Page 24 - Florida Sentinel 12-4-15 Edition

National
Teen Fatally Shot For Stealing
Iraq Vet Was A Hero In Planned Parenthood Clinic Shooting
4 Charged For Shooting Protesters In Minneapolis
Allen Scarsella is said to be the trigger- man.
Wayne Gustavsson was also charged.
Jamar Clark was killed by police on Novem- ber 23.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Allen Lawrence Scarsella, one of the four men who allegedly gunned down Minneapolis pro- testers last week, has been charged with five counts of as- sault with a dangerous weapon and one count of rioting while armed. The 23-year-old stands accused of shooting and injuring five Black Lives Matter support- ers on November 23.
Authorities have also charged
Nathan Wayne Gustavsson, Joseph Martin Backman, and Daniel Thomas Macey with riot counts.
The victims were camped out near the Fourth Precinct to protest the police shooting of 24-year-old Jamar Clark. Ac- cording to demonstrators, four masked men arrived at the scene and started filming them. Before they opened fire, the shooters refused to take off their masks or leave the protest.
Demonstrators immediately described the perpetrators as white supremacists. The shoot- ers, who were dressed in masks and military camouflage, fit the description of supremacists who protesters were warned about before the incident took place. The shooters are said to have yelled “race war” and “Trump 2016.” And prior to the shoot- ing, one white demonstrator identified the men as extrem- ists.
Despite the attack, commu- nity members have remained at the encampment to demand jus- tice for Clark, who was shot in the head. Hundreds of protest- ers have taken to the streets fol- lowing his death.
On Monday, Mayor Betsy Hodges asked protesters to leave the encampment on the grounds that officers have been threatened and campfires are hurting air quality.
The Minneapolis Police De- partment maintains an officer fired his gun during a physical altercation with Clark. The de- partment also claims Clark was not handcuffed at the time, al- though witnesses say otherwise. Protesters have called for the re- lease of video footage of the deadly encounter, but local and federal investigators have de- clined to do so
ST. LOUIS, MO --- A man who shot and killed a 13-year- old boy as he was stealing from an unlocked car was arrested, but U.S. prosecutors declined to press charges, police said.
Martinez Smith-Payne, who is black, was found un- conscious and bleeding in a back alley when police were called about a shooting in St Louis, Missouri at 12:47 am Sunday. He died in hospital.
"Investigation revealed the victim, along with two other juveniles, was attempting to steal items from an unlocked parked vehicle when the sus- pect confronted them, then fired shots at the juveniles," St Louis police said in a state- ment.
The shooter, who was iden- tified as a 60-year-old Black man, was immediately taken into custody. He was released
after prosecutors "refused" a police request to press charges, the statement said.
It was unclear if he was threat- ened by the teenagers prior to opening fire.
Police declined to provide further details about the inci- dent.
Prosecutors called the boy's death "a terrible tragedy" but said "Missouri law regarding a homeowner’s right to protect himself and his property is complicated."
A local news report said Martinez Smith-Payne had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and bipolar disorder and that his parents feared he had run away from home with- out his medications.
The boy, who lost four fin- gers in a fireworks accident at the age of 10, was found a few days later.
Ke”Arre Stewart did one Robert Dear shot and killed tour in Iraq. Stewart and 2 others last Friday.
An Iraq War veteran who was killed in the Planned Parent- hood shooting ran back inside the building after being shot to warn others to take cover.
Ke'Arre Stewart — a 29- year-old father-of-two — was hit after stepping outside the Col- orado Springs clinic because he did not have any cellphone serv- ice, according to brother, Ley- onte Chandler.
Chandler said it was his sib- ling's Army experience that prompted his final act of hero- ism. "I believe that's his mili- tary instinct, you know: Leave no soldier behind, leave no civil- ian behind, just leave no one be- hind," an emotional Chandler said. "So he ran back inside, try- ing to help out others. I don't know where he was at, as far as how many more breaths he had, but he knew. And before his time ran out I guess that was his main priority ... to help and save other lives."
Stewart was one of three people fatally shot after Robert Lewis Dear opened fire at the clinic last Friday. The 57-year- old appeared in court Monday. Chandler said that his brother's fiancée told him how his brother "went outside be- cause he didn't have [cellphone] service in the building." Then, "maybe 10 seconds later, the shots started being fired and he was hit."
He added: "He tried to run back inside the building — well, he did — and told the other peo- ple inside, you know, 'Take cover, get down.' People started taking cover, hiding in bath- rooms and whatnot."
Describing Stewart's ac- tions, Chandler added: "Peo- ple were terrified, people were crying and scared; seeing other people get shot ... I believe my brother put his life on the line to prevent that. That's definitely heroic.’’
Trial Starts For First Baltimore Police Officer Involved
In Freddie Gray’s Death
Freddie Gray died of a spinal injury sustained while in po- lice custody.
William Porter is the first police officer on trial.
Georgia Teen Honors His Hometown Negro League Players
MACON, GA — Gordon Smith, a local teen high school baseball player, re- cently honored several Black history heroes who were born in Macon, Georgia and played in the Negro League. He came up with the idea after he re- turned from a visit to the Negro League museum in Kansas City, Missouri, and re- alized that none of the players from Macon were being recog- nized.
“[The museum in St. Louis] was amazing because you would see a lot of history and the people that played Negro League baseball being hon- ored,” Gordon said.
So Gordon took it upon himself to raise more than $2,000 to create four wall plaques with a brief history of each of the players. Each of the plaques will soon be on display at Luther Williams Field lo- cated on Willie Smokey Glover Drive in Macon, GA. Built in 1929, this minor league sta- dium is the centerpiece of Cen- tral City Park and is the second-oldest minor league stadium in the country.
The honorees included: Ernest Fann - a catcher
and pitcher that led his base- ball team to state champi- onships in 1961 and 1962, and
Gordon Smith with Negro League player Robert ‘Bob’ Scott
went on to play with the At- lanta Black Crackers
Marion “Sugar” Cain - a pitcher and outfielder that started his career with the Pittsburgh Crawfords, and went on to play for the Brook- lyn Royal Giants and the Oak- land Larks.
Robert “Bob” Scott - a pitcher for the Macon Braves, Macon Cardinals, the New York Black Yankees, and the Boston Blues. He also played on the Jackie Robinson Barn- storming Team.
Lemuel Hawkins - a pitcher and first baseman that played for the Kansas City Monarchs, Chicago Giants, and Chicago American Giants. He also played in the 1924 Negro League World Series.
BALTIMORE, MD - Jury se- lection began on Monday in the trial of the first of six police of- ficers charged in the April death of a black man from an injury in police custody that set off rioting in Baltimore and in- flamed the U.S. debate on race and justice.
The death of Freddie Gray, 25, followed police killings of black men in other cities, in- cluding New York and Fergu- son, Missouri, that gave rise to the Black Lives Matter move- ment, which has staged more than year of mostly peaceful protests across the United States.
Some 20 protesters assem- bled outside the downtown courthouse where jury selec- tion was underway. Their cries of "No justice, no peace, no killer police," and "We won't stop until killer cops are in cell blocks" could be heard in the courtroom.
Officer William Porter, 26, faces charges including manslaughter, second-degree assault and misconduct in of- fice for Gray's death, the result of a spinal injury suffered in the
back of a police van after he was taken into custody for flee- ing an officer and possessing a knife.
Porter, who is Black, is ac- cused of ignoring Gray's re- quests for medical aid and not putting a seatbelt on him, even though he was shackled and handcuffed. He could face more than 25 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
Baltimore officials imposed a curfew and called in National Guard troops to quell rioting that followed Gray's death. Unlike in prior cases, prosecu- tors were quick to bring charges against the officers in- volved. Porter, a 25-year-old African American man, has been with the Baltimore Police Department since 2012.
In September the Baltimore city board voted unanimously to approve a $6.4 million wrongful death settlement for the family of Freddie Gray, who sustained fatal neck in- juries while in police custody in April.
The settlement will be paid in two installments: $2.8 mil- lion in the current fiscal year and $3.6 million in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2016.
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