Harrisburg Police Shoot Bipolar Man In The Heart
https://thinkprogress.org/earl-pinckney-shooting-2218d903c256#.hykt3ypui
After police shot Earl “Shaleek” Pinckney in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Sunday, they said the 20-year-old was armed with a knife, threatening his mother, and refusing to follow their commands. But Kim Thomas says that her son wasn’t holding a knife when police shot him through a window, putting a bullet in Pinckney’s heart.
According to the police account offered on Monday, officers were responding to a call about a man endangering his mother. When they arrived, Pinckney was holding a knife to Thomas’ neck, but refused to put the weapon down. An unidentified officer shot the 20-year-old as his mother tried to get away.
But Thomas has since disputed the officers’ narrative, maintaining that Pinckney wasn’t holding a knife and was actually shot through a window.
Thomas said that cops were called earlier in the day about a family dispute, which picked up later in the evening before police arrived. Although her son, who was bipolar, had been arguing with his sister and a niece in his bedroom, Thomas was able to calm him down. Moments later, as Pinckney held her head, someone shined a light through his bedroom window and shot him in the heart.
“He didn’t have nothing in his hands,” Thomas said. “He was holding my head. They never came in.”
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