The number of officer involved shootings continue to rise in spite of hundreds, of protests across the nation this year alone and the public outcry for increased police scrutiny and enhanced accountability. Despite the efforts of a number of watchdogs organizations, some of these tragic shootings somehow fly under the radar of law enforment activists and social justice advocates. Case in point: Amaree’ya Henderson, a Doordash driver in Kansas city who on April 26, was shot and killed by Kansas City Kansas Police during a traffic stop.
According to the Star, Henderson’s mother was on the phone with him during the moments of his death. She says Henderson called her on FaceTime and asked her to come to where he had been pulled over. Moments later, she overhears gunfire. His fiancee, who was in the car when he was shot, recalls officers “grabbing, pulling, punching” Henderson before he was shot twice.
Circumstances surrounding the shooting of the 25-year-old delivery driver have been at best sketch, but Henderson’s family maintains that he was unarmed and posed no threat to police.
“This was unexpected & is a very hard and heartbreaking thing for his family,” a relative of the slain young man wrote on the GoFundMe page. “At this time we are asking for assistance in laying him to rest anything helps.”
Recently, protesters, civil rights organizations and community members gathered at the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department, demanding that the bodycam footage be released.
Henderson’s mother, Pauletta Johnson, spoke at the rally telling the crowd her son didn’t deserve this type of ending.
“He was a great human being and an awesome son” said Pauletta. “It’s never been a day in his 25 years of life that he has disappointed me and he has always put family first.”
She continued, “What was taken away from me was my only son that I can never get back. I’m scared and I feel like I’m about to fall apart.”
Since the death hasn’t been widely covered by national media a GoFundMe account set up to cover the costs of his funeral and burial have been slow to come in and the family is looking at additional hardship to lay the young man in his final resting place.
As of May 16, the page only managed to raise $2,680, which is slightly halfway to its goal of $5,148.
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