Calls for calm after shooting
Mayor Hoskins is among officials calling for calm after the shooting of Martin by a white police officer. Berkeley is only a few miles from Ferguson, Mo., but the majority of its officials and police are black in contrast with the white majority in Ferguson. Berkeley has about 80% black population. Hoskins, who is African-American, notes that surveillance video apparently shows Martin pulling a gun on an officer, while Brown was unarmed. Hoskins:
You couldn’t even compare this with Ferguson or the Garner case in New York
Antonio Martin, 18, shot dead
Martin, who is from the 80% black suburb of Berkeley, Mo., several miles from Ferguson, is shot dead on Christmas eve by a white police officer responding to a call of larceny at a gas station. The shooting is captured on security tape, and a weapon is recovered at the scene. Berkeley mayor Thodore Hoskins, who is African-American as are a majority of the city officials, holds a press conference to distance the shooting from other shootings of black young men by white police officers:
We’re trying to indicate that this wasn’t the same as Ferguson. You couldn’t even compare this with Ferguson or the Garner case in New York.