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Police Chief Finally Acknowledges Kroger Shooting That Killed 2 Was A Hate Crime

Police Chief Finally Acknowledges Kroger Shooting That Killed 2 Was A Hate Crime

Written by Dana Sanchez

Oct 29, 2018

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After pressure from civil rights groups, the police chief and mayor of Jeffersontown, Kentucky, have finally acknowledged that racism was the motivation when a white supremacist shot and killed two African Americans at a Jeffersontown Kroger grocery store.

Maurice Stallard, 69, and Vicki Lee Jones, 67, died.

The gunman tried to break into a predominately African American church about 10 to 15 minutes before the shooting, according to police.

Black leaders gathered on Sunday in Louisville to criticize prominent city, state and national politicians who haven’t discussed the racial motivations, WDRB.com reported.

Members of civil rights group Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) said they want the shooter to be charged with same level of crime as the recent mail bomber and Saturday’s synagogue shooting suspect, Wave3 News reported.

“It is ridiculous to me and to my organization and all the people on this council today that this was not acknowledged as a hate crime because it is,” said Truman Harris with Louisville Black Lives Matter. “And I think we should take it a step further: It was also an act of terrorism.”

Harris said he’s disappointed that more local, state and national politicians have not quickly labeled the Kroger shooting as a hate crime and an act of terrorism.

Louisville resident Ed Harrell was waiting for his wife on Wednesday in the Krogers parking lot when he heard gunshots, grabbed his revolver and crouched down next to his car, the Courier-Journal reported. He saw the gunman walk nonchalantly through the parking lot with a gun by his side, and called out to ask what was going on.

The gunman replied: “Don’t shoot me. I won’t shoot you. Whites don’t shoot whites.”

Initially, police and local leaders did not classify the shooting as a hate crime, WDRB.com reported.

On Sunday, Jeffersontown Police Chief Sam Rogers told the congregation at First Baptist Church that the shooting was motivated by racism. He described it as “the elephant in the room that some don’t want to acknowledge in this case,” Courier Journal reported.

“I won’t stand here and pretend that none of us know what could have happened if that evil man had gotten in the doors of this church,” Rogers said, noting the alleged shooter told one man “whites don’t kill whites” before his capture.

Rogers was slow to acknowledge that, News One reported. He said there were parallels between the Kroger shooting and the mass shooting Saturday at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where the gunman made anti-Semitic statements before killing 11 people.

 

“These two most recent examples of hate crimes were carried out by evil people that base their beliefs and actions on ideas and ideals that are contrary to the good of the American people,” he said.

Jeffersontown Mayor Bill Dieruf also acknowledged racism: “I want you all to realize that yes, we have a race problem. Yes, it is real,” he said, arguing his city shouldn’t be defined by one person’s actions. “It’s up to us to solve the problem of racism.”

The accused shooter, 51-year-old Gregory A. Bush Sr., has a history of mental illness, made racist threats and repeatedly called his ex-wife the N-word, according to court records. A 2009 domestic violence conviction and several others prevented him from legally owning guns.

“We as a community need to send the message that this is not acceptable, and therefore this individual should not be allowed to use mental illness, as an excuse to escape justice,” said Tyra Walker, of the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Oppression.

What is a hate crime?

A hate crime is murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias, according to the FBI — a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.’ Hate itself is not a crime, and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties.”

The Kroger shooter should be charged with same level of crime as the recent mail bomber and Saturday’s synagogue shooting suspect, civil rights group Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) said on Sunday, according to Wave3 News.

 

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