Texas Police Kill ‘Pillar of Community’ Jonathan Price, an Unarmed Black Man, After Breaking up a Domestic Violence Incident
There is another hashtag and another name added to the immeasurably long list of Black Americans killed in this country with the color of his skin viewed as a weapon.
Jonathan Price, a 31-year-old personal trainer, and football coach, known to Wolfe City residents as a ‘hometown hero,’ was murdered by police in Texas on Saturday. He was unarmed and helped diffuse a domestic violence incident when police arrived and took his life within minutes.
Jonathan Price, an unarmed Black man, was killed by Texas police while breaking up a domestic abuse incident at a gas station Saturday night
The officer who killed Price has been placed on administrative leave. City officials have only posted a brief statement about the shooting pic.twitter.com/SDNafy7sjW
— HĪPMAGAZINE.ORG (@hipmagazineorg) October 5, 2020
Citizens of Wolfe City have come forward to share their experiences with Price. They share that he was kindhearted and got along with everyone. The former Hardin-Simmons University football player was well-known in the small town southeast of Dallas. Price’s mother, Marcella Louis, shared that her son had a good heart and was always trying to do the right thing by helping others. While being interviewed, she shared the pain of not being able to get to her son after he was brutally taken from her.
A Wolfe City Officer shot and killed her son last night in TX.
Jonathan Price, A HERO was breaking up a domestic dispute, defending a woman he didn’t know at a gas station
He shot once in the chest & twice in the back while unarmed & his hands in the air pic.twitter.com/0iHLtm23DP
— StanceGrounded (@_SJPeace_) October 5, 2020
The Texas Rangers are now investigating the shooting of Price, and the officer involved has been placed on administrative leave. Price’s family and witnesses stated that Price saw an altercation between a couple in a local gas station and tried to intervene. Eyewitnesses say that Price was doing the right thing, stepping between a man being violent towards a woman that Price did not know. The disturbance spilled into the outside area, and the police were called. When police arrived, Price put his hands up and was tased; when his body convulsed in reaction to the shock, Price was shot once in the chest and twice in the back.
THE LATEST FROM WOLFE CITY
31 y/o #JonathanPrice is dead. Family and witnesses say he was breaking up a DV incident when he was shot and killed by a police officer.
Police are saying little. They say the officer is now on paid admin leave. The Texas Rangers are investigating. pic.twitter.com/OlfhWC8jwP
— Alex Rozier (@RozierReports) October 5, 2020
While the murder has already gained support from the Black Lives Matter movement, there has been some resistance. Social Media has found a Facebook post that Price posted back in June, where he shared his opinion on BLM and his experiences with the police in his small town. He spoke on being raised by white families and not receiving support from his own; he mentioned his “addiction to white women,” and how he had “never got that kind of energy from the po-po.” He did not deny that Black Lives Matter, but Price supported his local police, and the irony of his murder by them is not lost on those that are now rallying for his justice.
The cycle has restarted itself as we now wait to see the outcome of another unnecessary and preventable murder. We must wait to see if the officer involved will be fired, charged, and convicted. There will be more protests, reigniting a conversation that does not seem to end. There will be more cries to fix a broken system, and we can only hope that they will be heard this time around. Change must come before even more innocent lives are lost.
