Montgomery, Alabama, the cradle of the Confederacy and birthplace of the civil rights movement has joined a growing list of American cities. A list it probably wishes it could avoid. The city now has an unexplained shooting death of a Black man by a white police officer.
Last week, a police officer shot and killed Greg Gunn, 58 years-old. Gunn was walking home from a late night card game Wednesday morning sometime after 3:00 am when he was stopped by an officer.
According to reports, Gunn was stopped because he looked suspicious. He responded that he lived in the neighborhood. The Montgomery law enforcement officer would not accept his explanation for why he was walking in the area.
Then, Gunn, who lived with his mother a few steps from where he was stopped by the cops, lit out for home. He reached a neighbor’s door and was pounding on the door trying to gain entrance.
Gunn was pulled from the door of his neighbor’s home by a Montgomery cop, who dragged him onto the front lawn of his neighbor. He was shot five times. Three shots entered his front torso. These shots caused him to fall face down onto the lawn.Then he was shot twice in the back.
Montgomery authorities are not releasing much information on the shooting death of the Alabama State University graduate. They cite the fact that there is an ongoing investigation as a reason for them to withhold information about the shooting. However, authorities do contend the officer fired on Gunn because Gunn had a weapon.
Black community leaders close to discussions with the local law enforcement authorities said they have heard speculation that Gunn was carrying “a pole or a retractable painter’s stick.”
Gunn worked at “a local neighborhood grocery story and did odd jobs in the neighborhood,” said one of his Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity brothers.
Ironically, Gunn is the son of one of Montgomery’s first Black police officers.
Community leaders, including Black Lives Matter Montgomery, have demanded that the police department not send anymore white police officers to police the Black community. They reason, inasmuch as white officers are quick to say they feel threatened when stopping Black people, it is better that they only police white communities.
State Representative Alvin Holmes terms the death of Gunn as an execution and is demanding that murder charges be brought against the officer who shot Greg Gunn to death.
Family members and community leaders are outraged that while Gunn lay dying across the street from his mother’s house, the police would not allow her to come out of the house to attend to him; nor after Gunn made repeated screams to his mother for help, would the police allow the paramedic unit to administer first aide.
Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist, the author of Paper puzzle and Justice in the Round. He can be contacted at haroldmichaelharvey.com.
SOURCES:
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/videos/news/local/2016/02/25/80944880/
An execution.
Anyway you look at it, it should never have happened.
Thank you for covering the story.
Thank you for your encouragement.
My thing Michael is one question i would like to know from mpd is if the officer was struggling with mr.gunn for a whole block, why when neighbors heard the shots and looked out officer Smith car was already at the scene, remember now he said he was out his cruiser a whole block away, unless he has some type of magic powers like bewitch and twitch his nose and the cruiser drove itself to the scene,and i know their cruiser are not a google car.
Good question. The Preliminary Hearing is schedule for March 24 and I plan to be there to hear all of the details for myself. I am curious about how this alleged struggle took place too.