remembrance ceremony we will be laying a wreath on the plaza at the police headquarters, with placards naming the people, unarmed and/or mentally ill, who have lost their lives at the hands of Dallas police officers. 

 

 

The Dallas Police Department must change.  The deadly force policy must change. The policies for engaging mentally ill persons must change. The investigation of police violence and homicide must change. The grand jury review of police violence and homicide must change.

 

"Let's come together Wednesday night and build a movement to demand these changes," said Collette Flanagan, who founded MAPB after her son, unarmed, was shot to death by a Dallas police officer in March 2013. "I know what it is to lose a son to police violence - I know the pain all too well.  We have to stand up for our families - and for all families harmed by police brutality. We are calling on religious, political, and community leaders from throughout Dallas to make this issue their issue."

 

"When a police officer kills an unarmed or mentally ill person, he or she does it in the name of the public - in our name," said John Fullinwider, a co-founder of MAPB. "The officer is authorized to use deadly force by Mayor Rawlings, by City Manager Gonzalez, by the City Council.  Will they take no responsibility for these official homicides?  As a community, we have to take responsibility and say clearly: not in our name, not one more senseless police killing."

 

 

More than 70 fatal shootings of unarmed and mentally ill people since 2002...Not one indictment by the DA's office.
Jason Harrison

 

Harrison, a mentally ill man killed by two Dallas officers on June 14, 2014, shot six times with two shots in the back. 

Capt. Juan May
Unarmed, shot and killed by off duty officer  on June 22, 2014.

Clinton R. Allen

25 yrs old, Unarmed, shot 7 times, once in the back on March 10, 2013 by Dallas policeman Clark Staller. Badge# 9514

 

 

 

 

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