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Another unarmed Black man was killed by police earlier this month. Officers in Barstow, California, killed 26-year-old Diante “Butchie” Yarber. Yarber was driving his cousin and friends to a local Walmart on the morning of April 5th. According to Barstow Police Department Yarber was “wanted for questioning” in a stolen vehicle case and that he “accelerated” the car towards officers when they tried to stop him. However, his family and attorney have a different story that the 26-year-old did not pose any threat to the officers and should not have been treated as a suspect in the first place.

Lee Merritt, an attorney for the family said Yarber was not armed and that the car posed no danger to officers when they began spraying him with bullets. Merritt went on to say “they saw a car full of black people sitting in front of a Walmart, and they decided that was suspicious…they just began pouring bullets. … It’s irresponsible. It’s dangerous. It’s mind-boggling, the use of force.”

Accroding to Aleta Yarber, Diante’s aunt he was driving his cousin’s Black Mustang at the time of the shooting. She has since retrieved the car and that it did not appear it had rammed into police vehicles. Barstow Police Department has yet to respond to claims that Yarber was a car theft suspect.

Aleta’s son was in the car at the time of the shooting, but the bullets missed him. In the weeks since, “He has not been able to say much of anything,” she said. “It was very traumatizing.”

Merritt said he believed Yarber was trying to shield others in the car from bullets when he was hit, adding that the 23-year-old woman who was shot by police was initially placed in a police car and treated like a suspect before officers got her medical attention. According Dale Galipo the 23-year-old woman’s attorney his client was struck by at least two shots and suffered “serious injuries.”

Ruby Hawkins, Yarber’s sister, said local police often harassed her brother and that the officers should face criminal charges for killing him. “They are the biggest criminals. They are bullies with badges. … I don’t know how you can fear for your life with a person that is moving away from you.”

A police spokeswoman said “involved officers” were on “paid administrative leave”, but declined to disclose the number of bullets shot and officers who fired. Police labeled the incident an “assault” on an officer, but Dale Galipo, said the investigation so far has revealed Yarber was unarmed and that officers were not in the path of the vehicle, which means they should never have discharged their weapons, let alone fire a barrage of bullets.

The shooting happened a couple weeks after police in northern California killed Stephon Clark, an unarmed Black man who was shot in the back six times in the back. So far Yaber’s killing has not been reported by mainstream media, both shootings have demonstrated the attack on Black people in this country by law enforcement.

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