Around 7:30 PM local time, demonstrators arrived at a Walmart in Maplewood, another suburb of St. Louis and close to the location of the fundraiser. Protesters made it into the store and started chanting and singing. Police were called to the scene, and the store was cleared out and closed. A number of protesters, including local activist and rapper Tef Poe, were arrested. One of those arrested still had her phone with her and tweeted out a photo of her and others in a jail cell. The Walmart shutdowns were significant because they were in remembrance of John Crawford, an Ohio man who was shot to death by two police officers in Beavercreek Walmart on August 5th. Crawford was carrying a non-lethal BB gun that he had picked up in the store. Police were called to the store because someone within the store called 911, claiming that there was a black male walking through Walmart waving a loaded rifle at customers. The police officers on the scene assumed Crawford was carrying a real gun due to the dispatch call. Amazingly, a grand jury decided last month not to file any charges against the officers who killed Crawford or the person who made the 911 call. Crawford’s case didn’t receive as much national attention as Brown’s death occurred four days later.
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 14:25:04 +0000
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