Maryland cops execute 4:30 a.m. raid on home, kill a man with no record, refuse to release reasons
At 4:30 a.m. last Thursday, in the affluent DC suburb of Potomac, Maryland, a SWAT team raided a home, then fatally shot a 21-year-old man who'd been asleep before the cops threw "flash-bang" grenades into his bedroom.
Now county authorities are refusing to disclose the reason for the 4:30 a.m. raid, or the offense they accuse the man of having committed. They've refused to release body-cam videos. They've even refused to release the search warrant some dumb-ass judge apparently signed to authorize the raid.
The county did issue a police press release, which referred only to “firearms offenses.”
The refusal to disclose any of the relevant information has led some residents to believe that either official malice or police negligence may have been involved.
The victim, 21-year-old Duncan Lemp, doesn't appear to have been selling drugs, nor involved in any other illegal activity. His only criminal record.was a speeding ticket last year.
Montgomery County police have offered no explanation for the timing of the raid. Instead, they simply issued a press release after the raid announcing a “police-involved shooting.”
The police department has not asserted that Lemp had a firearm or any other dangerous device when he was slain.
Why was Lemp targeted? His attorney says the search warrant referred to Lemp as a “prohibited person”— meaning prohibited from owning firearms. No explanation of the reason was offered.
One fact stands out: Lemp was apparently a member of some online pro-gun groups and had allegedly expressed interest in joining a militia. His Instagram page shows two photos with the motto “Sic Semper Tyrannis”—the state motto of Virginia meaning “Thus always to tyrants.”
Maryland cops have a long history of deadly SWAT raids that kill innocent people or dogs — lots of dogs. After Maryland police wrongfully raided a mayor’s house and killed his canines in 2008, the legislature required police to report on every SWAT raid. Between 2010 and 2014, police in Maryland conducted over 8000 SWAT raids, killing nine people and injuring almost a hundred, as well as killing 14 animals. Those ghastly statistics helped spur the Maryland legislature to end, not SWAT raids, but recordkeeping on those raids.
Another barrier against finding the truth out about the raid is that Maryland treats police falsifying evidence as the equivalent of jaywalking. A Baltimore police officer was found guilty in 2018 of “fabricating evidence in a case in which his own body-camera footage showed him placing drugs in a vacant lot and then acting as if he had just discovered them.” The man who was arrested for those drugs was locked up for six months before the charge was dropped and he was released.
Sources: Here, and ABC news. Note the use of "loaded words" in the ABC story. ABC clearly wants the public to believe the cops were justified in killing Lemp.
Now county authorities are refusing to disclose the reason for the 4:30 a.m. raid, or the offense they accuse the man of having committed. They've refused to release body-cam videos. They've even refused to release the search warrant some dumb-ass judge apparently signed to authorize the raid.
The county did issue a police press release, which referred only to “firearms offenses.”
The refusal to disclose any of the relevant information has led some residents to believe that either official malice or police negligence may have been involved.
The victim, 21-year-old Duncan Lemp, doesn't appear to have been selling drugs, nor involved in any other illegal activity. His only criminal record.was a speeding ticket last year.
Montgomery County police have offered no explanation for the timing of the raid. Instead, they simply issued a press release after the raid announcing a “police-involved shooting.”
The police department has not asserted that Lemp had a firearm or any other dangerous device when he was slain.
Why was Lemp targeted? His attorney says the search warrant referred to Lemp as a “prohibited person”— meaning prohibited from owning firearms. No explanation of the reason was offered.
One fact stands out: Lemp was apparently a member of some online pro-gun groups and had allegedly expressed interest in joining a militia. His Instagram page shows two photos with the motto “Sic Semper Tyrannis”—the state motto of Virginia meaning “Thus always to tyrants.”
Maryland cops have a long history of deadly SWAT raids that kill innocent people or dogs — lots of dogs. After Maryland police wrongfully raided a mayor’s house and killed his canines in 2008, the legislature required police to report on every SWAT raid. Between 2010 and 2014, police in Maryland conducted over 8000 SWAT raids, killing nine people and injuring almost a hundred, as well as killing 14 animals. Those ghastly statistics helped spur the Maryland legislature to end, not SWAT raids, but recordkeeping on those raids.
Another barrier against finding the truth out about the raid is that Maryland treats police falsifying evidence as the equivalent of jaywalking. A Baltimore police officer was found guilty in 2018 of “fabricating evidence in a case in which his own body-camera footage showed him placing drugs in a vacant lot and then acting as if he had just discovered them.” The man who was arrested for those drugs was locked up for six months before the charge was dropped and he was released.
Sources: Here, and ABC news. Note the use of "loaded words" in the ABC story. ABC clearly wants the public to believe the cops were justified in killing Lemp.
posted by SF at
8:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home