Black Lives Still Matter, Con't

His name was Walter Wallace, Jr. and he was murdered in front of a dozen witnesses, shot ten times by two Philly cops, killed in the street in front of his family by monsters who made no effort to de-escalate the situation, and it was all caught on video.

Police officers fatally shot a 27-year-old Black man armed with a knife during a confrontation Monday afternoon in West Philadelphia, an incident that quickly raised tensions in the neighborhood and sparked a standoff that lasted deep into the night.

Late Monday into early Tuesday, police struggled to respond to vandalism and looting along the commercial corridor of 52nd Street, an area that was the scene of clashes between police and protestors earlier this summer. At least one police vehicle was set on fire Monday night and destroyed

By morning, an officer was hospitalized in stable condition with a broken leg after being struck by a pickup truck, police said. About 29 other officers suffered mostly minor injuries from being struck by rocks, bricks, and other projectiles, police said in a preliminary report.

Authorities detained 10 people overnight near 55nd and Pine Street, police said, and those people were set to be released pending possible charges of assaulting police or rioting. Police said officers arrested about 20 people in relation to looting at various stores in West Philadelphia, University City, Overbrook Park, and Center City, some of which were not near the protest.

Hours earlier, shortly before 4 p.m., police said, two officers responded to the 6100 block of Locust Street after a report of a man with a knife. Family members identified him as Walter Wallace Jr.

A video posted on social media showed Wallace walking toward the officers and police backing away. The video swings briefly out of view at the moment the gunfire erupts but he appeared to be multiple feet from them when they fired numerous shots.

Police spokesperson Sgt. Eric Gripp said the officers had ordered Wallace to drop the weapon, and he “advanced towards the officers.” Gripp said investigators are reviewing footage of what happened. Both officers were wearing body cameras.

He said both officers fired “several times.” After the man was shot, he fell to the ground, and Gripp said one of the officers drove him to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he died.

Walter Wallace Sr., the man’s father, said his son appeared to have been shot 10 times.

The video shows the cops drawing down on Wallace as he comes around between two parked cars. They back away and when Wallace continues forward they empty their clips into him from 15 feet away.

He had a knife though, so I guess that means summary execution, since apparently no cop has ever received training on how to handle a knife without going into full murder mode. And it wasn't just one cop, both of them blasted him like he was a video game villain.

I'm tired of this. I'm tired of people saying "But he had a knife and should have listened to the cops, oh well another dead n-----" and laughing while they scroll on past the story.

We've learned nothing as a country since George Floyd.

Black Lives Still Matter, though.