Conduct of armed white man at Black Lives Matter protest must be investigated

Tallahassee, FL —   A man who pulled a gun on peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrators on Saturday, Aug. 29th in Tallahassee has yet to be charged for the incident despite video of the encounter, with law enforcement saying it believes he was defending himself.
 
The following is a statement from Carrie Boyd, policy director for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Florida:
 
“We hope that State Attorney Jack Campbell looks at this incident with fresh eyes and does not just take the word of the Tallahassee Police Department. People who are exercising their right to peacefully protest should not fear that they will be shot and killed. The recent tendency of police to look the other way and condone this behavior in Tallahassee and other places is disturbing and must be called out. Let’s make this clear: if a Black counter-protester had pulled out a gun at any rally, the outcome would’ve been very different.

“The video shows that this man did not appear to be in danger before he pulled a gun on innocent bystanders. His actions caused dozens of people — who had come to express their support for Jacob Blake who was shot in Wisconsin, and to speak out against racism — to fear for their lives.”