Young father John Crawford was shot and killed by police this week at a Wal-Mart store in Ohio, because he was apparently carrying around a toy gun that was available for purchase in the store. Police were called to the store by an irresponsible couple who had seen Crawford walking around with the gun pointed in the air.
According to the victim’s girlfriend, the police had shot Crawford before they even gave him a chance to put down the gun.
“We was just talking. He said he was at the video games playing videos and he went over there by the toy section where the toy guns were. And the next thing I know, he said, ‘It’s not real,’ and the police start shooting and they said, ‘Get on the ground,’ but he was already on the ground because they had shot him, and I could hear him just crying and screaming. I feel like they shot him down like he was not even human,” LeeCee Johnson, the victim’s girlfriend told reporters.
“He had a lot of family members that cared about him, and his kids. They’re not going to be able to know their dad. They’re too young, only 4 months and a year old, to even know how wonderful he was to them,” she added.
Johnson said that this was a murder and the police responsible need to be held accountable.
“I hope the police get fired and sent to jail, because (the officer who fired) didn’t do his job. He didn’t treat him like a human being. He didn’t treat him like someone at Walmart looking at toy guns,” she said
Johnson says that police did not even speak with her after the incident, but left her there to grieve with no explanation as to what happened.
When the incident first occurred, police maintained the story that Crawford was carrying a real gun, it wasn’t until the next day that police announced that the alleged weapon was a pellet gun that is sold in the store and often used as toy for children.
The death was ruled a homicide, but the coroner said that it could be weeks before their examination is complete.
Innocent bystander Angela D. Williams, 37, of Fairborn, also died following the shooting.
The county coroner said she was “apparently running from a dangerous situation inside the Walmart store when she collapsed. She was taken to Soin Medical Center where she died at 9:14 p.m.” In a sad twist, the mother of two was due to be wed on Saturday.
Police have yet to release footage of the shooting. Crawford’s friend, Bobbie Odneal, views that as highly suspicious.