Officer Charged With Homicide After Killing Unarmed Black Man

A police officer was charged with homicide Wednesday (June 27^th) in the death of Antwon Rose Jr. an unarmed black man who was shot in the back while running from a traffic stop in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

CBS News report, Prosecutors produced inconsistent statements from Officer Michael Rosefeld, who is a white man, about whether he saw a gun in Rose’s hand, saying he thought he did, but then say he didn’t.

Protests have been going on since the June 19^th shooting by Rosefeld, who’d been sworn in just hours before the incident. The car Rose was in had been stopped on suspicion of involvement in a drive-by-shooting, but investigators had determined Rose had done nothing wrong.

Witnesses described him as having showing his hands before the shooting, expressing he didn’t have a weapon. Antwon’s parents are hoping the ongoing investigation is going to be fair. She told ABC News on Sunday that the officer shot her son in cold blood.

Every time you turn on the TV, there’s a young African-American male shot by the police,” she said through tears. “And you say, ‘I feel sorry for them.’ But ‘them’ is me. But ‘them’ is him.

Rosefeld bail was set at $250,000 according to court documents and his hearing is scheduled for July 6^th.