Tag: Brandon Webber

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Professor Who Made ‘Egregious’ Brandon Webber Comments Keeps Job

CREDIT: Facebook/Tom Graves

Facebook/Tom Graves

Tom Graves

The LeMoyne-Owen College professor who received backlash for his comments on the June officer-involved shooting of Brandon Webber is still teaching at the college, LeMoyne-Owen officials confirmed this week.

A week after Webber, 21, was shot and killed by U.S. Marshal officers in Frayser, Tom Graves, an author and tenured English professor at LeMoyne-Owen, responded to the incident in a Facebook post.

“So let me get this straight,” Graves wrote. “A wanted felon who shot a guy five times was found in Frayser by U.S. Marshals. So, the fucking idiot tries to run over the Marshals with his vehicle then exits the car with a gun. So, the war he starts with a whole gang of U.S. Marshals, everyone an expert shooter ends with him dead as Dillinger.”

In his post, Graves also commented that Webber’s Facebook post “attest to thuggery, with him holding up fistfuls of cash, as if he were the king daddy pimp. Defending this man is wrong. He should be condemned for what he was and represented and did.”

Graves’ controversial Facebook post

After Graves’ post spread around social media, many took issue with it and some even called for his dismissal. But, the college said this week that Graves will keep his position this school year.

“Professor Tom Graves, a member of the LeMoyne-Owen College faculty, returned to the classroom for the 2019-2020 academic year,” a statement from the college reads. “As an educational institution, we promote the free exchange of diverse viewpoints, even those with which some may disagree or take exception.”

The college’s decision to keep Graves “directly aligns with the college’s faculty handbook, policies, and procedures,” according to its statement.

LeMoyne-Owen officials would not detail what, if any, disciplinary actions were taken against Graves, as the college does not “publicly discuss details of personnel matters, including disciplinary decisions.”

Rev. Earle Fisher, a LeMoyne-Owen alumnus, pastor, and activist was also on the receiving end of Graves’ comments.

“Anyone like Tami Sawyer or the notorious Earle ‘Ain’t I pretty’ Fisher defending this street terrorist are part of why the streets of Memphis are not safe, especially for our black citizens who suffer the brunt of these crimes,” Graves wrote.

[pullquote-1]

Learning that Graves was allowed to keep his role, Fisher said he expected there to be a “more serious reprimand for such as egregious action. To know that someone who shares those views will still be in the classroom attempting to shape young black minds is far from what I think is the ideal context for higher education.”

Fisher said his hope is that Historically Black Colleges and Universities will “stand more firmly on the tradition of protecting and cultivating black dignity and pride.”

Facebook/Earler Fisher

Earle Fisher

“I expect more from our black institutions: to stand up against racist and bigoted ideologies, especially to those who have positions of influence and authority over black students,” Fisher said.

Shortly after Graves’ comments came to light, the college’s Student Government Association sent a letter to the professor, calling his comments “appalling.”

“While we agree that we do not have the facts of the case, we are in unanimous disagreement with your verbiage and disregard for the impact which your words would have on the community you serve,” the letter read. “As a professor at a historically black college, you are keenly aware of the challenges unique to the black/African-American community.”

Sainna Christian, the college’s 2019-2020 SGA president, declined to comment on Graves’ returning to the classroom this school year, saying that “at this time, I have no comments on the matter.”

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News News Blog

Q&A: Brandon Webber’s Friends Never Saw Him As A Criminal

CREDIT: Toby Sells

Toby Sells

Tamara Smith (left) and Ceyara Smith (right) were friends with Brandon Webber.

As Brandon Webber’s name fades from headlines, two of his friends say they still want answers and painted a portrait of the man this week as a uniter, a comforting friend, and an advocate against racism.

Webber was shot and killed by U.S. Marshals during an attempted arrest more than two weeks ago in Frayser. Marshals were acting on a warrant from an incident in Hernando, Mississippi, earlier this month, in which Webber allegedly shot a man five times and stole his car. Officials said they fired on Webber as he produced a weapon.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is currently reviewing the shooting.

Since that shooting, Webber was humanized in online memorials and statements from those who knew him. Those memorials showed Webber as a good student, a father, an artist, and more. Many of those memorials, though, have faded, too.

But those memorials were a shift in the now-familiar rhythm of the aftermath of officer-involved shootings. Rather than villainize the alleged perpetrator, efforts were quickly made to paint a more-complete picture of the accused.

Twitter

Ceyara Smith called the Flyer office late last week. She said she wasn’t sure exactly what she could do but she wanted to do something, to get her side of Webber’s story out there. Earlier this week, she brought her sister, Tamara Smith, to our offices for a conversation that delved deeper into Webber’s life.

The Smith sisters said they’d known Webber since middle school, hung out at events after school, and would often dream together about their lives in adulthood.

They said if he did shoot someone and was a criminal, they want to know. It’ll be easier, they said, to mourn his life that way. More than anything, they said, they want those answers.

Memphis Flyer: I guess we can start back at the beginning. How did y’all know Brandon?

Ceyara Smith: Well, we actually met Brandon in a middle school, actually as we were enrolling into Snowden (School). We just kind of automatically linked and we’ve been friends ever since, even as we transitioned into high school. He had a personal, kind-of-close relationship with my best friend. So, we started creating memories outside of school and we were just very, very close.

MF: What kind of guy was he?

CS: Brandon was a type of guy, he was always honest. He was always happy and he just always kept everyone happy around him. He was always the type of person who wanted to help wherever he could.

He always wants to change as well, which is why, like I said, Brandon and I were in [Facing History and Ourselves] together. We wanted change.

Facing History and Ourselves

Concept art of the Facing History and Ourselves building on South Main.


MF: What kind of change?

Tamara Smith: Brandon was always trying to persuade the other guys to come to tutoring, or “let’s come to basketball practice, and sign up for track.”

Brandon was also very nurturing. If he saw that you needed to be informed about something or he saw that you were slacking on something, Brandon would always come and tell you, “Next time just, you know, just watch what you say and do it a little better.”
[pullquote-5] Brandon was so honest. He was always very helpful to everybody. He was always there for everybody. He wanted everybody to do good. He wanted you to know that anytime you ever needed anything, you could go to Brandon.

CS: He was very comforting.

MF: Did y’all stay close in high school?

CS: Yes, definitely. Even even after we made the transition to high school, and it was a bigger school, and we were around more people, we always still made plans to at least get together after school. We were always at events together.

TS: We were seeing each other outside of school still the same amount like in our [middle school] days.

MF: What were y’all doing when you were hanging out?

CS: We attended all the basketball games together and football games. Brandon and I, we went on a lot of field trips with Facing History. So, we did a lot of that together.

We also just talked about how we wanted our adulthood to be and what did we want to do when we got out of high school and stuff like that.

Twitter

I remember during our senior year, when we started talking about college, Brandon and I both wanted to go to [the University of Tennessee – Knoxville]. I remember when it came time for us to start taking the ACT, we were both, like, “oh my god, we don’t know how we’re going to do this.”

Then, Brandon did an awesome job. He made a 25 on the ACT, and they actually put his [score] on the wall. They put his picture and his name on the wall along with all the other kids who made good grades.

They also had another wall where they had Brandon and all those other really smart kids listed with all of the scholarships, the offers, and all of the schools they were reaching out to. Yes, Brandon was really smart.
[pullquote-4] MF: But people saw another side of Brandon, too, the one from the Facebook video he made that day where it looked like he was smoking cannabis and saying about police, “You’re going to have to catch me, homie.” Was there that side of him, too?

MS: If I’m being honest, that side of Brandon always kind of surprised me. I just never saw him as that type of person.

But, nevertheless, Brandon was always an honorable young man. He always was smart. He always knew what he had to do to take care of himself and his family because he did have three kids.

I don’t see him as a bad person. I don’t see him as a drug dealer or anything like that because Brandon was always so smart. You know, he always did what he needed to do. He was always helpful, always courageous, always on the scene. He was always where he needed to be.

The school — Central High School or Snowden— never had to search for Brandon. He never was skipping. Brandon never smelled like marijuana. He never drank a day in his life.

Toby Sells

Tamara Smith (left) and Ceyara Smith (right) were friends with Brandon Webber.


MF: What do y’all think when your friend, Brandon, is now kind of part of this citywide — almost nationwide — conversation about [police shootings] and you’re hearing some of the stuff that people are saying?

MS: I’m going to be honest, sir. It hurts so bad. When someone close to you is being made an example, in a society that we live in, there is nothing you can do about it. You just live day by day.

CS: I would rather for him to, you know, die doing something positive. I hate the way that he died. I hate that it all happened, because I feel like there’s nothing that he could have said or done to cause [law enforcement officials] to shoot him 16 to 20 times and to break his neck.
[pullquote-3] MS: And to cause such a chaotic scene. I don’t feel like it was that crucial.

CS: Yes, I feel like it was uncalled for. It was very unnecessary. We all know that one bullet can disable someone. So, why did y’all have to shoot him that many times? And, like I said, I don’t care what he did. I just don’t feel like any of that was called for.

I want the truth. If that’s what he did, tell us. It’ll be easier for us to mourn him and rest knowing the truth, whether he did it or not. I want the truth.

MF: That process could take about a year. What do you think about that timeline?

CS: That’s fine with me. I’ll do whatever I have to do. I’m ready. I’m up for it.

Facebook

Brandon Webber


MS: Me, too, because deep down inside, I know the type of person Brandon was. I’m a tough person. It kind of hurts, but I’m strong enough to stand and believe in Brandon myself to not let that diminish my perspective.

MF: Maybe we can get back to what y’all said earlier. You said he wanted change. Maybe you can tell me more about what kind of change he was looking for.

CS: Like I said, Brandon and I were in Facing History together. Brandon and I always hated the differences between the races. That was the first thing, starting with Martin Luther King, you know, I have a dream. Brandon and I used to always talk about that changing.
[pullquote-2] MS: You have two types of men in the world. You have men who will pick up a gun first and the men who will try to persuade you to put the gun down. Brandon was the type of man that was trying to bring all of us together to love each other.

CS: He would have put the gun down, pretty much. Brandon, he was he was that type of person. He was.

MF: I think we kind of covered everything that we talked about. Is there anything else out there that we didn’t get to? Did we leave anything out or is there anything else you want to say?

MS: I just have one thing to say: I love you so much, Brandon. And it really does hurt. But we will get justice, and there will be peace. Your kids will be taken care of. We just love you and that’s it.

CS: Just rest in peace Brandon. We got it from here. [pullquote-1]

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Editorial Opinion

The Brandon Webber Case: Work To Be Done

CREDIT: Facebook

As noted elsewhere in this issue, the major local news of late has focused on the tragic death in Frayser of young Brandon Webber at the hands of U.S. Marshals, followed by an immediate and widespread community reaction to the presence of law enforcement officers dispatched to the scene for crowd control.

The fact that in the ongoing mayhem of that confrontation numerous officers were injured by thrown objects was alarming in its own right. Along with the precipitating incident — yet another fatal encounter between law enforcement and an African-American youth — there is more than substantial evidence that we as a community have passed some threshold in social dislocation that must be addressed.

Facebook

Brandon Webber

Although racial tension is a major ingredient of the problem, it does not by itself explain why the problem exists. As was to be expected in our cybernetic age, there was a barrage of online reactions to the tragic incident, with whites and blacks to be found on both sides of the dividing line. Certainly, a generous number of the MPD and sheriff’s department officers dodging rocks, bottles, and bricks — and, commendably, avoiding overreaction — were black. And, for all the white commenters sympathizing with the protest emanating from the African-American community, there were a fair number of African-American commentators both online and in the broadcast media deploring Webber’s seemingly suicidal provocations, and inveighing against opportunistic efforts to exploit the crisis.

Though the temptation to make Webber a martyr may have seemed a stretch, given the circumstances of the precipitating crime he was suspected of — car theft and assault with a deadly weapon — that fact should not diminish the human instinct to mourn his fate and to empathize with his loved ones left behind. And it should not prevent us from realizing that the outpouring of rage and grief generated by Webber’s passing is the understandable and even proper residue of sentiment that developed over time in relation to previous victims of fatal encounters with law enforcement, many of those victims being wholly or relatively blameless. In a sense, society is reaping a whirlwind now from discord sowed in those prior ill winds.

The dark clouds have gathered, and they will persist. If there is a silver lining to be found in them, it is in the fact of an ongoing awareness in governmental councils of a need for criminal justice reform — not just in relation to the easing of penalties for nonviolent offenders and the facilitation of their re-entry into productive society, but of a change underway in official attitudes toward offenders and an increasing tendency to see them as fellow citizens needing a hand up. We have not yet fully come to grips with the specter of class division and income inequality — as significant factors in social dislocation as race, if not more so. There is work to be done — by all of us.

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Politics Politics Feature

Brandon Webber Shooting is Seen Through Multiple Lenses

CREDIT: Facebook

The Brandon Webber shooting in Frayser has proved to be a Rashomon-like event, in that, like the classic Japanese film, it involved dramatically conflicting accounts of a graphic incident, each version stemming from an angle of vision that reflects the beholder’s preconceptions, prejudices, and cast of mind.

The lessons of that tale, as of the real-life drama that occurred in the streets of the north Memphis community Frayser, are many, but the common thread of them all is the sense that reality is not a fixed, universal thing but is subject to as many subjective reckonings as there are reckoners, and that determining root truths may not be possible in any absolute sense.

Facebook

Brandon Webber

The problem exists not only in the psychology of human beings but in the attempts of pure science to take objective measurements. The 20th-century scientist Werner Heisenberg established from his study of subatomic particles something he called the Uncertainty Principle, based on the fact that the mere observation of phenomena seemed to alter them in undefinable ways.

In a true sense, politics is the epitome of this kind of inexactness. It absorbs “fact” content, and all successful politicians know how to churn out statistics to make their points, but electoral outcomes are based either on emotional attitudes toward candidates or on the subjective responses of voters to claims made by politicians that are purely rhetorical or questionable.

What is known about Brandon Webber is that the young African American died last week from gunshots fired by U.S. Marshals who were attempting to apprehend him as a felony suspect in an armed robbery and aggravated assault across the state line in Mississippi. Webber was said to have responded to an advertisement of a car for sale on Facebook, then to have gone through the motions of a test drive, and then to have shot the car’s owner five times, leaving him wounded along a roadside. He then was reported to have fled back to Memphis in the vehicle.

At some point, not long before he encountered the marshals, Webber posted an online video of himself looking and sounding giddy and anticipating an encounter with police.

Shortly after, he was surrounded by the marshals, whereupon, according to the police account, he rammed their vehicles with the stolen car, exited that car brandishing a firearm, and went down in a barrage of shots from the marshals’ weapons.

In the aftermath of the shooting, a crowd collected at the scene, confronting Memphis law enforcement officers who arrived en masse to establish a measure of control. The police reported that more than 30 officers were injured by rocks and bottles thrown at them. There were also accounts from some witnesses claiming that shots were fired in the area.

Depending on one’s perspective, what happened after the shooting was either a protest or a riot. The slain suspect was, in one widely circulated narrative, a former Central High School honor student and a likeable youth with an idealistic streak, a S.J.W. (for “Social Justice Warrior”). In other, less-generous narratives, he was a street thug, a would-be killer who dabbled in the drug trade. It is possible that both these seriously contrasting takes were based on tangible pieces of Webber’s history.

Ideological or personal motives seemed to have determined the attitudes of observers. Marsha Blackburn, the ultra-conservative U.S. senator from Tennessee, professed to be closely monitoring the event, but misreported it in two consecutive press releases as a case involving a “slain officer.”

Unsurprisingly, mayoral candidates felt compelled to take a position. Tami Sawyer, whose persona is that of a community activist writ large, sided with the demonstrating throngs, though with an acknowledgement of sorts of the need for public order:

“Mourning, protesting, and decrying Webber’s killing is not the same as proclaiming his innocence or trying to justify the crimes he may have committed. It does not erase thrown rocks or police injuries. These reactions, however, must be understood as a symptom of continued racial inequity in the justice system.”

Mayor Jim Strickland also straddled the divide empathetically, though he made a point of backing up law enforcement: “I grieve for the loss of life. I see this too much, loss of young lives. I grieve for that and grieve for his family. They lost a loved one. Secondly, I am so proud of the Memphis Police Department and Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. Their actions … were remarkable. They endured assaults and batteries, rocks and bricks were thrown at them, injuring about 35 law enforcement officers, and no retaliation. And they brought peace to that area, and it’s just remarkable, the courage and the strength reflected from great training.”

Where the ultimate truth lies is yet to be determined.

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News The Fly-By

‘Boiling Point’

CREDIT: Facebook

Civil rights groups say the community’s response to Wednesday’s fatal shooting of Brandon Webber at the hands of U.S. Marshals officers last week went beyond the events of the week and is the result of years of injustice.

Just City said on Twitter that the neighborhood’s response was based on “decades of sustained over-policing and entrenched policies that criminalize poverty.

“The loss of another young life was but a spark on the smoldering ashes that exist in so many neighborhoods in our community,” Just City said. “Every single day in Memphis, young and old alike encounter oppressive systems, which are nearly impossible to avoid or escape.”

Facebook

U.S. Marshals shot and killed Brandon Webber last week during an arrest attempt.

Just City said the courts demand more time and attention from the poor than the wealthy, so “even simple traffic tickets can cause a crisis.” The group said “hefty” court costs and fees can result in a driver’s license suspension. It is one way that Just City said those living in poverty are unfairly treated by the system.

“Law enforcement and courts demand accountability for the slightest misstep,” Just City said. “Yet, when a life is taken in a hail of gunfire, we wait for days, weeks, or years for a simple description of what occurred, and officers are rarely, if ever, held accountable.”

Hedy Weinberg, director of the ACLU of Tennessee, said last week that the community’s response was “clearly one of pain, of frustration, of anger.

“While we in no way condone violence against police officers, the boiling point reached by some individuals in the crowd [last Wednesday] night is the consequence of decades of injustice, discrimination, and violence against black people in Memphis and beyond,” Weinberg said. “Of course, people in Frayser are upset and angry. We should all be angry.”

Weinberg said to ignore the pain of protesters and instead to respond with “a militarized show of police force only illustrates and reinforces the problem.

“To adapt the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., unrest is the language of the unheard,” Weinberg said. “To stem the erosion of trust between the community and law enforcement, it is incumbent on Memphis leaders to start listening. This means acknowledging the community’s legitimate pain and anger.”

Weinberg also asked if officers attempted to de-escalate the situation before shooting Webber: “Was shooting Mr. Webber over a dozen times, if reports are accurate, really necessary?”

The Memphis branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) also asked for answers about Webber’s shooting death.

Deidre Malone, president of the Memphis branch, said in a statement the group is “very interested” to know if the U.S. Marshals officers who shot Webber were wearing body cameras and if there “was a better way to engage Mr. Webber once he was located.”

“Unfortunately for our citizens, Memphis is again in the spotlight over a shooting of an African American,” Malone said. “The NAACP Memphis Branch will continue to ask these questions until we obtain a response.”

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News News Blog

Lemoyne-Owen Professor’s Brandon Webber Comments Draw Ire

CREDIT: Facebook

Facebook

Tom Graves

A Memphis author and tenured professor at Lemoyne-Owen College is receiving backlash for comments about last week’s officer-involved shooting in Frayser.

Tom Graves teaches English at Lemoyne-Owen College, a historically-black college. In a Facebook post, he called Brandon Webber, the 21-year-old black man who was shot and killed by U.S. Marshal officers here last week, a “fucking idiot.”

“So let me get this straight,” Graves wrote. “A wanted felon who shot a guy five times was found in Frayser by U.S. Marshals. So, the fucking idiot tries to run over the Marshals with his vehicle then exits the car with a gun. So, the war he starts with a whole gang of U.S. Marshals, everyone an expert shooter ends with him dead as Dillinger.”

Graves then discusses the community uprising that ensued after the shooting, saying what happened next “makes me seethe.”

[pullquote-1]

“A riotous crowd gathers and begins to harass and intimidate law enforcement on the scene,” Graves said. “Mayhem ensues. People get arrested. Asshole thugs in the crowd fire their weapons. Tear gas. Batons. Shields.”

Graves continues, criticizing activists and leaders like Tami Sawyer, who Graves said defended Webber.

“Others relate what a wonderful student he was,” Graves wrote of Webber. “His Facebook posts attest to thuggery, with him holding up fistfuls of cash, as if he were the king daddy pimp. Defending this man is wrong. He should be condemned for what he was and represented and did.”

See Graves’ full post at the bottom of the page.

Many people took issue with Graves’s post. Some even called for his dismissal at the college:


In a comment on another one of his Facebook posts, Graves explained that his original post was only meant for his friends, but that it was screen-capped and shared around social media. Graves adds that he doesn’t “discuss this stuff with my students.”

“I don’t discuss this stuff with my students — I teach them writing,” Graves said. “And I love and respect my students. I did not want all this to get so out of hand. Lots of folks black and white agree with my take on the Frayser incident.”

Terrell Lamont Strayhorn, vice president of academic and student affairs at LOC said via Facebook that the college is aware of the incident and is working to resolve it.

“Please know that posts made by individuals do NOT reflect the collective values and commitments of LeMoyne-Owen College,” Strayhorn said.

[pullquote-2]

The LOC Student Government Associated sent a letter to Graves in response to his comments, calling them “appalling.” The students said they would like to “express our discontentment at the insincerity with which you commented on the Brandon Webber case.”

“While we agree that we do not have the facts of the case, we are in unanimous disagreement with your verbiage and disregard for the impact which your words would have on the community you serve,” the letter reads. “As a professor at a historically black college, you are keenly aware of the challenges unique to the black/African-American community.

Given the experiences of the students you teach, your implicit justification of the unfortunate events which happened have not been taken lightly.”

The students are calling for a public apology to the students and administration of the college and its stakeholders.


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News News Blog

Facing History: People ‘Loved’ Working With Brandon Webber

CREDIT: Twitter

Twitter

Facing History and Ourselves, a Memphis non-profit focused on education about racism, prejudice, and antisemitism, said Friday that Brandon Webber was involved with the group as a Central High School student.

Webber was shot and killed Wednesday evening by U.S. Marshals attempting to arrest him on warrants for a shooting incident in Hernando, Mississippi earlier this month.

Since the shooting, Webber has been hailed as a good student, loving father, and gifted artist by friends and family in online memorials. Law enforcement officials in Mississippi called him violent and “cold-blooded.”

Twitter

In a message to its members on Friday, Facing History and Ourselves gave a long list of Webber’s involvement with the group. They said people “loved working with him” and that his personality was contagious.”

Here’s the message in full:

“When Brandon was involved with Facing History as a student at Central High School from 2015-2017, we were impressed by his leadership qualities and found him to be a passionate young man about the issues facing his community.

Brandon first got involved in Facing History and Ourselves his freshman year at Central High; he took Mary McIntosh’s freshman history class.
[pullquote-1] In his sophomore year, he joined the Student Leadership Group (SLG). He was a facilitator for the SLG/ Warriors Unite group at Central. This group of 120 students facilitated the advisory sessions.

Facing History and Ourselves/Facebook

He also facilitated at our community teach-in’s, where he met students from other schools.

His co-facilitators always loved working with him. His personality was contagious and he made the participants feel at ease while talking about difficult topics. Brandon was passionate about breaking down stereotypes in his school.

His senior year he spoke on a panel and shared his life story at our symposium. Brandon said, ‘The Facing History course helps you find out who you are as a person, and who the people beside you are. It helps you break down stereotypes.'”

Later, Facing History issued a formal statement about Webber’s death.

Here it is:

“The Facing History and Ourselves community grieves the death of Brandon Webber and the subsequent violence that occurred in the Frayser neighborhood of Memphis.

Brandon was a member of our Student Leadership Group and respected by his peers; he was passionate about breaking down stereotypes in his school and community. We offer our deepest sympathy to his family and friends.

We have no information on the details of these incidents to provide, only our condolences.

As an organization dedicated to lifting up young people using education we are particularly saddened by this tragedy.”

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News News Blog

Webber’s Shooting Called ‘Boiling Point For Community’

CREDIT: Facebook


Civil rights groups say the community’s response to Wednesday’s fatal shooting of Brandon Webber at the hands of U.S. Marshals officers goes beyond the events of this week and is the result of years of injustice.

Just City said in a Thursday statement via Twitter that the neighborhood’s response is based on “decades of sustained over-policing and entrenched policies that criminalize poverty.”

“The loss of another young life was but a spark on the smoldering ashes that exist in so many neighborhoods in our community,” reads the statement from Just City. “Every single day in Memphis, young and old alike encounter oppressive systems, which are nearly impossible to avoid or escape.”

[pullquote-1]

Just City said the courts demand more time and attention from the poor than the wealthy, so “even simple traffic tickets can cause a crisis.”

“Hefty” court costs and fees, which if not paid result in driver’s license suspensions, is one way that Just City said those living in poverty are unfairly treated by the system.

“Law enforcement and courts demand accountability for the slightest misstep,” Just City said. “Yet when a life is taken in a hail of gunfire, we wait for days, weeks, or years for a simple description of what occurred, and officers are rarely, if ever, held accountable.”

Webber’s Shooting Called ‘Boiling Point For Community’

Hedy Weinberg, director of the ACLU of Tennessee, shared similar sentiments Thursday, saying that the community’s response was “clearly one of pain, of frustration, of anger.”

“While we in no way condone violence against police officers, the boiling point reached by some individuals in the crowd last night is the consequence of decades of injustice, discrimination, and violence against black people in Memphis and beyond,” Weinberg said. “Of course people in Frayser are upset and angry. We should all be angry.”


Weinberg continues saying that to ignore the pain of protesters and instead to respond with “a militarized show of police force, only illustrates and reinforces the problem.”

Facebook

Brandon Webber

“To adapt the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., unrest is the language of the unheard,” Weinberg said. “To stem the erosion of trust between the community and law enforcement, it is incumbent on Memphis leaders to start listening. This means acknowledging the community’s legitimate pain and anger.”

Weinberg also questioned if there were any attempts made by the officers to de-escalate the situation before shooting Webber: “Was shooting Mr. Webber over a dozen times, if reports are accurate, really necessary?”

There should be a “swift, thorough, and transparent” investigation into the shooting and a “prompt” release of any footage or evidence related to the incident, Weinberg said.

[pullquote-2]

The Memphis branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) also wants answers surrounding Webber’s death.

In a Thursday statement, Deidre Malone, president of the Memphis branch, said the group is “very interested” in determining whether or not the U.S. Marshal officers that shot Webber were wearing body cameras and if there “was a better way to engage Mr. Webber once he was located.”

“Unfortunately for our citizens, Memphis is again in the spotlight over a shooting of an African American,” Malone said. “The NAACP Memphis Branch will continue to ask these questions until we obtain a response.”


Categories
News News Blog

Hernando DA Says Webber Was Suspect in Shooting, Robbery

CREDIT: Facebook

Facebook

Officials say the 21-year-old man who was shot and killed by U.S. Marshal officers Wednesday in Frayser was wanted for shooting and robbing a man in Hernando, Mississippi earlier this month.

Hernando District Attorney John Champion said Thursday afternoon that Brandon Webber met the victim in Hernando on June 3rd to purchase a car from him, which he’d seen advertised on Facebook. After test driving the car, Webber “cold-bloodily” shot the victim five times before fleeing in the red Infiniti, Champion said.

The victim, who is still in the hospital, later identified Webber as the shooter. Because Webber, a Memphis resident, lived out of the Hernando Police Department’s jurisdiction and was a “violent fugitive,” Champion the said U.S. Marshals Service Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force was employed to arrest him.

Webber was charged with aggravated assault, armed robbery, and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

Champion adds that the task force was advised of the “serious nature of the charges that we had here, so obviously when they were up in Memphis looking for him, they were very aware of his propensity for violence.”

“The Marshals were dealing with a violent suspect, no doubt about it,” Champion said. “You just have to look at everything. I just wish that people would sit back and just see what happened.”

Champion said there is a second suspect that police believe to be involved in the shooting. A warrant for his arrest has been issued.

The preliminary report from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations (TBI) stated that Webber was approached by the officers Wednesday night around 7 p.m outside of his home in Frayser.

TBI officials said in a Thursday statement that Webber “rammed his vehicle into the officers’ vehicles multiple times before exiting with a weapon. The officers fired striking and killing the individual. No officers were injured.”

The statement continued: “This remains an active and ongoing investigation, as TBI Special Agents and forensic scientists continue to work to gather any and all relevant interviews and evidence. As in any case, TBI’s investigative findings will be shared with the District Attorney General throughout the process for her review.

As is our policy, the TBI does not identify the officers involved in these types of incidents and instead refers questions of that nature to their respective department.

Any updates on this investigation will be posted online at TBINewsroom.com.”

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DA: Webber Wanted for ‘Violent Felony Offenses’

CREDIT: Twitter

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Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich said her office asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to review Wednesday’s night shooting of Brandon Webber by the U.S. Marshals Office.

Weirich said Webber was wanted on multiple warrants, “including violent felony offenses,” from an incident earlier this month in Hernando, Mississippi.

Here’s Weirich’s statement in full:

“Last night I asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to investigate an officer-involved fatal shooting of a 20-year-old suspect wanted on multiple warrants, including violent felony offenses, from an incident that occurred June 3, 2019, in Hernando, Mississippi.

Weirich

“The shooting last night happened around 7 p.m. in the 2700 block of Durham Avenue in the Frayser area of Memphis, where members of the U.S. Marshals Service Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force were attempting to apprehend the suspect, Brandon Webber.

“When the TBI completes its investigation, their report will be reviewed by this office to determine whether any criminal laws were violated by officers involved in the shooting.

“Since this is an active investigation, under the law this office cannot comment on rumors or release details of the shooting at this time. See protocol here.”

Earlier this week, Weirich decided not to file any charges against a police lieutenant who shot and killed Terrance Deshun Carlton, 25, last year.