As you read this story check out yesterday’s Flashpoints radio show on KPFA that gives up to the minute details as to what went down with the killing of Andy Lopezmany of the reporters from our station live up in Sonoma County and are very familiar with the community.. http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/96473

RIP Andy Lopez

The death of 13-year-old Andy Lopez at the hands of sheriff deputies in Santa Rosa should not be treated as something that is routine, even though death at the hands of the police in Black and Brown communities happens far too often…

The death of Andy Lopez should not be excused because he was carrying what police described as a realistic looking toy gun…In an age where we have hundreds of video games, reality shows, HD movies etc, realism in toys is a fact of life and police officers are well paid and have extensive training to 1-know the difference and 2-deal with that reality..

In other words, lets not get it twisted and start thinking that Black and Brown kids are the only ones with toy guns.. White kids have them as well. White kids run around with fake toy guns, paint ball guns and even real guns and don’t get shot by police who ‘feared for their lives’..

The faces of grieving white moms are not splattered across our TV sets because law enforcement shot their sons..Its always Black and Brown.. Contrast the shooting death of 13-year-old Andy Lopez  who shot no one and had a toy gun with that of James Holmes the man who shot up a theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70… Even though there was concern he had explosive attached to him, he was APPREHENDED without incident.. He wasn’t blown away… We can cite dozens of examples where police manage to disarm ARMED people..

Why are they able to do this? Because they are trained. They practice and practice reacting to all sorts of hair-raising scenarios. They train so that when they come across a 13-year-old with a fake gun, they don’t panic and start shooting..

But in the case of 13-year-old Andy Lopez, we are told he refused to put down the gun after police asked him twice. Are we to believe that he wanted to be shot? Was this 13-year-old doing death by suicide? Are we to believe he thought he could spook the police by pointing a fake gun at them? Was he a criminal on the run facing a 3rd strike and this was his last desperate stand? Why does a 13-year-old point a gun at well-trained better armed police?? It makes no damn sense.

Witnesses in Santa Rosa are noting the gun had an orange tip on it indicating it was a toy and that no one had called the police to complain.. More deatils on this case are emerging as we speak..

**Additional details to this tragedy.. Andy Lopez was shot in an open field where local kids go to play and do target practice with BB guns. He also had headphones on.. He was shot as he was turning around and then shot several more times as he on the ground. Police handcuffed before giving him CPR..more details to come..****

Sadly Andy Lopez joins a long line of victims killed by police who thought the folks they shot had a gun..We can look at actor Anthony Lee who was shot to death at a Halloween Party several years ago for holding a toy gun..Police shot through a window 9 times without warning when he raised up his gun. They ignored white guests dressed as cops who were standing nearby.  You can read that HERE.

Earlier this year police in San Jose had to pay nearly 5 million dollars to Javier Gonzales-Guerrero who was also at a Halloween Party when he was shot. In Guerrero’s case he had fallen asleep holding his fake gun which was part of his costume. Police approached him woke him up, ignored his pleas not to shoot and shot him 20 times.. He was left with bullets in his spine.. You can Read about that HERE

Not sure what it’s going to take for this to cease..But obviously there are far too many trigger happy cops.. There are far too many instances where they life is not valued and they see an enemy or an animal and not a son, daughter and fellow human being.. There was no excuse to shoot Andy Lopez.

There is a Facebook support page for Andy Lopez ..You can access it HERE

Our heartfelt condolences to the family. We can only imagine what they are going through and how they are feeling..

photo; Tess Unger