Tragic Use of Deadly Force

On Saturday afternoon I posted a story about two black teens who were harassed by police officers in the parking lot of the office where I work. The incident had taken place the day before, and stuck with me all night.
I thought about the questionable history of the Frederick Police Department. In 1998 they made Amnesty International headlines when they pulled over a man "for driving erratically on the wrong side of the road (he turned out to be suffering from hypoglycemic shock). He was reportedly beaten, pepper sprayed and repeatedly bitten by a police dog who was ordered into the car once it had come to a halt. He was reported to have suffered dog bite injuries to his arms and right thigh."
Later that same year they took an elderly school teacher to jail for driving too slow... Turns out she was on her way to a church here in Frederick, and got lost. She slowed down to see if the church she was approaching was the one she was looking for. She never got to find out however because "Frederick's Finest" pulled her over and roughed her up before hauling her off to jail.
For an encore performance, Frederick PD got into hot water over their "practices" in the now demolished John Hanson Housing Projects. It seems the police decided that anyone who did not live in the Housing Project was not allowed on the property. They began arresting violators and putting their names on some creepy list that they kept for god knows what purpose.
The "highlight" was when they wouldn't allow a 10 year old boy to visit his Grandmother who lived on the premises.
The NAACP of Frederick was rightfully furious and began protesting the actions. Finally the State Supreme Court stepped in and more or less chastised the Frederick Police Department for their blatant disregard for Civil Liberties and ordered them to stop making their list and start allowing visitors into John Hanson.
In retaliation the Police Department began harassing and surveying NAACP leaders. The end result was resignations of the Police Chief, and the NAACP President who found herself in financial scandal's that have crippled the once powerful organization here in Frederick.
Things finally reached a climax in the Spring of 2000 when my High School Classmate Eric Angel Lebron was shot and killed in the same Housing Project where the police had used their unethical trasspassing strategy. There were TWO MORE murders in that John Hanson Housing Project THAT SAME WEEK!
The residents claimed that the police had intentionally cut back their patrols as retribution for State Supreme Court's ruling... The police supporters claimed that the murders were a good example of why the controversial tresspasing law had been necessary. Who was right? It's hard to say. Clearly the police were going to the extreme, but at the same time the drug problem was out of control and something had to be done to protect the innocent residents of the neighborhood.
The only thing certain was that aftermath left the city shaken. Both sides seemed to realize that the bad blood had gone too far and over time the tension seemed to fade.
On a personal level, it was a real wake up call for me. I was in the process of straightening my life out and those murders really made me reevaluate things. I moved out of the City not long after that...
That was 5 years ago, and now I'm back. I'm a different person, and Frederick is a different City... But I guess things never change, because as I typed my post about Friday's Traffic harassment, I was unaware of what happened less than a mile from my house a few hours later. Here is the story from The Frederick News Post:

FREDERICK -- A crowd of friends and family held a makeshift memorial service Saturday on the sidewalk of Dahlia Drive where 18-year-old Deni W. Rosales was shot and killed Friday by two Frederick Police Department officers.
Some of the crowd became angry and shouted when Detective David Armstrong and two officers from the Frederick Police Department approached the crowd to ask questions.
"Why couldn't we see the body?" one girl shouted. "Why didn't you show us the gun?"
Police released an incident summary of what happened Friday, but friends and family members told a different story Saturday.
Kenny Rivera, 16, said he witnessed Mr. Rosales, his friend, being shot.
"I saw everything," he said, crying. "He did what the cops said, and the cops shot him."
Kenny said he "was like a foot away" when police shot Mr. Rosales.
"He tried to get away and tripped, and the cops shot him," Kenny said. "He never had a gun."
Det. Armstrong said Mr. Rosales did have a gun in his hand when he hit the ground.
According to police, officers recovered a gun from underneath Mr. Rosales and determined it was an air-powered handgun manufactured to look just like a standard firearm.
The shooting took place about 5:30 p.m. Friday when Officers First Class James Martin and Michael Weaver saw Mr. Rosales and four others fighting, according to police. The officers honked their horn and identified themselves, police said.
Then four of the people involved in the fight started running, according to Lt. Tom Chase.
Both officers saw Mr. Rosales carrying a handgun and ordered him to drop it, according to police. Mr. Rosales did not drop the gun, and "he turned pointing the handgun at the officers, at which time both officers fired," according to the police incident summary.
Det. Armstrong said the officers fired three shots, and two hit the victim. Police would not say where on his body Mr. Rosales was hit.
Kenny said he and Mr. Rosales ran from police after having a fight with two black men who confronted them.
The victim's mother, Lilian Rosales, believes her son ran because he didn't know who the two officers were, she said through a translator.
Lt. Chase confirmed the two policemen were not in uniform and were driving an unmarked car.
Kenny said his friend was still alive for a few moments after being shot.
"I started crying and take his hands. I said, "Don't leave me like this!' ... He said my name three times," Kenny said.
While police were interviewing Kenny on Saturday, they pulled him away from the crowd.
After talking with Kenny privately, Det. Armstrong spoke to the crowd and questioned the validity of Kenny's story.
"Kenny's telling a lot of different stories," the detective said. "We need to get with his mom. He's too emotional. He's having trouble dealing with this."
Rosales family members said they want to press charges against the two officers who shot their son, but are unsure of how to do it.
Officers Martin and Weaver have been placed on routine administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation. Once the investigation is completed, it will be presented to the grand jury.
Det. Armstrong said he will continue to investigate the shooting.
Friends and family continued their vigil on Dahlia Drive on Saturday. They left flowers, balloons, candles, notes and pictures of Mr. Rosales, a native of El Salvador. One note asked for donations to help cover funeral expenses.
Friends said Friday was Mr. Rosales' birthday.

I wasn't there so I can't honestly say whether or not Deni had a gun, but clearly things don't quite add up. Why didn't any of the witnesses see the gun? Why did two police officers attempt to break up a fight by honking their car horn? Did the poor kid even realize the two men were police officers? And most of all, if the kid did indeed have the BB gun, why would he point it at 2 cops who had their guns drawn and aimed at him?!?
The cops can save their weak explanations for someone else because I for one remember the history of this police department and will not soon forget.