If these motherfuckers are gonna keep their jobs as "public defenders" after they keep killing members of the public, they should at least be neutered.

the two stepbrothers are men, not boys. guys would be acceptable I suppose...

Did the white kid try to beat the cop unconscious with his skateboard? Maybe that's a bigger difference in treatment than race.

Charles, in your first post on the story, you referred to the two shoplifters as "men". In this post, you refer to them as "boys". Twenty-something males are considered men, not boys. Do not interchange the two in order to fit some narrative. It's irresponsible.

@5:

Then why do people constantly refer to females in their 20's or even 30's as "girls"?

@4 The important point here is that the cop, alone, not waiting for back-up, went after the two suspects himself. This isn't some harried community where the cops can't breathe before they have to run down another crime. You get pulled over for speeding, two, perhaps three units are there within minutes, just to eat the donuts and download porn.

And what the fuck about Safeway? They have their own damn security. They have surveillance cameras. They have employee eye-witnesses. The suspects have been to that Safeway before. It's not like they would simply disappear if the cop didn't pull a fucking Rambo. They could get an ID, figure out within a day who they were, and make an arrest. An easy, by-the-book arrest with no assaults, no attempted murders. All just by the cops deciding to do their damn jobs instead of solving everything by drawing weapons and shooting.

And yes, I do not call them boys or men, I call the suspects. Because until they are found guilty in a court of law, they are only suspects. Cops who choose to be judge & jury should not be tolerated.

People who harp on the point of "b-b-but they had skateboards, oh noooo!" have no clue how policing works or how he was trained by military police. He jumped straight to the most serious possible use of force over a skateboard. I urge you to actually listen to records of the police scanner as he gives a running commentary of how it came to be that he shot two young men in West Olympia. I was at that Safeway that night and must have barely missed this. It's surreal.

@7 If I recall the story correctly two cops arrived, heard the allegations and suspect descriptions, then split up to see if they could locate them. What exactly is Rambo-like about that?

I bet the cop could have and would have made an easy, by the book arrest if the two suspects had complied with orders.

At this point it is really impossible to say exactly what happened. Maybe the cop's life was really in danger and the two guys attacked him. Maybe he is just another racist POS that that thought he could get away with murderin' a couple of 'dangerous minorities.' Body cams please.

"Don't forget: Mike Brown was shot by a cop after an attempted shoplifting ..." I think it would be more call this a successful robbery, so your comparison with an actual shoplifting isn't very useful.

Did The Stranger interview any of the black people who were at this event??

So, it's OK to pursue unarmed suspects then shoot to kill? The police are trained to not un-holster their weapon unless they mean it. How is the behavior of this officer in ANY way de-escalating? When did not wanting to be arrested become a capital offense? If an officer felt threatened by individuals who otherwise were not a direct and imminent threat to the public why did he choose to escalate to gun violence himself? He pursued them. Wow, training and judgment fail. The actions of this officer put the general public at risk for no societal benefit. Even if he knew that they were the actual shoplifters (he did not) they were not at that time posing a direct threat to public peace or safety at that moment he chose to escalate. He chose to create that threat all by himself.

Police as trained professionals need to be actually held to a higher standard. Their talents need to be focused on how to never actually need to draw that gun. To blame unconvicted, unarmed suspect(s) as the cause of the violence is disingenuous at best and a direct threat to public safety at worst. The only way I can see any shooting like this and anything other than a jail-able offense is of the two suspects jointly ambushed and outright attacked the lone officer together.

Since police policy generally discourages going rogue after multiple unknown suspects alone, I'm having a real hard time seeing this as anything anywhere near justifiable. Chasing after men with skateboards while scared does not abrogate ones professional responsibility to the public to put safety (and lives!!!) first, punitive fear-based unjustified shooting oughtta be a tiny bit further down the to-do list for gun-toting public servant.

The degradation of society continues. This guy thinks that because he didn't get shot, it was because he was white.

Hey, if you want to be treated like everybody else, do like the other people did and try to run from the police, then attack them with your skateboard when they catch you. I'm sure they'll oblige and shoot you, too. But oh wait, you want to equate getting caught by security and patiently sitting there waiting for the cops to arrive with running away and attacking the cop. Because you're a moron. Who shoplifts. Got it.

Perhaps he didn't assault a police officer with a weapon - maybe that's why they didn't shoot him. Hmmmmm?

stupid kids should be protesting their parents for not teaching them right from wrong.

@17 Or sell cigarettes, or simply walk down the street being black? Those things will get you killed. Totally justified though, right?

The two men were shot for assaulting an officer. Not for shoplifting. Please don't muck up the facts. Be a more responsible journalist Mr Mudede.

The opening snippet about Kevin Johnson making the "white skateboarders" uncomfortable sounds pretty made up. I was one of the few skateboarders (actually with a skateboard) present during the entire demonstration and neither me nor any of my friends remember anything like that happening. Oh, you were so certain that some supporters of this protest didn't fully understand the situation and then you proceeded to make them feel uncomfortable? Good for you, sounds really beneficial to your movement. Also, not sure how specific you want to be but the "white skateboarder" in the photo is Native American.