Another Senseless Police Execution: Annette Garcia, Mother Of 3, Shot In The Back And Killed By Police In Her Driveway.

Sigh. This is really a horrible story, guaranteed to have you shake your head and be like wtf. There is zero coverage of this in mainstream media. Only Indymedia, which covers the story and the candlelight vigil/protests that ensued (more pics at the Indymedia link). The other main source is CAPE (Coalition Against Police Executions) who issued updates on the situation:

Annette Garcia, a Brown Beret de Aztlan member
and a mother of three children, was shot in the
back Wednesday evening by a Riverside County
Sheriffs deputy. The name of the shooter has not
been released but according to the Riverside
County Sheriff's Perris Station, the deputy has
been placed on "paid" administrative leave pending an investigation.

The call was made due to a domestic dispute. The
police started shooting from a block away, and was in NO DANGER.

The deputy arrived by himself at a home at the
16900 block of Lake Mathews Drive and shot at
Annette Garcia six times while she was walking
away. She was distressed, carrying a knife while
walking AWAY FROM THE OFFICER. The officer began
to shoot from behind, at which point, Annette
Garcia started running for safety to her home.
Five of the shots missed but one hit Annette
Garcia in the back. She bled to death in front of her children.

The 29 year old mother was rushed to the
Riverside County Regional Medical Center in
Moreno Valley but was pronounced dead on arrival.

What words are there for this? When a woman of color is gunned down in her own driveway after needing HELP from police? Does this happen in Orange County? And where is the coverage? This happened almost a week ago! Do riots need to happen for this to gain attention? ie, minimize the murderous actions of police and emphasize the rage of targeted communities? At this point, I am considering that the mainstream media is fearful of feeding the momentum of the national and internationally growing police accountability/anti-police brutality movement. The silence of the media makes them complicit with the travesty. I encourage people to inquire of the main news machines why this story is not being covered, and insist that it gets coverage before another community explodes in outrage.

New York Times: News Dept. nytnews@nytimes.com
SF Chronicle: chroniclewatch@sfchronicle.com
LA Times
Washington Post
CNN: News Tips

I have been lagging with my own reportback from the 2nd Oscar Grant Protest, which was really beautiful and powerful. The peaceful part that never got reported anyway. Apologies. More to come. Praying for healing and justice.