Fresno cops fatally shoot man, 19, while searching for suspect with rifle, setting off protest with Confederate flags, 'White Lives Matter' signs
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/fresno-cops-shoot-kill-19-year-old-hated-life-article-1.2689168?cid=bitly
Rowdy protesters flocked to a California gas station Sunday after a 19-year-old man lamenting his life was fatally shot by cops searching for a rifle-toting suspect the previous day.
A demonstrator waving a Confederate flag was among those shouting “f--- the police,” throwing bottles and blocking the Fresno street where cops confronted the teenager for alleged speeding Saturday afternoon, according to local reports.
The group gathered following a Sunday night vigil where mourners posted signs that said “White Lives Matter,” a phrase appropriated from the “Black Lives Matter” movement to protest police-involved shootings of young black men.
Police said the suspect — identified in a report and by protesters as Clovis High School graduate Dylan Noble — continued driving for half a mile before pulling over during a traffic stop.
The driver, a white male, got out of the pickup truck, walked away and then refused to show his hands.
“The subject made a statement he hated his life,” Fresno Deputy Chief Pat Farmer told reporters Saturday.
Two cops, with body cameras strapped to their chests, feared that the suspect was reaching for a weapon behind his back and opened fire.
Those officers, who have a combined 37 years of experience on the force, shot the teen multiple times. He was hospitalized in critical condition and died while in surgery Sunday, according to KSEE-TV.
Investigators did not find a weapon after the shooting.
It’s unclear if the teen was the same man whom 911 callers claimed was carrying a rifle along a nearby street.
Relatives rushed to the crime scene and confronted Fresno police over the shooting.
KSEE-TV recorded video of a woman asking “Is he dead?,” while a man went face-to-face with a police officer and stated “You guys shot my kid?”
The television station said protesters attending a vigil for Noble threw glass bottles while facing off with a line of police officers outside the gas station.
It’s unclear if any arrests were made late Sunday.