The Black Lives Matter chapter of Washington, DC, has called for the public not to automatically hail cops shot on the job as “heroes” before all facets of a situation are considered.
In a series of tweets late Sunday, Black Lives Matter DC said the public should not “jump to conclusions” after a Metropolitan Police officer was wounded by a barricaded suspect late Sunday in the city’s Petworth section.
“Let’s wait till we have all the information (isn’t that what y’all tell us),” the chapter tweeted late Sunday.
Black Lives Matter DC compared Sunday’s shooting to earlier fatal gunfire involving police, including incidents in 2021 and 2017, while calling on people to wait for more facts to be released in the most recent encounter.
“This isn’t to say these scenarios represent what happened tonight, but it does explain our skepticism, interest in details, and highlights the different in how people talk and act when an officer is hurt vs when they hurt a Black person,” the BLM chapter tweeted. “No one asks what the cop did wrong.”
The group said “reaction” and news coverage of the shooting was tilted toward law enforcement while tweeting out an incomplete list of people killed by Metropolitan Police during incidents last year.
“This is the point we’ve been making for months,” a subsequent tweet read. “Tear jerker press conferences and proclamations of heroes coming soon. Imagine if people knew these folks’ name. Being black in DC is more dangerous than any job.”
The group also included a link to its #StopMPD campaign, which calls for an end to “police violence and terror” while pushing back on counterclaims that not all cops are “bad” officers.
“This assertion is almost always coupled with examples of law enforcement officials who step outside of their assigned duties to ‘help’ Black people and champions the belief that we can change systems by changing the individuals who work within this system, but not the system,” the anti-police campaign reads. “We’ve seen time and again that doesn’t work.”
The webpage also claims the nation’s capital is an “occupied police state” that was never intended to protect people of color.
A message seeking additional comment from Black Lives Matter DC was not immediately returned Monday.
But some online critics took aim at the social movement and its supporters for the tweets, saying police officers are indeed heroes.
“They serve and protect our communities,” one reply read. “Your list has one common factor. They were all criminals or they [had] a weapon in hand. Do your research before you make these statements.”
One of the men noted by Black Lives Matter DC, Vedo Hall, 26, of Washington, DC, was fatally shot by a cop in May after holding his ex-girlfriend hostage, WUSA reported.
The cop who shot Hall was not charged in the incident following an investigation by federal prosecutors, the station reported.
The officer who was wounded Sunday, meanwhile, had been treated and released from a hospital, DC police said early Monday.
“We wish him a speedy recovery and thank him for his courageous efforts,” department officials tweeted.
Police Chief Robert Contee III told reporters a suspect who was acting “very suspicious” shot the officer during a confrontation. The cop, who suffered a hand injury and a graze wound to the head, did not return fire, a police spokeswoman told the Washington Post.
No arrests have been made in the incident as of Monday afternoon, a police spokeswoman told The Post. Cops said the suspect who had been barricaded managed to escape, which Black Lives Matter DC officials questioned on Twitter.
“So … it’s just concluded? No incident or arrests huh?” the chapter tweeted. “Interesting. Make it make sense.”