Another Ferguson? Wait, Wrong Race, No Interest

Why has there been no media interest in the police shooting of an apparently unarmed suspect in Salt Lake City?

Just two days after the shooting death of Michael Brown, an officer with the Salt Lake City Police Department shot and killed an unarmed 20-year-old. The Salt Lake City Police Department equips some of its officers with cameras. The department confirmed the officer who shot had a camera and that footage of the confrontation and shooting was captured, but they would not elaborate further, and the video of the encounter has yet to be released publicly. As with the Michael Brown case, this “lack of transparency” has caused some family members of the deceased to raise questions.

But what of the race of the decedent and of the cop?

The local newspaper, the Salt Lake City Tribune, reported the story this way:

“A wanted fugitive fatally shot by Salt Lake City police, who were looking for a man reportedly brandishing a handgun outside a convenience store, was unarmed and trying to comply with police orders when he was killed, his brother claims.

“Investigators, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation and need to protect evidence, remained mum on whether a gun was found at the scene of the Monday night shooting at a 7-Eleven store. … Police also would not discuss conflicting witness reports that Dillon Delbert Taylor, 20, appeared to have reached toward his waistband during the confrontation. …

“Taylor was facing a felony arrest warrant when police challenged him outside the store, court records confirm. But Taylor’s brother, 22-year-old Jerrail Pete Taylor — who court records show served time on a 2009 second-degree felony robbery count himself — insists that police did not mention the warrant when they approached him, his brother and a third man outside the store.

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