A murder in Philadelphia, that caused riots the last few days, has many questions that I doubt have solid answers. Walter Wallace was shot and murdered by 2 policemen below. “Shaka Johnson, a Wallace family attorney, said Mr. Wallace had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was taking lithium under a doctor’s care” (WSJ)
Reaction to What Happened
2 white cops shoot a black man who was wielding a knife. We don’t see the lead in to the shooting which may provide some answers to how long the cops were attempting to subdue Wallace. Early on in the vid the mom is making efforts to stop her son and the police are screaming, “put the knife down”. When Wallace appears around the car he takes leaping steps towards the officers and then stops completely before being gunned down. The cops fire 14 rounds in the blink of an eye, They start firing at :26 and stop firing at :29.
Questions on comment boards looks like:
- Why didn’t they use a taser? – Only 1/3 of officers carry tasers – NBC Phila
- Why didn’t they shoot him in the leg? – This is not practical and not what the officers are taught – CNN.com
- Why did the cops shoot so many times? – Officers fire until they’ve terminated a threat
News Outlets
The Inquirer describes Wallace, “A father of eight who struggled with mental illness. A quiet neighbor. An Uber Eats driver and aspiring rapper”.
Cnn.com – Wallace, who had nine children, suffered from bipolar disorder and was in crisis during the time of the shooting, his family said.
It’s unclear how many calls police responded to on Monday. CNN reached out to police and the family attorney for clarity. “The officers did not have what they needed. There wasn’t a less-than-lethal option available. They didn’t have Tasers,” Johnson explained. “A person is in mental decline and in crisis.”
“He can’t hurt a damn fly. He had mental issues,” his father, Walter Wallace Sr., told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Prime Time Tuesday night.
Fox News – “… was an aspiring rapper who sometimes rhymed about shooting people, including police officers, and was awaiting trial for allegedly threatening to shoot a woman, according to media reports. ” Court records obtained by the news outlet also show Wallace had a criminal history. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to robbery, assault and possessing an instrument of crime, according to documents obtained by Fox News. Authorities said he kicked down the door of another woman and put a gun to her head. Officers had been to Wallace’s home twice before on the day he was killed for domestic disturbances, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The family told the newspaper the third call was for an ambulance to help him deal with his mental health crisis, not for police, Wallace family attorney Shaka Johnson told reporters.
Notice the Difference?
He can’t hurt a damn fly or he kicked down the door and put a gun to a woman’s head? 8 children or 9? While digging for information I came up with this:
How To Spin It?
This is not cut and dry like the media wants to make it. Get the facts before you make opinions is what our society has decided to stop doing. Mainstream media would never report what is in that webpage above. It only creates divisiveness and divides society further. Yet spinning it like Wallace is a family man may be a little bit over the top. Combine the mental illness issue with a toxicity report to know what he was taking and this is not 2 white cops shooting a black man as much as the everyone wants it to be. That’s a simplified, mediafied, way of looking at it. If I was attacking 2 cops with a knife, I don’t think I would be that surprised if they shot me.
I’m not here to defame the dead, but I don’t believe you can take this killing and justify that it’s ok to loot 200 stores all over Philadelphia because BLM. This man has a history of criminal activity, is running at officers with a knife, and on medication. Should the officers let him slice their throats? Run away from the situation on the 3rd call of the day? Using this case as the spring board for rioting is wrong. If we reverse this and say that two black cops shot a white guy for the exact same behavior, I would say, “yeah, I get the situation is horrible but these officers felt that this was what they had to do to protect their lives.” In this one isolated incident, Wallace had the inability to surrender and resolve this matter peacefully. I’m not sure what the expectation is from officers who only have guns as weapons dealing with a dangerous individual.
The simple thought that “they didn’t have to kill him” is the underlying issue here which I totally understand. However, the media should report the story truthfully instead of spinning it to meet their goals. If that website I referenced is fabricated, egg on my head. I’ll retract and re-write this. However, if you read this and don’t think that it’s wrong for the media to use a prom picture of Wallace and call him a family man in order to spin this story so it justifies the acts of rioting, I’m not sure we are living on the same planet.
The Lone Ranger subdued a crook every episode. Every time, he shot the crook’s gun out of his hand without even drawing blood. Why can’t cops do the same?
It’s time to come clean, Bill, are you the Lone Ranger?
What were the guidelines or rules that the Lone Ranger followed?
Besides the creed of the Lone Ranger written by Fran Striker, there was also a code of behavior for the Lone Ranger and Tonto that was set forth by Trendel and Striker in the writers’ guide for Lone Ranger stories. This code was strictly followed on the Lone Ranger radio show and later for the television show and subsequent movies that were made. They are as follows:
The Lone Ranger never smokes, never uses profanity, and never uses intoxicating beverages.
The Lone Ranger is a man who can fight great odds, yet takes time to treat a bird with a broken wing.
The Lone Ranger believes that our sacred American heritage provides that every individual has the right to worship God as he desires.
Play down gambling and drinking scenes as far as possible, and keep the Lone Ranger out of saloons. When this cannot be avoided, try to make the saloon a cafe and deal with waiters and food instead of bartenders and liquor.
The Lone Ranger at all times uses precise speech, without slang or dialect. His grammar must be pure. He must make proper use of “who” and “whom”, “shall”. and “will”, “I” and “me”, etc.
The Lone Ranger never shoots to kill. When he has to use guns, The Lone Ranger never shoots to kill, but rather only to disarm his opponent as painlessly as possible.
It sounds like the Lone Ranger should be the new chief of police.
Great post for presenting more of the available information.
I still don’t understand why the police in this situation aren’t being called heroes for stopping an imminent threat to everybody on this street. We forget that the police weren’t just protecting themselves, but they were doing their job of protecting civilians who could have been victims to a violent person.