This is why the survival rates for African Americans is so dismal in this country: a DeKalb County security guard is being charged with what even the local police are calling ?murder? for recently shooting down 33-year-old Thearon Almond in the parking lot of the A2B Budget hotel.
Local Fox affiliate Fox 5 received cell phone footage leading up to the incident from two witnesses on the hotel balconies, and by the looks of it, it’s time for Almond’s family to sift through the pile of local Georgia attorneys for a good lawyer. Twenty-five-year-old security guard Deontray Cooper is likely facing a lawsuit on top of his criminal charges for murder.
Both videos lay pretty heavy claim that Almond was trying to convince Cooper that he was unarmed, just as Cooper should have been, himself. Security guards are not supposed to be armed at the A2B Budget hotel. And in fact, Cooper wasn’t armed. He had to run into the hotel’s office to retrieve the firearm in order to shoot Almond in the first place. That details is likely the heart of any suit Almond’s family may file, and certainly central to his murder charges, as well.
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Both videos also show Almond taking his shirt off, lowering his pants and waving his arms around as if he is angry, but attempting to avoid personal injury by showing Cooper that he was entirely unarmed. Apparently, Cooper’s anger (and perhaps fear) could not be squelched enough to keep Almond from paying with the ultimate cost of his life.
Almond’s brother Dwayne Anthony told Fox 5’s Portia Bruner:
?He took his shirt off. He had his hands up. He was leaving. Why should he shoot my brother??
As of Wednesday evening, the DeKalb County Police have taken care to charge Cooper with murder. No matter what Cooper is selling, to them, it’s clear the shooting was no accident, and definitely not in self-defense. Perhaps Cooper should be diagnosed with anger management and sent to some kind of rehab for his temper. It’s worth at least a trial run, don’t you think?
In the end, Almond lay dead and was confirmed to be unarmed, just as the video suggests he was communicating amidst all the trucks, cars and motorcycles smattered around the parking lot where the altercation took place.
Authorities did offer Cooper a smidgeon of insurance to hedge his charges, however, in claiming that Almond was acting ?erratic? and had been ordered to stay away from the hotel months before. So, there’s that. But Almond’s family say, before Cooper attempts to cash out and go home from his gamble with the law, that Almond’s actions still do not warrant use of deadly force. They also pointed out yet again that Cooper should have never been armed in the first place.
Almond’s cousin Kelvin Willis stated:
?If he had time to run inside the motel and get a gun from the office, he should’ve just called the police. This was premeditated murder and it’s wrong.?
No amount of compensation will bring back Thearon Almond, of course. And if you go state by state, you’ll see that these things happen all the time all across the nation, far above the national average of any other group. This is why survival rates are so much higher for black folks, and the root of all of that is systemic racism. If you want to make a difference and change this reality for the better, the first thing you can do is learn the differences between prejudice, bigotry, and racism. It’s been around so long and so prevalently that even many black folks? world perspective has become warped by it, hence the ?black on black? crime so many old white men in power like to point out as a means of shifting the focus off of themselves, the racist system their forefathers created, and the one which they still very much enable.
Time to open the books and get reading.
Featured image via screen capture
