Policed shouldn’t have used a golf gun, it put holes in Juan. Update to this previous story.
Via The Columbian
The rallying cry in Ferguson was “Hands up, don’t shoot!” In New York, it was “I can’t breathe!” In Pasco these days, the protest signs say things like “It was just a rock!!!”
In a case with unmistakable echoes of Ferguson and New York, demonstrators have gathered every day over the past week in front of City Hall to demand answers in the deadly police shooting of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, a 35-year-old Mexican immigrant and former orchard worker who authorities say was throwing rocks at officers.
The Feb. 10 killing — captured on cellphone video by an onlooker — was the fourth by law enforcement officers in Pasco in less than a year. It has sparked calls for a federal investigation and roiled this fast-growing agricultural city of 68,000, where more than half the residents are Hispanic but few are members of the police force or the power structure.
Protesters and police officials alike say they want to avoid the violence and acrimony that happened in Ferguson, Missouri, last year when officers shot and killed an unarmed black 18-year-old.
“We will continue to be calm, until they give us a reason not to,” said protester Hector Alamillo, 62, of Pasco. “We are not a Ferguson. We will not burn things down.”
But Alamillo said Hispanics are “very distrustful right now” and are wondering why officers did not use non-lethal force to subdue Zambrano-Montes.
In the cellphone video, Zambrano-Montes is seen running across a busy street, pursued by three officers. As he stops and turns around, gunshots ring out and he falls dead.
While the shooting is under investigation by a regional task force — and being watched by the FBI — police have said that Zambrano-Montes had hit two officers with rocks and had refused to put down other stones. They also said a stun gun failed to subdue him.[…]
Police have said Zambrano-Montes was not armed with either a gun or a knife. Whether he had a rock in his hand when he was shot is still under investigation, said Kennewick police Sgt. Ken Lattin, spokesman for the regional investigative unit. All three officers — two whites and one Hispanic — opened fire; the number of shots has not been disclosed.[…]
In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Felix Vargas, chairman of Consejo Latino, a local Hispanic group, said the investigation by the regional unit will have “no credibility whatsoever.” He noted that the unit exonerated officers in three other recent fatal shootings in Pasco.
“The eyes of the world are on Pasco,” Vargas said. “We fully expect charges to be brought.”