Sacramento SWAT Team Shoots And Kills Black 19-Year-Old Who They Say Was Holding A Pellet Gun
A Sacramento SWAT team shot and killed a Black teenager who they say was armed with a pellet gun at the time.
According to a press release from the Sacramento Police Department, officers fatally shot Darell Richards, 19, after receiving a 911 call about a masked man pointing a gun at people.
Police released the audio of the 911 call, in which the caller said the man pointed a gun at him and his co-workers.
“He didn’t say anything, but he just pointed [the gun] at us and he walked off,” the caller tells the dispatcher during the 911 call.
After the call, police searched for a man wearing a black hoodie, gray pants and a backpack. When cops found the suspect, whom they identified as Richards, they said he ran into a residential area. SWAT and K9 units searched the area for Richards.
Police said SWAT officers found the suspect in the backyard of an occupied home at 3:12 a.m.
“Officers observed the suspect with a gun in his hand and ordered him to drop his weapon. The suspect pointed his weapon at officers, who then fired at the suspect,” police said in the statement.
Although officers performed CPR on Richards, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
At the scene of the shooting, police found a knife and a pellet gun, which they said resembled a handgun.
The two officers involved in the shooting were are on administrative leave.
After news of the shooting broke, activists have questioned why police were able to detain and arrest white terrorists who committed mass shootings but are unable to detain Black suspects.