Smoking Gun: Say Their Names

Last year, police shot and killed 13 people who were unarmed and Black. Here are their names.

In 2020, according to a database managed by The Washington Post, police officers shot and killed exactly 1,000 people in the line of duty, topping each of the previous five years, where the number of these deaths by cop ranged from 961 to 999.

Of these 1,000 people, 432 were white, 226 were Black, 156 were Hispanic, and 186 were “other” or “unknown.” Black people accounted for 23 percent of those killed, although they make up only about 13 percent of the population.

Overall, 376 of the people shot and killed by police between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2020, were unarmed, including 128 Black people. Last year, seven years after the start of the Black Lives Matter movement, police shot and killed 13 people who were unarmed and Black.

It is a small subset of the large category of police violence, and it does not include people killed by means other than shooting, like George Floyd on May 25, or cases involving Black people legally licensed to carry a weapon, like Casey Goodson of Ohio, killed with three shots in his back on December 4.

Here are the names of the 13 unarmed Black people shot and killed by the cops last year.

Andre Maurice Hill, forty-seven, shot on December 22 in Columbus, Ohio, by police responding to a nonemergency call while he was holding his cell phone and exiting a garage that he had every right to be in. Officer Adam Coy, who shot Hill and then failed to provide emergency assistance, was fired.

Marcellis Stinnette, nineteen, shot in a car that had begun moving on October 20, in Waukegan, Illinois. The officer who shot him, Dante Salinas, was terminated for “multiple policy and procedure violations” but has not been charged.

Anthony Jones, twenty-four, tased and then shot after exiting his car on October 12 in Bethel Springs, Tennessee. The incident is still under investigation; no charges have been filed.

Julian Edward Roosevelt Lewis, sixty, shot in his vehicle on August 7 in Sylvania, Georgia, after being stopped for a broken tail light. Officer Jacob Gordon Thompson has been charged with felony murder and aggravated assault.

Robert D’Lon Harris, thirty-four, shot as a passenger in a stopped car on June 25 in Vinita, Oklahoma. The local district attorney deemed the killing justified.

Maurice S. Gordon, twenty-eight, pulled out of his car and shot six times by trooper Randall Wetzel after being stopped for speeding on May 23 in Bass River, New Jersey. No charges were filed; the troopers’ union has sued to block the release of names of officers in similar situations.

Shaun Lee Fuhr, twenty-four, shot while running from police in Seattle, Washington, on April 29. Fuhr, who had allegedly been beating his girlfriend, was holding their baby at the time. The officer who killed him was not charged.

Mychael Johnson, thirty-one, shot on March 20 in Tallahassee, Florida, while allegedly resisting arrest on the charge of car-jacking. The shooting was deemed justified.

Breonna Taylor, twenty-six, shot March 13, during an early-morning raid on her home in Louisville, Kentucky. No one was charged in her killing, but one of the officers involved is suing her boyfriend, who was also present, for “severe trauma, mental anguish, and emotional distress.”

Donnie Sanders, forty-seven, shot in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 12, while running from his car after being pulled over by police. The officer, whose name was not released, was not charged. A memorial erected at the place where Sanders died was removed.

Barry Gedeus, twenty-seven, shot on March 8 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, while fleeing police. No charges have been brought against the officer responsible, Robert Morris, who has had eighty-two use-of-force incidents reviewed since 2006, none of which have led to disciplinary action.

Jaquyn O’neill Light, twenty, shot “accidental or in self-defense,” on January 29 in Graham, North Carolina, after he unintentionally collided with an officer who was entering his home. No charges were filed.

William Howard Green, forty-three, shot on January 27 in Temple Hills, Maryland, while handcuffed inside a patrol car after being stopped for erratic driving. The officer responsible, Michael Owen Jr., who is Black, was arrested on multiple charges including second-degree murder. His trial is pending.