US cops kill 18 year old Zimbabwean student
UNITED STATES- An 18 year old Zimbabwean student was gunned down by police in the United States on Tuesday. Reports said Tendai Nelson Nhekairo who was naked at the time was fatally shot by police in the US state of Georgia.
Cobb County police say they responded to reports of a man shooting a gun at an apartment complex off Shadowood Parkway around 7.40PM. Officers turned up to be confronted by a naked man armed with two knives, a spokesman said.
Sgt. Dana Pierce of the Cobb County Police Department told local television: “He made an aggressive movement towards those officers and unfortunately those officers had to use what means was necessary to stop that aggressive act.”
Nhekairo was a student at the nearby Campbell High School. The teenager’s mother, Blessed, and father, Mabasa Nhekairo, said they had never seen their son behave violently and knew of no mental health problems he may have had. They admitted they were having a hard time believing what police are saying.
“I don’t know what happened on Tuesday night, but what I do know is that my son did not have any violent tendencies,” Nhekairo said. Tendai was a keen American football player and looked forward to graduating from High School, he said. Some reports claim the teenager had been arrested recently for possession of marijuana off campus.
The officer involved in the shooting, whose name has not been released, has been placed on routine administrative leave, Sgt. Pierce said. This story comes at a time when the shooting of 17 year old Trayvon Martin by 28-year-old George Zimmerman a community watch captain has caused mass protests across the USA.
The Shooting of Trayvon, which took place on February 26, 2012, has angered a lot of people of African descent and has brought to the fore the issue of racial profiling, which law enforcement agents are often accused of.
Although investigations into the killing of Nhekairo have not been completed, his death and others like Trayvon show how law enforcement officers in the USA seem to be quick to use maximum force.
